On Being Mother

Sunday we celebrated a glorious day. The day is a day where the world stops buzzing and people recognize the wonderful woman that gave them life. That's right, whenever she makes you mad remember, she gave you life, what do you have on that? I asked for one thing, no tantrums. Now this would be an amazing feat in this house to accomplish. No tantrums? She must be absolutely crazy, no this time, she has officially lost it. That is like saying that I don't want the sun to rise. It is going to. Tantrums come to this home daily as sure as, well as sure as anything that is definitely going to occur on a daily basis. Now added is the 'tussle,' where if my two offspring are fighting over some random silly toy from a Happy Meal, they somehow end up rolling around on the floor screaming, screeching, and swatting at each other, legs, arms, hair, flying everywhere. I am left screaming, 'BREAK IT UP!!!!!!,' at least 25 times a day. Which by the way, forget fighting over the toy I spent a considerable amount of money on, they of course fight over the little penguin from Madagascar from last weeks trip to Mc Donald's, that in the midst of the fight is repeating, 'Just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave.'

But they did it. The grace of God was bestowed upon me, and my children not only did not have naps, they did not have one tantrum.

We spent the day with family, and this tends to sometimes overwhelm and overstimulate them to the point where sheer madness occurs, but the good little cherubs bucked up for Mommy, and were smiles and giggles. I may have started to think, 'what body snatcher took over my children,' however yesterday, rest assured all things were back to normal. Punches were thrown, screaming occurred, time outs were spent, and toys went flying off shelves.

On a serious note:

I eat, sleep, and breathe my children. As exhausting as they are sometimes, I would never, ever have it any other way. I am all consumed by them to the point that I miss them terribly when I am away from them for a shift at work. I rush home to watch them sleep, to make sure they are warm, and to kiss their soft heads. Who am I kidding, I miss them when I run to Target. Sure, it feels great to get away, but it always feels better to get back. The homecoming Kendall and Ethan give you is like no other, it as if you have been gone for a week, not 30 minutes.

Everyday is my Mother's Day, so cheesy, but a lesson I have surely learned. I didn't need one single gift, although they were lovely to receive, but having my babies, and having them near me, is more than enough. I am more in love with my husband for giving me these babies. He may feel sometimes as I rant and rave about how much I am enamored with my children like he is chop suey,but I never forget to give credit, where credit is due. He helped make me a mother and that is the greatest gift.

I learned from my own mom, the importance of being a mom and simply put,just being there. It is definitely simply said, but never simply done, is it? Oh and as frustrating as we are sometimes, the consistency of a mother and her daily love, affection, and direction cannot be matched or replicated. We are called to be a physical shelter and comfort for our children while here, to nurture and shape them, an overwhelming and probably the most difficult job ever, but again, we were chosen to do this. I was chosen for Kendall and Ethan, and it is my job, no one else's, to fulfill this task, it is my purpose to put everything I can into raising them. They don't stand for excuses or reasons to the contrary, and I don't get to try again later, I get one shot. Sometimes after a bad morning with them or an overall crap shoot day I want to double check this. Are we 100% certain that the right decision was made to place them with me, because I failed miserably on that day. And then Kendall will turn to me randomly and say, 'I love you Mommy,' or Ethan will say, ' I give you big kiss,' and wrap his chubby little arms around my neck and squeeze tight planting a snot and slobber filled kiss all over my face. There is no mistake and there is always a foundation of unconditional love between us here in house number 216, and that is the beauty of being a little family, and I love being the Mother Hen.

For dessert on Mother's Day my sisters had us make S'More's by the chiminea, how fitting because I definitely could always use:
s'more loving from Kendall and Ethan and s'more cuteness from their tiny little beings...and eventually s'more babies, just like them.