11 March 2009

babies don't keep~


I was recently reminded of this poem when MckMama posted it. As I prepare for this sweet baby, and look forward to holding her in my arms, it was good for me to be reminded of what really matters, even now... That even though I may not physically be able to accomplish all I would like, what I am accomplishing by doing lots of sitting and snuggling is worth more than the cleanest, most organized cabinets could ever be.


Song For a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton


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.


One thing I have learned over the last ten years, is that babies don't keep. With each baby I treasure that baby stage more and more, with each toddler I laugh more and more. It passes so quickly. I was thinking last night as I was going to sleep that these baby faces that are so familiar to me now will one day only be recalled through photographs.

Though the days are long, the years truly are short.


"...But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."
~Luke 2:19

May we treasure all these days up....



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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this poem. I am also preparing for my next baby (30 weeks pregnant), and I have a 16 month old boy. I have been feeling as though I wasn't accomplishing enough at home but, after reading this post, and remembering how quickly the time has gone with my son, I have been reminded to treasure each moment.

Anonymous said...

"With each baby I treasure that baby stage more and more, with each toddler I laugh more and more. It passes so quickly. I was thinking last night as I was going to sleep that these baby faces that are so familiar to me now will one day only be recalled through photographs."...This is so, so, true!

"How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about arithmetic, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No; a woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness." ~GK Chesterton

2012 November

2012 November