By my third baby I've made a vow to savor little things that are too easy to forget.
Tonight I held him, rocking in the glider, thinking about the way his whole body fits in my arms. I made note of the way that his legs folded like a frog on my belly. And the way his little arms tucked under at his shoulders and his sleepy eyelids fluttered, staring back at me. Thinking about it now, I'm remembering so vividly picking up that used glider, before our first baby arrived, from a family who listed it on Facebook Marketplace. I looked for a long while and then decided that used was the way to go, especially since at the time, I didn't really know how many, many hours I'd be spending in it. We walked into the strangers' townhome, my husband and I, along with my giant pregnant belly. "Woah, you do need this chair!" the mom commented. Two blonde kids ran through the house, and I distinctly remember the littlest one's name, Mason. The mom explained that it wasn't in perfect condition- the foot stool was a sagging a little, there was some purple marker on the back of the chair- but we didn't mind, it was very minor, and the price was right. She commented on how many hours she had spent with her babies in that chair. At the time I didn't know why this moment felt significant to me, but looking back, now, I do. This was the end of an era for her family- parting with the baby things, letting go of a sentimental representation of the years of sleepless nights- and years of staring at fluttering eyelids and reclining beneath a frog-legged infant. There was a saddness... and a relief in the mom's letting go. For the last 5 years I've been rocking one baby or another in that chair, and while my youngest still isn't quite a year old, there's an element of the unknown future of our family, and here I wonder when I might be ready to let go of this phase. But, whatever comes next, that time has not quite come. So for now I'll rock, and I'll stare, and I'll savor this little human, while he is still so little.
4 Comments
3/4/2022 10:03:32 pm
This is a lovely post. There is something special about being with a sweet little baby.
Reply
Sara T.
3/5/2022 08:45:07 am
I still have our barely holding-on, used glider in Lydia's room. I read books to the girls from it and just can't let go either. There was a part of my heart that felt that "end of an era" moment you described beautifully when I gave away most of their baby toys.
Reply
Lesley
3/5/2022 12:42:03 pm
I feel you on this one! We, actually I, have held on to some things that I just can't ever part with from when my guys were little babies. Savor every moment and let me come get some baby snuggles sometime soon, please?! Mine are big and smelly now hahaha!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Author5th grade teacher, wife, mama to my 3 magical babies, ally, advocate, doggy foster mom... just stumbling on. Archives
March 2022
Categories |