...and babies don’t keep.

"Babies Don’t Keep"

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

 Author: Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

This poem came to mind today as I was nursing sweet baby Ava down for her nap. Blake was already sleeping and Hailey was sitting on her bed looking at books for her quiet time. The list of chores that needed to be done today kept running through my mind and I found myself wishing that she would just hurry up and go to sleep. Then like lightening from Heaven this poem came to me. I put the checklist of chores out of my head and let her sleep for another few minutes in my arms before putting her in her crib. And then I was so glad that we did this today also....

As we were getting ready to leave for the playground I told Erik that I couldn't believe I was leaving such a mess behind. I don't usually do that and I'm very proud of myself for doing that today, for just letting it go and enjoying playtime with my kids. The dishes hadn't been washed from breakfast, there were boxes all over the house, halfway packed and ones still waiting to be packed, the kitchen needed to be mopped, and so many other things that I can't even remember right now, but I left it all behind to make memories today instead. And that is a huge accomplishment for me! After the bad day I had yesterday, as I was putting the kids in bed I promised them that I would take them to the playground as long as it wasn't raining when they woke up. I'm going to do that more often, I'm going to start telling them what I plan to do with them because they don't forget and then I will be accountable to make sure that I do. You see, I have this problem with feeling like I can't have fun before everything in the house is in tiptop shape, and as that never happens I never seem to have any fun with my children. And THAT is going to change. Too much time is passing me by while I worry about how clean my house is, too many memories are waiting to be made for some day when I get everything else done, and I'm done with that way of thinking. So here is my vow to have fun. This is where I leave the dishes and mopping and replace them with memories and giggles because....                                                                                           The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

                                But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
                                      So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep                                                                 I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep. 

Failure

Failure...That's what I feel like today. I just want today to be over so I can wake up and start fresh. The day started well but by noon I was stressed, not feeling well, and had a lot to get done in a short amount of time. And on top of it I had to go out for appointments with three little ones in tow and I knew it was going to be a long afternoon and evening. Our morning started off well, I even painted Hailey's nails all nice and pretty. 

But as the day progressed I slowly began to lose my cool and every little thing my kids did just grated on my already frazzled nerves. And now I feel like the worst parent in the world. They are all sleeping soundly, all cozy warm in their beds and I feel like waking them up so I can go and hug them and hold them, and tell them all how much I really do love them. Life has been busy and stressful and I didn't handle it well today. We are in the middle of packing for a big move, I'm having health problems, Ava is so out of sorts because I went off my diet severely and now she's suffering from it, and the list goes on. I did a lot of scolding and a lot of hushing them up today and now I'm left thinking over the day regretting every single minute of it. All I can do now is hope for a better day tomorrow.

Family Monday

I don't have much time to write tonight. It was a marathon night trying to get all three kids in bed. Erik is gone from 1:30-10:00 PM so it's up to me to do the whole dinner and bedtime routine. Ava was super fussy today and she wasn't eating or napping well. She's normally so happy and I get flustered easily when she does have an off day. Anyway, Monday was Erik's day off so it was family day. Ava had her checkup for her tongue tie revision. It went well but not as good as I was hoping for. The doctor said her lip looks great but her tongue has reattached a little bit and we have to keep doing the exercises for another week. He said as long as we are not having problems that he didn't want to open it back up. That's fine with me, I hate seeing her in pain. The exercises are horrible though and she absolutely hates them! I was so hoping to be done with them. On the way back we were all hungry so we stopped at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. It was such a good lunch for fast food. It was the first time we had ever eaten anything there other than fries. The kids loved it, I think mostly because of the peanuts! They were more into cracking the peanut shells open than they were about actually eating the peanuts.

After lunch we went and walked around to look for souvenirs since we only have a few weeks left before we move from the Hudson Valley. But more on that in another post. I think the rest of the day was just spent at home doing some cleaning and packing. Oh how I hate moving! And now with three little ones it's even harder than the last times we have moved. But we will get through it, one way or another.

Another picture of Ava enjoying her lunch. She can't wait to eat French fries! She grabs for food like crazy but I'm just not ready for that one yet. How is she almost 6 months already? Time, please slow down. 

New Beginnings

So, here I am! Finally figuring this whole blogging thing out. Thanks to my friend Bianca who inspired me in the first place and then helped me get started with it. I've been wanting to do this for years. I want our family to have some way to look back at all of our crazy memories as a family and remember what we did. The joys, the trials, the fun, the everyday life, that's what this is all about. I used to do scrapbooking before kids, that is. Yeah, I don't even have to say anymore about that. If you've had kids, even one, you know what I'm talking about when I say I used to! Anyway, I hope this will be a much quicker and easier way for me to capture our memories. So here it goes to blogging. Enjoy! :) (And I know, this picture is missing Ava, but I don't think I have a picture of our whole family together yet!)