Geez louise! I have learned of four friends’ pregnancies in the past week and a half — Emma in Scotland is pregnant with her second and due in August, Becky is having twins and is also due in August, and I discovered yesterday that my best friend from home, Laura, is expecting as well!! She sent me an email apologising for not being in touch recently and sent an attachment which she said would explain it all. It was a scan photo of her baby and, of course, made me jump up and down and exclaim “Oh my god!” And then we have Tanja, who is marrying mine and Paul’s close friend and former flatmate Alex today, in Sydney. She is expecting in July. Congratulations to everyone, on all the wonderful news.
One of the most useful things I learned about being a new mother is to ignore everyone else, forget about what it’s supposed to look like, and just enjoy being with your child in simple, loving moments. It’s summed up nicely with this poem:
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……
~Author Unknown ~
