FOURTEEN YEARS AGO, I was exactly this much pregnant with my firstborn. He was due on September 23, and this baby is due September 25, so every bit of this pregnancy has occurred in the same seasons as the first time I was pregnant. It’s been pretty weird—a lot of déjà vu, triggered by things like the melting snow in early spring (I was immediately brought back to my morning-sick days of my first trimester with my first baby … not the best memory when I was enduring the morning-sick days of my first trimester with this baby) and desperately trying not to melt in the hot summer (I remember sitting right in front of the air conditioner when I was pregnant with my first, and I’ve found myself doing the same this summer, especially during those brutally hot days of last week).
One of the craziest things about thinking back to fourteen years ago and how hard I thought it was is how amazing this summer has been so far, and how vastly easier.
Since school has gotten out, my almost-fourteen-year-old (that wee babe that was kicking in my belly fourteen years ago like this little one is doing now) has created a list of cleaning projects around the house that he’d like to tackle. He discussed them with me, and I’ve added/edited where needed, and in the first two weeks since school let out he emptied our van (which had been like a traveling department store—clothes and towels, cups and bowls everywhere) and swept it out until it looked like it did the day we got it. He “deep cleaned” (his words) our guest bathroom until it sparkled. He helped move the couches in the TV room to sweep out underneath, then took all the cushions off the sectional and vacuumed it all out. He dismantled our old broken crib to make way for the new one. He took everything out of the toy closet, vacuumed it out, then put everything back in neatly. He’s nearly done deep cleaning our front room, and has his sights set on the back porch and the upstairs as well. He’s muscle when I need it, carrying heavy things up and down the stairs as if they were nothing (as a side note, isn’t it amazing watching a teenage boy become strong and know his strength? I always think it’s like superheroes when they first realize they have power. Like Peter Parker marveling at his new abilities and delighting in testing them out). In short, my oldest boy is a dream come true.
While my oldest is the one I’ve been most struck by, his brothers aren’t far behind. My soon-to-be twelve-year-old assumes responsibility for as many grocery bags as he can fit on his arms (a lot!) when we get home from the grocery store, *without me asking*! “I got them, Mom,” he’ll say, and takes pride in getting all the bags in the house in as few trips as possible. You moms of littles will understand what a huge help this is! My ten-year-old has been unbuckling the straps of my four-year-old’s car seat for me, so I don’t have to heave myself in the van to do it. You moms who are heavily pregnant will understand what a huge help this is!
Upon hearing me rave about how helpful my big boys are being, a friend of mine, whose kids are older than mine, said, “Ah, yes, you have hit that magical age of the older kids being able to ‘do.’ It is amazing.”
Truly, this summer of being seven, eight, and nine months pregnant with six other children feels easier than that summer fourteen years ago, when all I had to do was care for myself and my in-utero baby, and it’s definitely infinitely easier than when all of my boys were small (even when there were several less of them). I know this sounds crazy, but it’s true! Add into that that at least half of them can basically care for themselves on a consistent basis—take their own showers, brush their own teeth, make their own meals, get their own selves in and out of bathing suits—and mama, this is one terrific summer.
All this to say, if you only have small children, your day is coming! It’ll be here before you know it! I hope you’re all enjoying your summer!
Kate and her husband have six sons ages 13, 11, 10, 8, 6, and 4; they’re expecting their seventh baby in the fall. Follow her at www.facebook.com/kmtowne23, or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
