Happy Mother's Day!! I am very fortunate to not only have a fabulous mother, that I look up to and admire, but also to have a huge support network of amazing mothers in my family and friends. I hope all the mothers had wonderful days and were spoiled by their loved ones!
Being a Mother means a lot of things to a lot of people... here is what being a Mother means to me....
It means that my house is never as clean and tidy as I would like it to be.... there are always toys of some sort, articles of discarded clothing, shoes, cups or whatever somewhere where they are not supposed to be. Even after I clean up.
It means that there are never enough hours in the day and even when I find spare hours, I generally use them by falling asleep on the couch....
Which leads to the next thing.... there is never enough sleep. There are late nights, long nights, sick nights, pee the bed nights, nightmare nights, random crying for no reason nights, there were the laughing for hours on end nights (they were funny, but thankfully have stopped), and all the other reasons that kids wake up at night and as a result parents are up at night.
It means I have fingerprints on my walls and windows.
It means I would rather catch barf in my bare hands than have it land on the carpet, which is way harder to clean. (GROSS!)
It means that I have literally read the same books thousands of times and despite my best efforts to steer them to other books, keep reading the same ones over and over and over and over and over.... I think even when I am 90 I will still be able to recite some of them word for word!
It means I have cooked more hot dogs in the last 4 years than I have in my entire life before.
It means I may not have the most up to date wardrobe, or best hairstyle (or an actual hairstyle) because I spend my time and money on my children.... happily.
It means I have to make hard choices, be the bad guy and say no... despite the fact that my 3 year old is lying face down on the floor in Superstore screaming because I won't buy him the giant nerf gun that is literally twice the size of him.
It means I am never alone... I mean NEVER... like I can't even pee by myself!
It also means I am never alone.... I always have the two cutest little boys with me all the time, and will (hopefully) have them around me to some extent for the rest of my life.
It means I get to be a kid again, and play toys, and ride bikes and draw with chalk and laugh and be silly and eat jello and cookies!
It means I get to see these two amazing people grow, and change and learn and I get to discover things about the world that I have forgotten, or that I simply don't appreciate as an adult the way a child appreciates them.
It means I laugh.... a lot. (these kids are characters)
It means I feel love in ways I did not know it was possible to love. It is all encompassing, overpowering and literally can bring tears to my eyes.
It means I question myself on a regular basis, and hope I am doing things right and not making too many mistakes... knowing that I do make mistakes, but these little boys love me anyways and that we will all be okay even if we aren't perfect.
It means I literally have my heart walking around on the outside of my body... and there is nothing, I mean nothing, that I won't do to protect it and those little boys. (I feel for their future teachers and girlfriends.... apologies in advance)
It means I wake up everyday feeling needed and wanted and loved, and I live with renewed sense of purpose knowing that they need me and love me.... and to be honest I need them too.
It means that you drive all that way to Banff for a nice Mother's Day and still go to Boston Pizza for lunch, but love it anyways because you are with your favourite people and they are happy because they get slushy drinks and pizza dogs.
It means that I am truly blessed. I may not have all the fancy clothes and shoes, I may not get to go on big elaborate vacations, I may wear yoga pants a lot (and not do any yoga in them), and I spend the vast majority of my time looking after everyone else's needs and not my own.... but I would not have it any other way. Even on the longest, toughest days, it only takes one moment.... where your child tells you they love you, or they randomly give you a hug or kiss, or they play nicely together laughing their heads off, that I remember why I was put on this earth and why I chose to stay home with the kids, and what I was made to do. I remember that I love these boys more than I thought humanly possible, that I am proud of even the smallest thing they do and I am so fortunate that I get to be their mother.
Being a Mother means more to me than I can put in to words, and I am thankful everyday for the amazing little boys that call me mom.
Our Mother's Day adventure in Banff
( three of the 4 loves of my life... mountains and my Carson and my William)
{Daddy is the other one missing from all this, but he wouldn't buy the novelty tourist photo of the 4 of us in the gondola together ;) }
