I have a love-hate relationship with Mother's Day. While I enjoy {finally} being able to celebrate it as a mother, I haven't forgotten how hard it was every year for me when we were waiting for our babies. There are many people in my life that I know are still waiting, so those friends are always heavy on my heart on Mother's Day.
At one time, I was close with someone who had lost their mother when they were a teenager. Mother's Day was always super hard for her, as well. So, I know it's not just those of us who have first-hand experience with infertility that suffer on Mother's Day. It's also difficult for those who have lost their own mother or even children. Every holiday can be like this, but I just remember how terrible Mother's Day used to be for me, so I still feel those emotions strongly.
Despite all of this, I do try to keep a positive attitude throughout the day and celebrate it with loved ones. Our tradition is to go to my parents' house for the weekend so I can spend the day with my own mom. We've done this for several years, but this year was different. Having babies two at a time is a game changer. We've always traveled when our babies were very small, but we just didn't feel ready for it this year. I missed so much being with my mom for the weekend, but it was just wasn't what was best for us this time.
This year, we were invited to a little Mother's Day celebration at Chris's sister's house on May 9th (the Saturday before actual Mother's Day). We spent that morning putting the finishing touches on a few handcrafted gifts for my mom, Chris's grandma, and me, then headed over to Chris's sister's house to spend the afternoon.
Meme with Abby, Zeke, and Brooke:
We had lunch and just enjoyed each other's company for a few hours.
Meme with Brooke, Chris with Brecklyn, and Grandpa:
Grandma holding Brooke and Chris holding Brecklyn:
Grandma with {a fussy} Brooke and Grandpa with Brecklyn:
Grandpa isn't one to hold babies much, so it was cute that he was holding Brecklyn for several minutes :-)
Sweet photo of Grandma and Brecklyn:
Grandma and Grandpa with our little crew:
All the grandchildren on Chris's side of the family: Abby holding Brooke, Zeke holding Brecklyn, Brianna, and Brenson
While the babies are much easier to take places now than they were even a few weeks ago, we still weren't able to stay long. With it being afternoon, it was right during their nap time, so they were being a little fussy. They each did sleep for just about 30 minutes which helped their dispositions, but we try not to push them too hard.
The next morning, we got up and ready earlier than usual so that we'd have time for photos and gifts. Sunday mornings can get a bit hectic around our house, but we had plenty of time to fit everything in this day.
Brianna, Momma, and Bren:
Brooke, Momma, and Brecklyn:
Just the girls . . . Bren had a pretty bad attitude about taking pictures this day :-(
It's always fun to have a little pile of gifts to open :-). A few years ago, Chris and I started having the children write in a book for us for Mother's/Father's Day instead of doing cards. The purple book you see in this photo is my book they write in each year. We both LOVE this idea! I adore having their words, writing, coloring, stickers, etc all in one place to look at whenever I want. I'm sure it will just get better as the years go by!
Here I am with my gifts . . . a couple pairs of shoes, a new watch, an amethyst ring (since all my babies were born in February AND purple is my favorite color, it makes jewelry shopping easy), some socks to go with my new shoes, and several bottles of hand soap.
About a week before Mother's Day, Brenson was talking to me one evening and just blurted out one of the gifts they had gotten me. When he quickly realized what he had done, he was so embarrassed that he ran away crying. I felt so bad for the little guy, but it was so cute that I just laughed and laughed. He's such a sensitive little man, and he was really upset with himself for letting the "secret" slip out.
It's always hard for me to know what to get people like Chris's Grandma for holidays. I found this idea on Pinterest where you use paint to put your child's footprint on a flower pot, then turn them into butterflies. I thought it was a super cute idea, so we did a flower pot for Grandma and one for me. Let me tell you, it was a MESS painting on each child's foot then stamping it on the flower pot, but I adore how it turned out! Such a treasure to me!
I used a Sharpie to draw the body of the butterfly and to write each child's name on their footprints. These are Brianna's:
I also wrote the year in Sharpie.
You can just imagine how difficult it was to get a 3 month old to cooperate with this project! It took both Chris and I to get it accomplished, and it still didn't turn out perfect. These are Brooke's footprints:
Brenson's:
And, Brecklyn's:
As much as I love the flower pot and am thankful for the other gifts, my true gift is that of being a mom to my little crew. It's a gift that I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to experience. It's a gift I waited for years to receive. It's a gift sent straight from God above. I can't express enough how having these babies is nothing short of a dream-come-true.
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