An abundance of babies . . .

Young women in my life are having, or have recently had, babies.  Newness in tiny little fingers and toes.  Perfect little forehead, precious little nose.   The intoxicating smell of new baby, the excitement of the ones to come.  Life continues.

My three are beyond the newness, but the shine certainly HAS NOT worn off.  There are new things to discover every day.  Like my three year old discovering how to use scissors.  That went really well.  My four year old learning to print his name, with the letters in the right order facing the right direction.  My six year old losing teeth and being so giddy about the new gap in her mouth.  It's all so very exciting.

There were pangs of loss when my youngest turned three.  My heart wasn't quite ready for the exit from babyhood.  No longer a baby, but still my baby.  I think to myself sometimes, and sometimes verbalize to others, I would love to have another baby.  And then I shake my head and think, do I really want to start all over again?  Sleepless nights, standing upright against the wall in the wee hours.  That's about the only negative I can think of, but it's kind of a big one.  I DO NOT function well on little sleep.  My family can attest to that.  I turn into “crazy, scary, mommy.”  Not pleasant for anyone.

Having passed through it, without too much scarring (I hope), I can see that, for me, it is so much better on this side.   I have more energy to focus on each of my kids individually.   I can spend time with them doing fun things and teaching them and enjoying them.  And I do enjoy them.  Sure there are days where I wonder if I put them up for sale on e-bay would anyone buy them.  But, all in all, they are pretty great kids.  And they teach me things too, things I wouldn't have learned without them.  Like how to catch vomit with my bare hands.  This comes in handy when I'm nowhere close to a sink, toilet, or linoleum.

So to the new mommies in my life, just let me smell their sweet little heads.  That's it.  Just a whiff.  Just to take the edge off.  And maybe, if you can part with your precious little bundle, a wee little hold and snuggle.