Babies are drugs.

My name is mama M and I am a babyholic. I have had a baby in the house for the last ten years. Now our last baby is sixteen moths old and I'm not pg again, it's dawned on me that this is probably it until grandkids.

Baby Guy isn't stopping any clocks for me either. Sure he still considers me his own personal 24 hour buffet, but he's started choosing other things first sometimes. I'm nothing compared to some applesauce or diced peaches. He likes to be held when he's tired, but loves to run after a ball. He still likes to nap in my bed, but sleeps in a toddler bed at night. He even has teeth and can use a few words, like mom and juice.and NO. Another six months, and the only baby thing left will be diapers.

Another year or two, then it's preschool or parents day out. Then, for the first time in over a decade, it will just be me and an empty house. The first day will be liberating. I'll go to the grocery store, alone, before the kids are in bed. Maybe I'll do something exotic like go to a bookstore or have lunch with a friend. The second day I'll clean like a madwoman thinking, finally! I can get caught up! The third day I'll be crying, just wishing someone would color on a wall...or take apart the pan cabinet...or need me somehow.

Yet inside I'll know they all still need me, to sign their homework, take them to practice, watch their concerts and games, and assure them all of what great people they're becoming. They'll need me to volunteer in the school, the church, and elsewhere to show them how to be a giving member of the community. They'll need me to listen to them, as they learn how to make decisions & figure out who they are. They'll need me to start following my own path again, to show them I trust them to find theirs. They'll need me as their counselor and friend...hopefully for a long time.

And then they'll have babies of their own. If I'm lucky, they'll share.