Babies Don't Keep

We had friends over the other night for dinner and I got this picture of Emily showing Laina how to draw a horse or something. I thought it was cute, but it also reminded me of how much she is growing up. There was a time when she would of been down on the floor playing with toys.

Her interests are starting to change. She is going to be 11 years old and while I'm thrilled with the young lady she is turning into, it reminds me that the time is flying by.

It reminds me to enjoy my children! I want to treasure every moment because all too soon they will be off to college and doing their own thing.

I have always loved this poem by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton.

Babies Don't Keep

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.