babies don't keep

This poem is new to me. I came across it on another blog and it resonated loudly with me in this season of my life with the RGs.

Song for a Fifth Child
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, 1958

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.

the simple life

Life has been zooming by lately.

The girls continue to enjoy their Tuesday/Thursday 'school' schedule. And we participate in a playgroup with several other sets of multiples once a week. Oh, don't forget the Saturday morning dance class and Sunday school over the weekend. Then, there are the play dates and errand days and story times and just the occasional nice morning at home. Like today.

All that to say, time is moving fast.
I'm afraid to blink or Em and Roo just might be all grown up when I open my eyes.

We're working to simplify a few things around here right now. Goodbye to the cable that never gets watched. Goodbye to the DVR that only records Yo Gabba Gabba and Sesame Street. Goodbye to the clothes that are never worn and the furniture holding down the floor of the garage. And starting in April, goodbye to Tues/Thur 'school'. It's been wonderful, but is turning out to be more of a babysitting option than a learning opportunity for Em and Roo. Things get a little tricky when you're two, you read, and everyone else in your class is struggling to recite their ABCs in the correct order.

With the slightly less harried schedule and the crutch of preschool on tv gone, I'm anticipating more quality along with the extra quantity of together time.
Because it's going by too fast.

pillow talk

J: Have you seen my travel alarm clock?
C: Yes, it's in the kitchen by the coffee maker...
J: Of course. Where else would it be?
C: ...and you'll have to reset the time.
J: How did they manage to pry the cover off the reset panel?
C: If you throw it hard enough, the cover pops off on impact and the batteries spill out.
J: [laughing hard]

********
Roo likes to pretend the travel alarm clock is her cell phone. She walks around with it yelling, "Hel-Whoa? 'K. Bye."

tick tock

This morning I was chatting with a twin mommy about all the stages our babies go through. And how we sometimes rush past them in our eagerness to get to the next milestone. That holy grail of a milestone that might make our busy, hectic lives just a little simpler.

And then, I came home and read this post from my dear friend about her daughter's darling prayer with its unique toddler-centric pronunciation of the words. And how she knows she must capture it on video soon, because, in a second, things will change. And she shared this song.

Just perfect. *sniff sniff*

Go

Go read this.

It was the perfect thing to read at the end of a long day of snotty noses, barking coughs and clingy whining short people. Clinging short people who just want to be cuddled and loved on. Who smile over their shoulders at me as I wipe their noses. And offer "eee-ugy huggies" freely and kisses without reserve.
It won't always be like this.