Having babies....

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Everyone who knows me, knows that I love babies. Holding them, tending them, quieting a restless baby. I owe it all to my parents who were foster parents for over thirty babies. Newborns to two years old shared our home - and not all came without their own share of problems. Bittersweet is too small a word to convey the heartache and joys we experienced by serving as a respite from their harsh beginnings.
I had four children and doted over them all. It was a happy time. Mostly. What a thrill when my oldest daughter seemingly cloned herself.
I was lucky enough to have hours and hours with my grand daughter and continue to do so, but not so much since my divorce. She is a precious jewel in my life.
My youngest daughter is awaiting the return of her husband from Afghanistan with plans for starting a family in the next few years. I can't wait. Meanwhile her peers are having babies and I finally got to hold another sweet little girl and calm her to sleep. It's the mother in me I guess. I make no excuses for it. I love babies!
I was never one to father a child and drop it off into the hands of the mother. Feeding, diapers, dealing with a two year old having a tantrum. I don't know where the phrase, "Children must be seen but never heard" came from. I like a house full of kids.
But I must admit that age has me leaning more towards having the grand kids over, spoiling them, tiring them out and giving them back to their parents so that I can nestle into a comfortable chair into a quiet room.
Studies have shown that men who become fathers experience a decline in testosterone - a biological change in a man's hormones that researchers say suggest that men are hardwired to care for their kids. Single men have higher rates of prostate cancer and other health concerns linked to higher levels of testosterone. It signals that men who have partners and who have children are more healthy and happier than their single counterparts.
Since I have been nurturing babies since I was eleven years old perhaps my testosterone levels may have never gotten off the ground.

Naaaaaah!!!

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