Dust in the Nursery

My mother-in-law shared the following poem with me recently.  Now that Sammy has recovered from his cold, he's making up for lost time nursing.  For a three-day weekend, most of it was spent feeding Sammy.  We kept it pretty low key for a second week in a row and I enjoyed the life of a baby -- play, naps and good food!  Sammy has tried a few new foods including salmon, spinach and pinto beans.  Since I had off today, I made a slow cooker chicken with carrots and potatoes.  I got a Kindle 4 for Christmas and it's a breastfeeding mom's best friend!  Those long naps spent in the rocker are well worth while for a snoozing buddy and a reading Momma.  Sammy's at an age where he's easily distracted so page turning wasn't as easy to do with him.  Now with the click of a button I'm able to continue reading and meet my baby's needs.  Then when he's finished, I can enjoy the finer things in life like spending an hour making silly faces for my son's amusement.


Dust in the Nursery

(By Ruth Hulburt Hamilton & published in the Lady's Home Journal in 1958 as "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 his/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.