Mother's Day 2013

I awoke to a fabulous cuisine of....Reese's Peanut Butter cups and peach rings! And an adorable card drawn by Gabe at preschool along with a cute decorated planter and plant.

We headed over to Denny's for some Mother's Day brunch and coffee.

Then it was over the local splash park for some fun with water. Just a relaxing afternoon with Gabe and Archie. It's Spring and so I decided to put in my flower barrette that my beautiful friend Sarah made for me back in February and my Spring dress.

It was a gorgeous day and we spent the rest of it with my mother and my sister's, bbqing and talking and eating dessert while Gabe ran amok with his cousin Mailia!

I wanted to say some other things about Mother's Day. I know this is a day that can cause a lot of distress and anxiety for so many women. If you are a woman who's never wanted children of her own, it can be a day of judgment and misunderstanding. If you have lost a child it can be a day of depression and anger. If you don't have enough children or too many or don't have a "normal" family, it can cause the day to be quite stressful.

I go back and forth on this because I'm not the most nurturing of mothers. I don't fit that typical role. It's tough and because it's so damn tough for me, Archie and I have chosen to only have Gabe. And sometimes this day causes anxiety for me because I feel guilty. I shouldn't have a day lavished on me because I don't fit the "role" or whatever. It's dumb but they're feelings and they affect me.

But I try to think about how I care about people in general. I empathize, I want the world to be a better place. I love my son and my friends and my family. I have cats. I nurture them. I have plants outside on my porch that I try to nurture (some days are better than others). I try to nurture my friends' kids. My point is I think most of us (men too) are nurturers. We "mother" things, people, Earth, etc. I think it's a day to celebrate life and the nurturing of that life in whatever form that takes.

Happy nurturing and life day to all :)

Being a Mom Means Living in Crazy Land

It's true. I live in crazy land. It's hard and I get depressed a lot. I love Gabe. He's a beautiful little human but he sure knows how to push the buttons. I'm sure it's not "know," but more of a "I'm three and I have an undeveloped brain" thing. There is a reason why I chose not to teach children and why I've decided to stick with one.

So....let's see what's in crazy land recently. I want Gabe to have lots of opportunities to experience different things, pick up skills, play sports, dance, see the world and all that. So I thought I'd start with T-ball. Seems harmless enough. I even picked up a little cheap t-ball set from Wal-Mart during the mild Winter months. He actually seemed to enjoy throwing some balls and hitting the ball and even running around a fake base or two. I thought it would be a sure thing to get him involved with our city's t-ball team. I also want to be super involved with whatever he wants/happens to be doing, and so I volunteered to be assistant coach for our team....sigh.

Gabe has absolutely no desire to play. He maybe play for 2 seconds with his neighbor friend. Games are even worse. So each week for games and practice my dearly devoted hubby has to take him home. So now I'm volunteering to help coach a bunch of 3 and 4-year-olds. Not a pretty picture. It's chaos. But I want it to be enjoyable so I don't want him to get a bad taste with not playing. We just let him enjoy it as much or as little as he likes and hope next year he'll want to participate more. But that leaves me stuck with the coaching thing. Oh well, you live and learn.

Then there's the puking this weekend. Can anything break a parent's heart more when there is literally nothing you can do to stop the endless puking? His little heaving body just broke my heart. Thankfully, it was only a 24-hour flu. Just lots of cuddles and kisses. That makes up for everything, at least for now.

Being apart of crazy land means that not all hope is lost. He keeps me guessing, hopping, frustrated, loved, excited, scared. Most of the time I feel like an absolute failure. I yell too much. I don't feed him well. I don't give enough love. Whatever. But then there's Mother's Day. And he makes a cute little impression of his hand, colors it with paints, and helps Daddy paint a plaque and glue on letters that say "I love you Mama."

I guess we just do our best and hope we didn't screw him up too badly ;) Gotta love Crazy Land! (well, sometimes, at least.)

I will get a new camera soon and then I'll post the adorable Mother's Day gift!

Happy Women's Day!

Image source: Broken Beautiful

Yes, it's mother's day and I want to wish all those who are mother's a happy one. But I like to think that just being a woman is pretty darn special. I remember when I wasn't a mother and how every year I'd head over for the family party and I just felt lame, deficient, etc. I have two sisters and they both gave to each other on that day, but I was always left out...My mom is pretty darn awesome so she always included me with a card and a hug...but still. What about all those women out there who want to be parents and can't? I just feels a bit too in your face every year.

So I say let's just celebrate womanhood! Whether you have children, want children but don't yet, don't have any and probably won't, let's just celebrate together! We're awesome. And no matter who you are, you awesome for who you are now, not for who you may or may not be in the future. Let's celebrate the wonderful women in our lives...our moms, sisters, aunts, grandmas, daughters, cousins, and friends! You are BEAUTIFUL!