Mother's Day May 10, 2009

Today is Mother's Day and my kids decided to start it early around 6:40am. Ella is sleeping on our floor with her mattress "big bed" she calls it. Andrew is on-call and he was also awake then. She popped her head up and smiled at him and said, "Hi Daddy!" Then realized I was awake too and said, "Oh hi Mommy!" Meanwhile, Peter is down in his room crying, so Andrew went and got him. Lucky for Peter because had Ella not been awake, he would have had to get his little self back to sleep. The other thing is that we have company visiting, so letting him cry is harder. Anyway, Andrew got their milk and came back up where I was with the kids in my bed. They were already playing around and laughing and he looked at me and said, "Well, Happy Mother's Day!" I guess that was a pretty nice way to start my day, I only wish it had been about an hour later. So we went the the early service today. It starts at 8am. This is the contemporary service, the 10:45am one is traditional. And when I say traditional, I mean that the kids actually gave me a gift getting us all up early enough to get to the 8am service. It's nice to be reunited with instruments of the percussion persuasion. Don't get me wrong, I like hymns, but just not for every Sunday, every song. Church was good and after Ella asked for a doughnut, but they had other treats for the coffee time which we don't usually make it to that satisfied her little sugar tooth. We got home and I needed to get Peter down for his nap. I took him upstairs to his room. Lately, he has been cuddling with me a little before I lay him down (wouldn't trade this for anything). Usually I am wearing long sleeves, but it is warming up and I have short sleeves on today. Peter had his head on my shoulder and I felt something running down my arm. It was his drool! I started laughing, but he didn't move, he clung on to me with both hands, so I just let the drool run it's course :). He drools more than any kids I've ever known. His sheets have a wet spot by his mouth within seconds of me laying him down. It's funny. We all sleep with our mouths open, so I'm not surprised. Small sinus passages are to blame for this. Right now, Ella and I are sitting on the couch while she watches "choo choo trains," (Thomas and Friends). I have been trying to use Peter's nap time as a time for her and I to hang out, whether it's watching toons, or reading, baking, things like that, but today, she wanted Thomas, so that's the activity. It leaves me with the ability to write this. Even though every day I am thankful to be a mom, it's nice to have a day that honors it. It also reminds me of the days that we would do things for my mom, make her things at church and school, attempt to make breakfast for her in bed, and write cards and messages about how much we love and appreciate her. Since having my own kids, as they always say, I have come to appreciate my mom even more knowing now all the sacrifices that go into parenting. It's rewarding, but it's not always easy. So thanks mom, I love you.