Okay...it's done...

I am selling the baby swing. You know, the apparatus you set up in your house when you have a baby, you put batteries in it (LOTS of batteries...
LOTS), and it swings your baby into their "happy place"--you need one of these sorts of things when you have a baby. But...I am selling mine. It is in the back of the car--loaded to go to a consignment sale. And I am crying. I am crying because selling this swing means I will never have another baby in need of swinging living in my house. Selling this swing means MY babies have long three year old legs that carry them up the stairs and down the slide at the preschool playground and they hardly need rocking any more, much less SWINGING or they are becoming so mobile they end up trying to heave their growing body over the side of the seat on the MOVING swing, onto the floor, toward the dog...or the sister...or the remote. Selling this swing closes a chapter in my life--a chapter I very much have enjoyed. I like babies...I like being pregnant...I like nursing a baby and smelling their sweet sour milk breath...I like tiny clothes and even tinier socks. However, I also like growth, and yes...even change. I like to see discovery on my children's faces--I like to watch my daughter marvel at the wonders of this world and ask "How you do that?" (every 5 minutes) and I like to hear her SING!!! at the TOP of her lungs as we wheel our way through Wal-mart...I like to watch my son slowly piece together how the world works and roll, roll, roll to his heart's content...and I like to see God in action--fast, swirling, singing, twirling, crying, laughing, learning, helping, sharing, fit-throwing, coloring, drooling, grinning action. So I'll sell this swing...and cherish the pictures I have of my children as teeny tiny babies swaddled and sleeping as it rocked them back and forth, back and forth. Now where is that baby gate??