My "Mama" Chair

When Madison was two, her grandmother thought I should have a rocking chair which swiveled and rocked so that I could rock her to sleep.  Madison was an active and somewhat precocious child…being "still" was not really a part of her vocabulary.  She started the day letting us know she was awake by bouncing in her crib singing and calling for us to come "get me".  And, her energy seemed to explode during the day where climbing trees at preschool was the norm and running, "as fast as fast can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man" was her daily goal.  By night fall, rather than being drained and exhausted to the point of falling into bed, she was wound like a clock and ready for action.

It was a rather daunting task each night to try to get her to go to sleep.

Thus, the "Mama chair."

Her grandmother is a shopper and renown in her little hometown for being a bargain hunter.  So, when a local furniture store was going out of business (at least for that season), she just knew she would find the perfect, magical rocking chair which would draw Madison into gentle slumber….ha!

It was no surprise to me when I visited her home one weekend and she had this petite, navy, flower embedded rocking, swiveling chair (I later recovered it in this French Country print and it awaits its 3rd recovering) in which I was to rock my precious bundle of energy…and, there must be something to a grandmother's sage knowing, because it worked.

My Mama chair has rocked my babies many a miles and I confess, it is a treasured possession for more than one reason to this Mama's heart.

When I close my eyes, I can hear myself singing, "Baby mine" and "You are my sunshine", "Jesus loves me" and "Amazing Grace" to my little daughter.  We laughed. We cried.  We rocked through fevers and illnesses.  We rocked through energy bursts and boogie man fears.  We read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "The Velveteen Rabbit" at least one million times.  I fell in love with my little daughter in that chair…and, thought it could never be possible to love another child as much.

But, then came along her twin brothers.

And, I fell in love all over again.

When you have twins and you decide to nurse them…really, what you are committing to is a life of rocking and feeding.  I am pretty certain that the first few months of my sons' lives I spent the majority of my time sitting, sleeping, and feeding my babies from that chair.  By then, my mother had given me a beautiful glider/rocker (a story for another day) so that both babies could be rocked and fed.

My babies and I were cocooned in our home for six months where we mostly rocked, fed, changed diapers, fed, slept, fed…..

And, it was magical

To this day, my posture has never fully recovered from the gentle bend in my shoulders from all of those hours of sitting with a baby in my arms through the day and night.  When I sit down in a chair, it takes purposeful effort to keep both feet on the floor.  I am so used to gathering up my legs over the arm of my rocking chair while nursing and infant that I have to remind myself that those babies are now a twenty-five year old woman and two twenty year old men.

Where does the time go?

I cannot say…

But, as sure as the sun rises and sets each day, your babies will grow older along with you and your time with them in your arms, rocking and singing and praying over their little heads will come to a close…so, to all my young Mama friends…I so encourage you

Rock your babies….

Rock them and sing to them and pray over them….brand into your heart that sacred trust of time when it is just you and them….alone….rocking the night into the morning….

Blessings,

Lesa