I want a baby.
Not a third baby -- and no, I don't want your baby (nice try, though).
I want my baby back. The boy or the girl, it doesn't really matter at this point. Maybe both of them.
Just not at the same time.
For the past few months, I have been going through this horrible, embarrassing midlife "thing" where I love babies. LOVE them. And because the stars are aligned or life is really cruel my Facebook and Instagram feeds seem to be overflowing with wee little ones who are sleeping, learning to walk, just born or maybe celebrating a first birthday. Chubby little thighs, the tiniest of fingers and a smattering of fine, wispy hair. The bright blue-eyed babes are especially yummy, as both of mine sport different shades of blue, even into their teen years.
These babies in my stream? Clean slates, all of them. Asking nothing more from you than to hold them, feed them and love them unconditionally. What is simpler and more life-affirming than a brand new baby? It's a fresh start, a reminder that life goes on. A reason to love yourself a wee bit more than you did. Babies don't hold grudges, roll their eyes when you ask a favor or leave their socks on the floor. They take a lot of care, but what they give back you can't get anywhere else. Joy, happiness, that look of I-love-you-so-very-much that you can only get from a little one without a curfew, a driver's license or a list of chores to complete.
I find myself willing my soul back in time, grabbing frantically for what was once my daily life with babies and trying to remember. To remember how it felt to snuggle a sleepy one right up next to my neck in the early-morning hours when the rest of the house slept. To remember what it felt like to bathe that tiny first baby, so afraid he would slip from my hands and be hurt, or scared.
To remember hearing, "It's a boy!" and "It's a girl!" and both times feeling that somehow I already knew who they were, that I could feel their presence in my daily life since those little lines appeared on the pregnancy tests. To remember when they started to dance, to sing and to play pretend -- and all of it without any feelings of self-consciousness or anxiety. To remember what it felt like to rock in the kitchen with a baby girl on my hip and feel her heartbeat through my hand on her tiny back. To soothe tears, protect, console, teach, or just to be in the moment.
But I can't remember.
"You're making memories!" people loved to say to me during those late afternoon grocery store runs or endless hours spent pushing a swing robotically at the park. I probably say that now, to my much-younger friends who are just starting their little families. And somewhere, deep inside they get it. They know too, that while their time feels long and routine and boring it will all end faster than they can imagine.
But memories! "You will have all the memories!" they shout. But the memories you make aren't all solidly defined or outlined as time goes by. Some memories have jagged edges, some are raw and painful and many of your memories won't match up with how your kids remember them (which is a shock). But then there are moments that stand alone as if a searchlight shines on them, so vivid and defined that you can relive them at any time.
Just rewind.
But other memories? The day-to-day routine, the bath times and the bedtimes, endless renditions of Hop on Pop or Brown Bear, Brown Bear and the countless boxes of mac and cheese I made, scraping the bottom for a few scraps of my own. The "firsts" and the "lasts" for each baby, from taking tentative first steps to losing a first tooth to starting high school.
To graduation, and beyond.
They blur together -- like a fog that I can't see through just yet. I comb through boxes of printed photos (yes, my little ones were pre-digital) that span an entire childhood and I can "see" it all. It happened, it was real and we all lived to tell about it. There were camping trips and amusement parks, birthdays and sleepovers, friends, family, beloved pets and favorite toys. I didn't have a blog or a journal when mine were small. We made videos and took pictures, so we do have lots of great memories stored in boxes down the hall.
But the blur of memory that I have of those 20 years is unsettling to me right now. I honestly thought I would remember more vividly. I worry at times that I am truly starting to lose my memory, one old and faded mental photograph at a time.
But just give me that baby. My baby, either one of them.
If only I could relive a day with my baby girl on my hip, or my baby boy laughing so hard he would lose his breath.
I promise I would remember -- I really would.
I would just love to hit rewind again.
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