Song for a Fifth Child

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.


by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

This verse seemed so applicable to me today. This has been a long 3 months of pregnancy so far. The house needs constant attention, this perpetual stomach flu is making me very narcissistic.

So today after breakfast I looked at my 4 precious children who are already getting so old. And decided to do something about it.

So we went to the Arboretum.

They ran and played, crawled through old logs
and balanced on fallen trees, We had so much fun just playing a good ole' game of hide n' seek in the tall grass.They all ended up with huge smiles on their faces. And for today, at least, we all enjoyed their childhoods, together.