"Song for a Fifth Child"

I stole this poem from my sister's blog. I absolutely love it. The end part of the poem I have had memorized since I was quite young. My mom had it embroidered and hanging in our home as far back as I can remember. But Jessica found the rest of the poem. It is so fitting for our own little Roo!

"Song for a Fifth Child"

Mother, oh Mother,come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't (his) eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs.Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton