Oh hey sippy cups

We all have heard of “Empty Nest Syndrome,” but I’d like to shine a light on something I to refer to as “Empty Bottle Rack Syndrome.” Parenting is one gigantic rubber band ball of emotions and just when you think you are getting close to the core, you find another layer. I have had three beautiful babies and while I would love a thousand more, reality and my car square footage are telling me to hang up the trusty ole stretchy pants for good. I thought had made peace with that, but then came today. The youngest one’s first birthday eve: the last day that I would have one of my “babies” sleeping under my roof. Of course I’m going to be that mom that refers to her 54 year old son as her baby because that is a well-earned prerogative but still… that baby phase…it’s over. I will wake up in the morning to have a one year old, a near three year old and a four year old. I no longer will resort to the (insert # 1-12) month old statements as a prefix for announcing my children. You may be reading this and thinking I’ve lost my marbles or you may think why yes, I too struggle letting go of that ever so short “baby” age. Either way, I write on my blog as a somewhat cathartic process that allows me to unravel that crazy rubber band ball in the best way I know how.

Let’s get back to the “Empty Bottle Rack Syndrome.” In the early months of child rearing, my husband and I would use the bottles as a bartering chip for other chores that we may find less undesirable. For example, you will often hear in our house, “I will fold the laundry, if you wash the bottles”. The other person would then ponder the pros and cons of each task for a split second and then indubitably always chose the non-bottle related task. What’s the big deal about the bottle you ask?  Wellllll here comes a not so pleasant truth…we have accumulated a lot of bottles with that allowance comes the procrastination of not having to wash the dirty ones in a timely fashion, ergo, icky bottles. One would think we would learn our lesson and not let this happen but time and time again, life got in the way of washing those itty bitty bottle parts. Let’s not even mention the “roll away” bottle. You know the one that got knocked off the end table and then you had to let the dog out and then the two year old rammed it with the Lightning McQueen car into the deep dark crevasse underneath the sectional that you find when you are looking for the remote. Yeah, that one.  Whoever was stuck with daunting task of milk cleansing would quite often be heard mumbling “I can’t wait until we don’t have to wash bottles anymore.”  What I didn’t know was that starting to put away those bottles forever would be the actual daunting task.

Being a mother doesn’t stop when your child turns a certain age but being in the stage of motherhood where those sweet little eyes are looking at you while cradled in your arms is something I will genuinely miss. It makes me tear up a little (or a lot if I’m being honest) that THAT part of my life is over. I feel beyond grateful that it happened but it doesn’t mean my sadness for its end is any less… well… there. But we move on, it’s just what we do, we move on to the next emotional mile marker that is not only part of parenthood but life and capture it the best way we know how. Take the picture, write the blog, finish the baby book, whatever it is, cherish it. They weren’t kidding when they said it would go fast.

Gotta go fold the laundry.