Song for a fifth child

Song for a Fifth Child by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

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.

I have always loved this poem.
I haven't discussed my schooling much here yet,so thought I would take the opportunity. In September, I began the Pathways Program through BYU-Idaho.  The first year is Academic Start. This semester I am taking the first half of the Book of Mormon and Life Skills. The first year is geared to prepare you for the rest of the program.  It has been really busy trying to juggle family and school and other responsibilities.  I have been learning so much though and can feel the Lord's help through it all. Baby Girl has made it a lot more difficult lately to get schoolwork done. For the past month, she has been teething and/or sick. She is also going through the stage of separation anxiety. She now refuses to sleep in her crib. If I get her to sleep, she will sleep maybe five minutes in her crib, then wake up and scream. She will not go back to sleep and just stands there screaming in sheer terror. So naps now consist of sleeping in my arms.  She does sleep through the night mostly, but only in our bed. I moved her crib mattress into our room and she will now sometimes sleep for maybe an hour on that.  I guess I forgot how every baby is different. This one sure loves being near Mom and Dad!  She is so stinking precious, though!  We seriously can't get enough of her, which is good since she apparently can't get enough of us either.
So every week we have a Gathering night where we discuss the things we are learning that week in class. A student leads the discussion and it is really nice. PC watches the kids, and I really enjoy the break. Last week, we were learning about work. I was scheduled to be the lead student for the discussion. However, we had ice and snow, so they decided to cancel. I had been working so hard to get everything planned, I was really pretty bummed that it was cancelled.  As I was preparing, and thinking about my work with my family, I thought of this poem, "Song for a Fifth Child."  Now I knew the poem, but had never heard the title of it before. It was perfect. Even more perfect, when I read about the author, Ruth Hulburt Hamilton.  I was surprised the title was "Song for a Fifth Child." I had always referred to it as the "Babies don't keep" poem.  As I read about Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, I was truly amazed at how similar her story was to mine.  She had four children, ages 11, 9, 7, and 5 when she had her fifth child.  These were exactly the ages of our children!  I read how it was so different for her having a baby with older children.  Having a five year gap, you sure forget a lot!  She loved how they all would run to the baby when they came home and they all loved the baby so much.  With older kids, it's hard to get everything done and still take care of and enjoy a baby.  I know this all too well. I needed to read this poem again and am so grateful for the things I've been able to learn and/or relearn with my classes.