The End of an Era

Tonight I was on our back porch in 35 degree weather shaking out a load of Essie's clothes that had just gotten washed and it hit me...it's the end of an era.

I was shaking out the load of laundry because when I googled "What do you do when you wash a pull up with a load of laundry and it explodes?" that's what the blogs told me to do before washing the load again. Fourteen years of motherhood, fourteen years of diapers and pull ups and I had never had this happen to me before so I had to ask my virtual community.

The irony of the situation is that 3 nights ago was the last night Esther will ever wear pull ups. We had determined that when we returned from our Thanksgiving vacation (sleeping in other people's beds) she would be done with them. She rarely ever had a wet pull up anymore - in fact the one in the laundry probably still had the "you didn't wet me" emblem on the front before I put it in the washer.

We spent our Thanksgiving vacation with lots and lots of family. It was a wonderful time. Throughout the weekend as I watched my cousin chase after her extremely active 15 mth. old and my very pregnant cousin's wife waddle around (who actually just gave birth today - congrats!) and my other cousin who had a week old baby still recovering from birth, I realized that I am really ok. Four is just enough. This is really the first time I've felt that (and don't ask me next week because my hormones may change my mind again).

It's the end of an era for the Voss family. No more babies, no more little toddlers. No more pull ups - especially in the washer!