Baby Dear

 I have a shelf where I rotate a few books on an easel, according to my mood or upcoming events that month.  Usually they are from my collection of Little Golden books illustrated by Eloise Wilkins.  She is my favorite children's illustrator. 

I recently saw some of her illustrations on Pinterest and I got sucked into them and reminiscing about reading these books as a child.

It's funny how certain things, a smell or a scene, can take us back so vividly.

I loved looking at her pictures when I was a little girl.  They are so classic and timeless.  

A hint of charm in the houses and yards that surrounded the cute chubby cheeked babies and toddlers in her stories.

 

My favorite was Baby Dear.  Do you remember it?  The little girl follows around her mommy and new baby sister, and she does everything to her her dolly.

I just can't believe how fast time flies.  One minute you are the little girl, looking at books, playing with dolls.  

Then the next minute you are a new mom, wondering how you are already the mom.

Then you blink again and you have multiple babies that are already growing into little ladies. And they are reading those books and looking at those pictures, and wistfully sighing 

"I can't wait until I can have my very own baby just like Maybelle."

 

They are long tiring days.  I'm caught between forcing myself to squeeze every last joy out of it, and just wishing it would all end.

 

It's a fine line we mothers walk.
A line that borders crazy and bliss all within minutes of each other.

In the words of good ole Louis Armstrong:

I hear babies cry,
I watch them grow,
They'll learn much more,
Than I'll ever know.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.