Rock-a-Bye Baby
May 20th, 2008 by Nola
Tonight I was on deck to get Sun down for bed. I took her to her room to give her a bottle and rock her. In college, I dated a guy who had a really nice rocking chair, and he told me once, “Everyone should own a rocking chair.” A few years later, I was in a flea market and saw a rocker and coffee table that I loved. I bought both for $75 days before I graduated from law school. Upon getting the rocker home, I realized that one of the rocker blades had been replaced; this causes the rocker to have a slight bump in its rocking. So every time I rock in the chair, I am reminded of its imperfection.
I love rocking Sun. Tonight, we listened to her American Lullabies CD. This was a gift Sun received during French Quarter Fest some five weeks ago. I love the songs on this CD and have played it every night since we got it. I haven’t even gotten to the second CD that was also given to her that day.
Our rocking went something like this:
Saddle up your pony,
Rock, rock, bump
Sandman’s here
To guide you down the trail of dreams
Rock, rock, bump
Tumble in bed, my tired,
my little sleepyhead
Rock, rock, bump
To a Prairie Lullaby
In no time, Sun was all but asleep. I struggled tonight to put her in her crib. Usually, I am more than happy to have her get drowsy and settle into her crib. But tonight, tonight I wanted to hold her forever and never have her grow up. I thought of my grandmother rocking me as a baby, and my mother and aunt rocking me too. And all the other mothers all over the land for generations that have rocked their babies. I could feel the string tying us all together. It was powerful.
So, to you mothers out there, ROCK ON!
It’s a good string connecting us. Rock on, Nola.
Sarabeth’s last blog post..Let the Memory Live Again
Awwwwww…. And to think just a week ago you were in denial over Mother’s Day.
Aww…what a beautiful post
Just reading your post makes me want to pick up and hold my daughter as she sleeps. But it would wake her and she’d be foul.
The 1 thing that I miss the most about working in the neonatal ICU is holding tiny preemies in my arms while sitting in rocking chairs. I miss that dearly….
Sandy (Momisodes)’s last blog post..Just Feet
Five years rocking and counting!
Eventually we’ll turn into the mother/son (except in my case it’ll be mother/daughter) combo from I’ll Love You Forever. And you know what? I still cherish every single second of it–probably more than she does.
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Once upon a time, we bought a rocking chair for the NICU at Lakeside and had a little plaque with Kathleen’s name put on it. The NICU is a place where you can’t have enough rocking chairs for moms.
YatPundit’s last blog post..Walking the Labyrinth
you’re writing style is so beautiful!
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We were big rockers before bed…it was the perfect time of day. I see it is for you, also.
Some people fault me for holding my son everynight to get him to sleep. I don’t rock him anymore because he prefers to just sit on the couch and snuggle me. However, I rocked my daughter until she was almost 3. And it is the most relaxing time and just makes me calm. I like to sing to them. I know I won’t be holding them until they graduate from high school so I will do it until they won’t let me anymore.
A friend of mine let her baby cry it out from day one for naps and bedtime. I would be over her house and it would make me sick! That tiny baby just laying there screaming through the baby monitor while we sat and chatted. I wanted to just pick her up and hold her and rock her.
Let’s all Rock on!
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I don’t have a rocking chair.. but I rocked back and forth standing to put my oldest to sleep. To this day when he is on my hip for too long I find myself rocking with him. He is three and he still finds comfort in it.. I say rock on for as long as Sun wants too!!
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Now that’s just sweet.
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You know if you tried to rock her in any other chair she wouldn’t have it, not without that bump!
Don’t you hate it when ex-boyfriends are right?
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Rock on!!!! Your writing style is beautiful and I love this post. My son still cuddles. Can’t wait to read more. Sorry I have not been blogging lately! I have been taping shows which I am excited about because I was able to post them on my blog YAY!! If you get a chance to check it out, then let me know what you think. The more feedback I get the better I can make the segments Also, your stories are great and my whole idea behind this show is for other moms to share real stories like you do. Anyway, I’d love to hear from you.
Awww, so sweet! I don’t rock them. I lock them in separate closets until their tears of terror lull them to sleep.
Wha’?
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I still have the rocking chair I used with both of my kids. I hope one day, one of them will want it to rock with their children.
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lmao @ Rock, rock, bump. that was such a sweet post. i LOVE rocking chairs. there are pics of me as a toddler in my mini chair rocking my baby doll. adorable.
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