Recently a blog mom I follow suffered the terrible loss of her 14-month-old son, Patrick. Any time I hear of a mother losing her child, a part of my heart breaks for her.. but something she said on her page made me hurt even more. She posted a photo of her son looking out the window and said something to the effect of, “You recently learned to wave, I just didn’t realize those were goodbye waves.”
That post alone, despite the story of how she found her son, or any of the other heart breaking posts, that post made me sob.
In December a friend shared a poem with me, and it was all about how babies don’t keep. In completely inspired my second blog, Elliot365.wordpress.com. That blog is one of daily posts all about my little boy. I wanted to fill it full of pictures and stories as he grew so that I’d have it to look back on later.
In my “about” page on that blog I said, “You can never get this day back. Firsts only happen once. One day he will be too big to wear. His baby breath and “new scent” only last for a while. His screams and squeals will eventually become words, then sentences. His gummy smile will soon be full of teeth. Sooner or later he won’t want to fall asleep nuzzled in my arms. Someday he will call me Mom instead of Mama or Mommy. Babies don’t keep. Not every memory lasts a lifetime. And not every picture is worth a thousand words. For those reasons, we are going to blog every day for 365 days, sharing pictures and stories of Elliot, as he grows into a little boy. This year will take us through his first words, his first steps, his first birthday, his first vacation, and all kinds of other firsts in between. We want to capture them all.”
For me, that blog is..or was..all about preserving these days, these firsts, with Elliot. Because babies grow so fast don’t they?
But what about when they don’t? For me that blog was about cherishing this time we have because he’s going to grow up…and that post today made me realize that I need to be cherishing this time even more than I do because what if he doesn’t?
I guess my point with all of this is to say- cherish your babies. Whether they’re real babies, fur babies, or grown babies. Cherish them. Hold them close, and give them an extra snuggle today. You never know how long you’re going to have them. A life isn’t measure in its length, but in its breath, so make sure that that the breath you share with your baby is a deep one.
Here is the poem that inspired my 365 blog.
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,
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 his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby 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.
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