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6.19.2012

THE KEEPERS OF BABIES

This post is sponsored by Disney Baby. I'll be joining the Disney Baby blogging team next month, and look forward to sharing these kinds of stories (projects/ideas/etc) with you over there! Stay tuned for more details!

i've come to a conclusion about motherhood. it seems to me that our main job as mothers is to find a way to make our babies stay. to keep their babyhood close, and memorize their every tiny inch. oh sure, we should make sure they're fed and changed, and loved and swaddled, too, but mostly, i think we just need to memorize them from top to bottom. i've started to think there is nothing more important in the whole entire world we could do.

almost as soon as huck was breathing he was changing. too quickly. i had to memorize him. it was my only hope of surviving the emotional turmoil of letting him grow up. 


those cheeks


his little mouth


his long monkey toes and those fat, fat feet


and the elbow dimples. 
i can recreate those elbow dimples on command as i fall asleep at night. 
elbow dimples are the meaning of life, i'm pretty sure of it.


every little fleck in those eyes. get to know them by name.


the double chins, too.


and that spot, right there. 
that spot belongs to mama, nobody else can have it. 
that's the spot where mama's kisses go.

it's important that we memorize every tiny detail, every tiny shift in their tiny little bodies. because we are the keepers of their beginnings. their starts are ours to preserve and cherish. they can't do it for themselves, those silly little babies. they're too busy growing up, too busy escaping those precious first months, too busy racing blindly away from that soft, squishy start. these little babies grow too fast. they've moved beyond before they ever even started. 

so this is our job, mamas. we are the keepers of babies. 

babies don't keep. so we do. 

43 comments:

  1. This is so lovely. I keep each memory and moment of my little girl's babyhood tucked away, preserved in time, too.
    -belle
    www.petitebiet.com

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  2. This was beyond sweet and made me ache inside. All I've ever wanted, since I was 8 years old, was to be a mom. I'm not a mom yet. At least not technically. I still consider myself to be a mom. I think I was born one. I just don't have any children of my own yet. But when I get them... and I will get them one day... I intend to gush over them and adore them just like you've expressed in this post. This post is perfect. I love it. Every little bit of it. Especially "the spot where mama's kisses go." :]

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  3. your writing is so wonderful, always leaves me with a warm feeling inside, thank you for sharing! and baby huck is to. die. for. you've got quite the handsome little man to keep :)

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  4. What a beautiful post! It made me tear up. My little boy is growing so fast too, and I treasure all his little rolls and dimples.

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  5. So lovely and so true! :)

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  6. ah i cried my eyes out! love this. i'm going to get my baby boy and kiss him to pieces :)

    http://babybakerlove.blogspot.com/

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  7. MMMM, how very sweet this is!

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  8. HEARTMELTING post!

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  9. I can totally relate, especially to that sweet spot on the neck!

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  10. my favorite post of yours, to date!

    xo, amanda

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  11. sooooooooo true... love this post

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  12. AnonymousJune 19, 2012

    lovely :)

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  13. Oh my gosh, the cuteness in this post! So sweet! He makes me want another baby... and I have 4 kids under 5 already!

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  14. You have summed up motherhood so perfectly, thank you for reminding me that is what we are doing.
    www.tehmi.blogspot.com

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  15. AnonymousJune 19, 2012

    So perfectly timed. My 2 year old keeps doing new things or trying new things saying 'Mummy, me bigger, me do it'. 'Me bigger' is the most bittersweet thing he has said so far.

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  16. i know what you mean. i've always said that time doesn't slow down for infancy, but at least we have beautiful memories, photos, and videos to remember the littles. xo

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  17. ugh, you stole this concept from E, wish you credited her.

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousJune 20, 2012

      Who is E?

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    2. michelle, i'd had this post written and scheduled for a few weeks now, and i promise i didn't take any ideas from anyone. i did email e to apologize in case our words were too similar for comfort, and she assures me they weren't. thanks!

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  18. This? This was good.

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  19. beautiful. just absolutely, spun sugar sweetly, beautiful.

    xo,
    Nicole
    localsugarhawaii.com

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  20. i'm not a mama yet, but ohhh did i melt...

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  21. Oh how I cannot wait to be a mother, you make me so excited. Beautifully written post!

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  22. AnonymousJune 20, 2012

    You are a remarkable writer. You capture the essence of motherhood that I have always felt but could never put 3 words together, let alone, a sentence to describe it in such a magical way as you have.

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  23. that post tugged right at my heartstings...sigh

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  24. I love this post, it's so, so true.

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  25. these pictures are kiiiilling me. and i have chills from these words.

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  26. Beautiful! Motherhood has such a way of making me nostalgic for the present. Cherishing every minute of it here in Austin xoxo

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  27. truer words have never been spoken.
    like woah. this is what being a mama is all about.
    love this!

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  28. AnonymousJune 20, 2012

    These photos make my ovaries hurt. Look at all that baby cuteness!

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  29. Oh Nat - you give me baby fever!!! I love this, and I absolutely can't wait to be a baby-keeper one day...

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  30. So lovely! My favorite kissable baby spot was the back of the neck. Oh, they smelled so divine right there. My babies are now 20, 19 and 14. I can concur, that they do not keep. Don't wish away the moments, they pass far too quickly.

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  31. Thank you for posting this. I have been staring at my 3.5 year old, currently pregnant with my second, and these words perfectly sum up the inarticulate, jumbled yearnings of my thoughts. Thank you, thank you.

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  32. This was so beautiful! You are such a great writer.

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  33. So true. Loved this post. (and love to kiss the back of my baby's neck, too!)

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  34. oh, these precious photos! you have me aching for my toddlers babyness...how i miss it but she's pretty wonderful now too :)

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  35. I can't wait to document every minute of my child's life--it will think its mummy's face is a camera.

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  36. Oh Nat, when they're eleven, the growing slows down, but you'll still feel the same way.

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  37. Nat I just love that you love your boy so much. You are wise to cherish him so dearly because it truly goes by so dang fast. I was just like you with my boy--I loved every single thing about him, and I still do. But guess what? I just took him to college!!! I am so grateful for every moment I have had with him and I'm grateful for people like you who remind me what a joy and blessing it is to be a mom. I still have 3 sweet daughters at home and I am enjoying every moment with them. Thanks for your inspiration. You always make me smile.

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  38. holy crap that made me cry. my baby is going to be one year old on saturday and i have no idea where the past year went

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