Happy Mothers' Day!

A funny and a serious looks at being a mom. I hope you enjoy it.

Thankful November

My Mommy

I have the BEST mommy around. For years and years I was a major brat and would tell her almost daily that I hated her. (Yes, I've apologized over and over....but it's NEVER enough!) When I became a teenager I realized that the one thing I really wanted out of my life was to be friends with my mom. It took many, MANY years before that happened.

BUT now we ARE friends. In fact, besides Steve, she is my best friend. We talk about anything and everything. We are SO alike, and I wonder if that's why I disliked her so much growing up. Anyway, we will quite often say the same thing to Cameron, in the SAME tone of voice. (We said it one time at the same time, it was like hearing it in stereo!)

She is an amazing example to me of selfless sacrifice. She's taken care of MANY family members, including both of my grandmothers when they were sick with cancer. She now cares for her handicapped brother, doing more for him than I'm SURE she'd like to do. She helps out MY little family. She's there to support me, and let me know that she cares.

Yesterday she gave me a quick call to ask if I needed her to pick something up for me at the store. She doesn't HAVE to do this, but she does it anyway, and I'm so grateful.

I have the bestest mommy, and I am SO grateful that she and I have the relationship that we do now. I am SO blessed!

Mothers' Day

I had a wonderful Mothers' Day. Steve gave me a fun card (that sings Rascal Flatt's song Melt), a book about mother's of prophets and a beautiful set of earrings. I was happy to get the earrings because I was going to wear them to church with a necklace that Cameron had made for me at scouts. (With my mom's ward, not ours.) Then came Cam's present to me.

He had been with my mom on Saturday and was sneaking around to keep me from seeing his "present" for me. He really didn't need to worry, I've gotten to the point that I don't really care if someone says, "Oh, I've got a surprise/gift for you, and you REALLY want to know what it is, right??" Usually I'm pretty content to just wait until I get it.

He pulled out a red box with a black bow on it. It was a set of earrings and a HUGE necklace. The earrings were butterflies and the necklace was a flower. Now, anyone who knows me KNOWS I do NOT do necklaces. I like them, they're pretty, but I can never find one that's long enough to go around my neck, and is complimentary to my personality. I just KNEW that I could NOT disappoint my excited boy. He was really excited to see his mom wear the present he had picked out specifically for me. So I wore it. And surprisingly the necklace fit fine around my fat neck. And I think I looked pretty cute. (Gaudy jewelry and all!)

That evening I was at my own mom's house calling my youngest brother who's on his mission to the Philippines. He'd told me in a previous email that he was nervous about calling because he was afraid he'd be homesick. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. BUT we had a hard time communicating with him. His English was halting and he couldn't quite think of things to say. He's doing well, and is excited to be transferred from the office (he hopes!) And for some reason, in my weekly emails to him, I'd neglected to tell him about Cameron and the pretzel. I told him the story and he was laughing SO hard. I guess I really should remember the funny, quirky things that my kids do, so I can make him laugh like that at least once a week.

Overall it was a VERY nice day, and I'm glad to have such good kids and a WONDERFUL mother.

Being a Mom to my Mom

I didn't think it would come this soon, but I've been doing all sorts of things for my mom since her surgery on Thursday. Not that I'm doing a lot, but it's been quite an eye-opening experience. The poor lady is just miserably sick. She can't hardly eat or drink, everything she DOES manage to get down just doesn't taste. On top of this she's been stuck inside her house since Thursday, with little more company than her television and her dogs.

It's weird for me to see my mom this way. She's always been such a strong example to me of strength in being who you are. Maybe I don't remember her being this sick before, but it's hard to see her this way.

On Thursday she was so drugged up that she didn't even seem like herself. (Later she realized that two of the three drugs prescribed for her contained 7% alcohol, really making her loopy!)

Cam worries about her constantly!! She fell asleep in her chair the night after her surgery and her mouth was drooped open (since the poor lady couldn't breathe through her nose) and was snoring slightly. My son, the child who asks very blunt questions said, "Mama, is she dead?!"

I calmed him by saying that she was just sleeping, but I couldn't help but giggle.

Today, for the first time since having her tonsils taken out, I saw her actually CHEW some food. Honestly, it was like witnessing a miracle! It seems like she'll be sick forever, but I know that it's only temporary. I just hope I can help her out as much as she's been a help to me in my life!

Go Mamas!!

It must be that kind of day...I just read a couple of posts and they are standing up for the mommy way of life. Reading them just makes me want to stand up, stick my fist in the air and shout out: "Go Mamas!!" Not necessarily the "burn your bra, woman-power" type chant, but the spit-up on, laundry piled high, living on no sleep, tired mamas I know are out there! Who's to say that being a mother isn't the hardest most rewarding job there is? Who decided that being a working gal was more important than raising well-adjusted, law-abiding, happy children? Whoever it was, WAS NOT a mother! Sure, there are days it feels lousy, we feel like we're taking care of others and not ourselves, but the reward for feeling this way is there. Rewards like, when your child comes to you when they have an owie that only mama can fix. Or when after an exhausting day, you hold your sleeping child in your lap and think how beautiful they look and knowing that they love you, and you love them. The rewards may not seem huge in the world's eyes, but they're there for you to find and savor when you do! For those moments, I say....GO MAMAS!!

Happy Mothers' Day, Mom

On this day before Mothers' Day I just want to list the things that make me LOVE my mom and what I appreciate about her!

• I love that she has instilled in me and my siblings a sense of who we are and who we can become. Without her I don't think I'd be the same person I am today.
• I love my mom's sense of humor. She's constantly laughing about something and it makes me happy to hear her enjoying life with her kids and family. She also claims that we got our father's sense of humor, but I think a healthy dose of that came from her!
• I love my mom's love of her family. She is always showing her family how much she loves and appreciates them by doing things for them without complaint and with a willing heart.
• I love my mom's laughter! I know I've mentioned before that her laugh is unique and I inherited that same type of laugh, but it always brings a smile to my face to hear her laugh.
• I love my mom's love of God and her religion. Because of her love for God I've also learned that I can turn to Him in times of need or times of prosperity and He'll be there for me.
• I love that my mom LOVES kids. She is known all around for her love of kids...she's the sucker-lady in her neighborhood...she takes crying kids to soothe them in church...she makes faces at crying babies in stores...she just loves kids and it shows!
• I love my mother's example to me of her love for her husband. I had a WONDERFUL example of two people being madly in love and I want the same for me and my family.
• I love that when I was being a major pain in the butt growing up she always told me that she loved me and that would NEVER change. I was very hateful, but she showed me that I could never change her love for me.
• I love that my mom is my mom. She has shaped me into the person I am and I know that without her I am nothing. She has given me the values I have, the love I have for others, and the attitude I have for life. There is no one like my mom in the whole wide world and I love her for all that she has done for me.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

The older I get, the more I realize that I am slowly becoming my mother. When I was younger if someone had told me that one day I would be just like her I would have gone to my room brooding and being angry for a long time, but now it's not so bad!
There are several ways I'm becoming like her, first off are the sayings we use. When I was younger I remember that my mom always said WEIRD things. She would say, "I can NEVER have nice things." Or the famous, "Just wait until your dad gets home!" She would always curse us with, "One day you'll have kids that treat you the same way that you treat me, and then you'll understand." There was a time when I thought that these comments were uncalled for and that she was just rambling....but guess what...I now say these things and I understand where she was coming from when she uttered them....She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The one phrase that I find myself using a lot is the famous, "Just wait until your dad gets home!" When I was told this, I would immediately freak out and hope she'd forget...I feared my dad. When I utter this to Cam, he simply nods his head and carries on in what he was doing. He has no fear of his father. It's sad that this SAME phrase, uttered in the same exasperated tone of voice has such different responses.
The other way that I'm becoming my mother is the fact that I need quiet time daily. When I was younger she'd gather all of us into the living room (I'm the oldest of 6...so there were lots of bodies sprawled out all over) and she'd turn on a quiet cartoon (usually the Flintstones or Tom and Jerry) and she'd conk out and insist that we'd either nap or quietly watch cartoons. I LOVE that tradition that I'm carrying on with...the only problem is I cannot get Cam to realize that this is a GOOD thing! The little girl I babysit EASILY realizes the brilliance of this plan and will sleep for me for a good hour to an hour and a half. Cam on the other hand is a pill!! I'll turn on cartoons and turn the volume WAY down to where he can barely hear it, and I will fall into my beloved nappy time! All the while Cam is roaming the house trying to find something to keep him occupied and entertained. The boy just won't obey me!
And finally...the way I'm morphing into my mother is the fact that we both have the same warped sense of humor and sense of justice in the world. We both laugh at the same STRANGE things...both get angry at the same things....and we both realize now that the only thing a mother ever truly wants in her life is peace and silence!
I love my mom. She and I are a lot alike, but it took us many years, many hours of crying, many hurt feelings, and many arguments to get to this point. I love her and I'm glad that I grew up to be JUST LIKE HER! (Happy my birthday to my mommy! After all, she is the one who made me possible!)