the most beautiful words about motherhood

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing and butter the bread,

Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby 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 her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

For 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.

Song for a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

{in case you are curious, the pictures from top to bottom are:

Bethany, Abigail, Abigail, Bethany, Abigail, Bethany}

I came across this though a post on Instagram the other night from this precious mama,

and was totally moved.

I had heard bits and pieces of this poem years ago...before I was a mother.

Now the words speak to me more than I can express.

I am not usually moved so deeply by poetry.

But I know the Lord needed me to read this.

Isn't it beautiful?

I really don't want to write much more right now, because I don't want to take away from those precious words that we all, as mothers, need to remember.

so grab a kleenex, read it again, and then go love on your babies

and worry about your to-do list a little less today.

why i (really) hate trash days.

Fridays are trash days in our neighborhood.
I hate trash days.
And not because of the trash.



I hate trash days because it means yet another week of life has passed.
so, so quickly.
Literally, every Thursday night when I take the trash bins out to the street,
I have a pit in my stomach thinking to myself,
"Didn't I JUST take the trash out?!"

I know that this sounds silly, but it is honestly heart wrenching sometimes.

Because it means that another week
of watching my girls interact,
of watching them learn about life,
of listening to Abigail learn words and songs,
of watching Bethany meet her first year "milestones",
of getting to love on them day after day,
of countless hours of play...
has already gone by.

and I am one week closer to actually missing this stage
of babyhood and toddlerhood,
(Bethany is only 6 months old and I already miss having a teensy newborn)
to missing their innocent perspectives of life as a child,
to them being gone at school all day every day.
One week closer to them finding love apart from their Daddy,
to not having them live in my home,
to them stepping out into the world on their "own".

(and none of those are bad things...i look forward to them all...
I just know I'll miss where I'm at right now.}



At least once a week, Parker and I ask each other "how can we slow this down?"
"how can we enjoy it more, take it in better?"

And it's not just with the girls, though that definately makes time fly even faster.
But just life.
How is it that we will be married for NINE years next month?
or that I have been out of high school for 11 years?
or that I will be 30 in a few months?
HOW?!

And even in the midst of toddler tantrums, potty training, terrible baby sleep,
not being able to leave the house for long, learning to discipline, sheer exhaustion
and days without a shower...
Time is FLYING. and i KNOW I will miss these days.




the lyrics to this song get me every time:
"You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins

you seriously need to watch this. and just a disclaimer: you WILL cry.



{drying my eyes again so i can keep writing. ahh!. ok, I can do this.}

I feel like I don't have any answers really to how to make this okay in my head.
Other than to know that with each coming stage and each coming season of life,
and of our girls' lives...
with those will come NEW joys, NEW milestones, NEW experiences.
and for that...I can't wait.



I don't want to waste time on being sad about it.
I want to remember that EACH DAY is another one NOT promised, and that there can be fulfillment in each precious, precious day He has given us.
And that if I will just breathe sometimes in the middle of my moments,
I CAN take it in. I CAN relish in it.
And if I realize and respond to what HE is asking of me, and what He is having me do with the days He has given me...it's all okay...and it even seems a little slower.

But is just times like those darn trash days that get me thinking.



thanks for listening to my heart today.
linking up here

Here's the lyrics to the song above... "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins

She was starin' out the window of their SUV
Complainin', sayin', “I can't wait to turn eighteen”
She said, “I'll make my own money and I'll make my own rules
Momma, put the car in park out there in front of the school”
And she kissed her head, and said, “I was just like you”

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In her one bedroom apartment and her daddy stops by
He tells her it's a nice place, she says, “It'll do for now”
Starts talkin' about babies and buyin' a house
Daddy shakes his head and says, “Baby, just slow down”

Cuz' you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber Workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin' One kid's cryin' and one kid's screamin'
And she keeps apologizin' He says, “They don't bother me
I've got two babies of my own
One's thirty-six, one's twenty-three”

Huh, it's hard to believe
But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna miss this Yeah, you're gonna miss this.