Sometimes my eyes swell with tears because I have the most beautiful babies God could have ever thought to give me. And sometimes my eyes shoot out hot tears because these two monkeys are driving me bananas!
I recently read something Anna
Quindlen wrote about raising her kids and how quickly these precious, chubby years go by. She says, "I wish I had not been in a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less." And while it was beautifully written and poignantly phrased, it left me swirling with anxiety, guilt, anger, frustration,
goopy love,
snuggly softness, and teary wistfulness. Which basically sums up motherhood.
I barked at Jack today for being loud in McDonald's while we waited for our lunch. And I growled at him this morning for flicking the door stop
again, making an awful noise. And I still am sad that I feel like I didn't really appreciate Sarah's
babyness because all I can remember is the
loooong, grumpy nights of walking and bouncing and begging her to sleep.
But also, a soft, sweet
snuggly boy came and woke me up with kisses this morning. And a precious little girl snuggled into my chest as gave me kisses before I put her down for her nap. And they both made faces and swayed to the elevator music while we munched our chicken nuggets. Sarah pointed out her nose and belly to me and Jack sang his
ABCs all the way home.
These babies are the most incredible thing to ever happen to me. I just have to take a deep breath and push away the frustration and the guilt and the anger, and make more room for the soft snuggles, the brilliant baby games, and the overflowing
goopy love.
7 comments:
You're right, it's too easy to get side-tracked by the every day what comes next deal. How precious these little ones are. And we all know they don't stay little forever.
I find I can best appreciate it looking back on it, so I do lots of writing and picture-taking.
so true!
we all need to remember this advice!!
Alright Jessie, you made me cry :)
What a sweet post! You're making my heart swell with goopy love thinking of my darling girl sleeping in her crib!
<3 this post like all your others..I lurk quite a bit :-P
But this post inspired me to share an old poem with you which I have always loved. I think you will enjoy it too:
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.
- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton
Jana/Holda, that poem is great! It should be hung on every nursery wall.
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