Happy Mother’s Day!

So yesterday was our day of leisure – a walk for a great cause, a picnic and visit to the zoo, and a trip to the park. While all of that made for a great day, that meant today was a day of work. Happy Mother’s Day! Now get out in the yard. George did let me sleep “late” (8 a.m. feels like late these days!) and we had some play time and breakfast before we hit the yard, but I was eager to get the mower going before the seemingly imminent rain started. As it turned out, I was able to get the whole yard mowed with only a few drops of rain, and we never got much more than that. Then it was errand running, followed by pulling weeds and sweeping dirt out of the gutter (glamorous, I know), and then sweeping and mopping our screen porch floor which was caked with pollen. It wasn’t exactly a day of pampering (though I did buy myself some nail polish at Target and gave myself a $4 mani/pedi while I bathed Charlie!) but still, it was time with my family in the sun, getting lots of good work done. And a mother’s day of sweeping, weeding, and cleaning beats a mother’s day in the NICU, where I spent my first mother’s day as a mom, any day! Hard to believe that was 4 long years ago.

Charlie has been saying Happy Mother’s Day all day today, to both his daddy and me. It’s pretty cute. He and George also gave me a wonderful card and a new IPod Nano, which is a very nice treat – my first IPod that’s not just a shuffle, but actually lets me choose which song I want to hear!

I feel very lucky to have a mother I can emulate as I continue to learn how to be a good mom. Sometimes the fact that I work full time makes me feel like I put more time into things that are less important than raising this crazy, wild kiddo who is developing his own adorable and defiant personality every day.  My mom was there for EVERYTHING – every sports event, brownie meeting and girl scout cookie sale, birthday party, school activity, etc. I, on the other hand, recently had to skip one of the 2 parent activities at Charlie’s school, and Pamela’s going with him on this week’s farm field trip instead of me. I get sad if I think too much about the things I might have missed or might miss in the future, but life is busy and work is a necessity and I have to believe we’re doing the best we can for Charlie. And I know he’s thriving – he’s so full of energy and humor, and shows us every day just how smart he is. Being a mom is the hardest and best job I’ve ever had, and I’m so lucky to have it!