Forget the guilt!!

Throughout this pregnancy I have felt such guilt because I felt like I just haven't been enough. Enough of a wife, mother, friend, ect to everyone around me. This has probably been one of the hardest times that I have been through physically and emotionally and the scary thing is it is almost over! Pretty soon we will be embarking upon a whole new life with our brood!

I read this one woman's blog, www.mycharmingkids.net, because she has such an amazing story with her kids (4 under the age of 4!) and her newborn was not expected to live past his birth day. But by the grace of God, he is thriving and doing well. She posted this poem and as I read it, it made me smile. I don't know if it made me feel "OK" with how messy my house always is or if it made me realize that I need to stop and "smell the roses" more.

"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 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 her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will 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. Babies don't keep.
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton
(first appeared, Ladies Home Journal, October 1958)