Babies Don't Keep

With having the shower here on Saturday, dinner club here on Sunday and a few house showings between Friday and tomorrow I have been doing a lot of cleaning.  Like, every day for the past 4 days I literally feel like all I have done is clean, clean, clean.  It's exhausting, but also a good workout, so I'm trying to look at the bright side.  On Sunday afternoon I was trying to cook and clean and for some reason Hudson, who usually goes right down for his naps, was crying in his crib. He's been sort of going through another round of separation anxiety and I have a feeling this is related.  Although at night he is going to bed fine. However, at nap time he is screaming in a terrified way until I walk in to check on him.  Then he is practically leaping into my arms and pointing to the chair for me to rock him.  He settles immediately and cuddles up to be rocked and calmed down.  Yesterday he had fallen asleep, but I just couldn't put him back in the crib. I knew I had tons of chores to be getting done, but having him lay on my chest, sleeping so peacefully just made me want to cherish that moment. I had my phone with me so I snapped a picture to remember how sweet he is and how I love him more than anything! 

You can tell he loves his pacis more than anything.

I was immediately reminded of the poem that I have hanging in Handley's room.  The one that was cross-stitched by my mother and that was originally hanging in my nursery, over 30 years ago.  

"Babies Don't Keep" 

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow, 

For babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow. 

So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep,

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep. 

Today was a big day for Handley and Harper.  My cousin, Bryn, asked me if she could take them to do something fun today.  I knew they would just love that idea and kept it a surprise until last night when I used it as a bargaining tool to get them to go to sleep.  

She came over to get them before lunch and kept them practically all day!  They went to Chick-fil-a for lunch, then to Piedmont Park where they met one of her friends and her dog and got to watch at the dog park. Then they visited the playground there before heading back towards our house.  Apparently the girls weren't ready to come home yet so they hit up Target to just have something else to do. :-) They came home with little Valentine's treats from Target and lots of stories about their day.  A HUGE thank you to Bryn for absolutely making their day.  

While they were off having some fun girl time, Hudson and I got reacquainted with the jogging stroller.  It had been WAY too long.    

Next up was a quick nap for him and cleaning for me before a showing this afternoon.  We ran a few errands to kill the time and then came home and I had the most fun playing outside with him.  We played with the hula hoops, his little bike, push car and football.  He is talking so much now and I just love communicating with him.  We took a long walk down our street and he pushed his lawn mower the whole way. I kept asking him if he wanted to go back home, but he just said, "walk" and kept on going.  When we finally decided to turn back it took us twice as long to get home, but we had nowhere to be and I was loving seeing the world through his eyes.  He stopped to observe every little thing.  Stepped big to smash a pine cone that had found it's way on the side walk.  Pointed to the house that he heard dogs barking earlier and imitated the barks.  He was also very interested in trying to remove the leaves from everyone's driveways and toss them into the street.  Only problem was that as soon as he would throw it to the street, the wind would blow it right back.  It was a tedious job, but he was happy to do it.  Maybe it's the mother/son bond that so many of my friends told me about and I know it might have just a little something to do with him being the baby and the last little one I will get to do these simple things with, but I am trying to soak it all in and remember every moment with him during this stage.

He is loved on and doted over by ALL of us...including his sweet big sisters who share all of their toys with him and enjoy teaching him all sorts of things.  Like the importance of safety first with a helmet when learning to ride the scooter.  :-)