A Day For Moms...

Happy Mother's Day, friends. Whether you are a mom, a grandma, an aunt, an "auntie"...I hope that this day finds special joy for you as you reflect on the little ones that you hold dear in your life.

I'd also like to throw out a special big hug to those of you who are grieving this Mother's Day -- the loss of your mom, grandma, special friend(s), relatives...and to those of you who have lost precious babies of your own (no matter how big those babies may have grown to be)...and to those of you who mourn children you long to have or never got to hold in your arms. Mother's Day is for you, too - and I hope that through the pain you can hold onto some happy memories...and if there is only pain, or it's more bitter than sweet, my prayer is that you are granted an extra dose of grace, comfort and peace today. Know that I am praying for YOU today, though I may not know your name. Some of you know I am praying for you by name, and I hope you feel my hugs.

It seems like I get a little more sentimental and a little more weepy with each Mother's Day that I am actually celebrated for being a Mommy. I care less about the gifts and more about the true gifts that I am given each day in my children. Really...if I never got another card, another rose, another crayon or marker filled picture, it would be okay. For me, Mother's Day has become less about me each year, and more about them in that I use that day to really, truly reflect on how immeasurably blessed I am to be able to hold these little lives and hearts in my hands every day.

I'm also more appreciative of the gifts I've been given in the form of my mom, my grandmothers, aunts, "second moms", my husband's family, and my friends. Being a mom myself makes me really take a breath when I stop to think how fortunate I have always been to have been surrounded by such special and amazing women.

Every year there is more to think about, more to celebrate, more to appreciate, more to smile about. Each year I've watched more people that I love and care about suffer through hardships and losses in their lives, and it makes me ever more grateful for what I have in my own life. So many days I take for granted things that I should not. So many days I do NOT count my blessings, nor do I give appropriate thanks for them. Mother's Day is sort of my "reality check" for myself in a lot of ways.

(By the way, my husband is currently downstairs baking some brownies for tomorrow and the intoxicating smell is very distracting! Stuff like that is definitely a bonus, too!)

We had a little scare today with Miss G as we were getting everyone ready to go to a family dinner party at my parents' house. She slipped on a wet spot in the bathroom and fell right into the tiled corner of our bathtub. I was putting the hair dryer away and when I heard a thud I looked over to see her in a pile holding her hand over her eye, and after a very long pause, her blood-curdling pain-filled scream filled my heart with fear. She looked up and I immediately saw a trail of blood coming out from just underneath her right eyebrow. (You know how anything on the face and near the eyes bleeds like crazy.) My husband (who was combing his hair) scooped her up and was trying to get a look at her eye.

I'm sure many of you can relate when I say that my husband is very good at comforting our kids and is completely competent in that department. BUT. When she was in that state and I wasn't physically holding her -- oh. my. word. It was like he was literally holding my own heart in his hands and as I watched a small goose egg instantaneously form above her little eye, I just kept saying "Give her to me. Give her to me. Give her to me." All the while, she is holding her arms out to me saying "Mommy......Mommy....."

*ache* It truly makes my heart ache remembering that moment.

It was probably only about 15 seconds from start to finish, but I just would not have been okay until I was holding her in my arms and physically pouring my love and comfort onto her. Chris (thankfully) didn't fight that and just handed her over. He knew better than to be offended or to take anything personally. He just sort of stood back and let us do our thing. She just melted into me, and really - I did the same to her.

We clung to each other, both crying, for a few moments until my overwhelming emotional tidal wave subsided and some reason set in. I gave her about three kisses and handed her back over to Daddy so that I could run downstairs and grab some ice for her eye. I prayed with each and every step for my sweet girl and tried to keep my heart from beating out of my chest. When I got back upstairs, Georgia and I reached out for each other again and I just headed straight for her rocking chair. She was NOT happy about the idea of ice coming near her eye, so I settled for just having her be still and sang to her as we rocked.

Thankfully, it quit bleeding very quickly as the corner of the tub made more of a puncture-like cut in her skin as opposed to splitting it open. Our focus of concern then changed from the bleeding to swelling, but that also slowed down rather quickly. In other words, we are so very, very fortunate. It's one of those "a millimeter this way or a centimeter that way and things would have been different" sort of injuries. We are SO lucky that she will likely end up with a small scab (hopefully not scar) and a black eye and nothing more.

I was a mess the rest of the day. Truly. It just shook me up. I know I'll get a jolt when I see her for the first time in the morning, too. *shudder* Thank you, Lord - for covering our sweet girl today. Talk about an easy transition into the Mother's Day perspective that I described earlier. Yikes.

I will leave you with a glimpse of my first taste of motherhood with each of my sweet, precious treasures. I am beyond blessed and eternally grateful for being able to say that. Happy Mother's Day.

Mitchell - about 5 minutes old. Can you tell we had a rough start to our journey?


Georgia - one day old and I was already smitten.


Baby Loo - 28 weeks and still cookin'... For those of you who I *know* will be giggling about it, please just this once, ignore the faucet. I was REALLY tired when I took this and forgot that it ends up there. *sigh* So silly.