The one about Mother's Day of course!

I owe a big thanks to my sweet husband for making my Mother’s Day special. First, you should know that Mike doesn't celebrate mothers in general on Mother’s Day.  He’s a firm believer in Mother’s Day being celebrated between mother and child.   Since we have a bit of a conflicting view on the subject, last year was a disaster. I thought it was going to be a very special day filled with sweet surprises and loving gifts.  After all, I’m the mother of his children!  I’m the only mother in this home, I’m pretty much the queen of all mothers in his life right now.  He thought that spending the day together and going to lunch was a good enough celebration. He assumed that Mother’s Day wouldn’t really be celebrated until the boys were old enough to really understand and show their appreciation.  By the time we were in bed that night, ready to go to sleep, I had finally realized that Mother’s Day was over and there weren’t going to be any last minute gifts or sweet tokens.  At least I was able to open up and tell him how disappointed I was in my first real mother’s day.  I explained my expectations and he explained his position.

 This year he made a sweet effort to celebrate on behalf of the boys.  There was a bouquet of flowers on the counter when I woke in the morning, with a wrapped gift, bag of dark chocolates and a card.  The card had notes written for each of the boys as well as himself.  The gift was a pretty set of lotions, and breakfast was toasted Eggo waffles with sliced strawberries and powdered sugar.  The theme was perfect, and gave me a glimpse into the future when it really is the boys choosing my breakfast and my gifts.

Mother’s Day is a reminder of how much responsibility is on our shoulders. On Mother’s Day, all around us are constant reminders of where we are falling short.   Clips and poems and sayings about what a mother is.  Who are these women that this stuff is based on?  The sermon at church on Sunday was a tribute to mothers and their unconditional love.  The bond between mother and child- forged from the womb, and I get this part. I love my babies more than anything in this world and I would do absolutely anything for them.  The sermon went on about how moms heal wounds with their kisses, they have never ending patience, they are great teachers, keep everything organized, know where everything is, clean up spills, kill germs and make a home comfortable and warm. Mom is the cook, the janitor, the driver, the teacher, coach, mentor, and agent.  In my house, most of these duties are split.  Mike is definitely more patient than me.  I’m not really a great cook, at least not a consistent cook.  I only drive when I’m the only adult in the car and Mike is their role model, rightly so.  We alternate who feeds the boys, we alternate who brushes Reed’s teeth and who puts them down.  I don’t dive to the rescue when Reed is hurt and cover his boo-boos in kisses.  He doesn’t normally require affection after a spill.  I’m supposed to be the foreign language translator , but half the time I don’t know what the heck Reed is saying either, so don’t look at me! I’m even supposed to be able to distinguish Bryce’s different cries.  I know two cries- there is a cry for “I’m either tired, hungry or need a new diaper.” And then there’s “I’m in physical pain because my brother is a brute.” The latter is high pitched and on the verge of hysterical.  But the first cry doesn’t distinguish between the 3 needs.  I just check off the boxes till I get the one that soothes him. 

I don’t take on any of the jobs single-handedly.  Maybe I should have given Mike a happy mother’s day card!  
Does that make me a bad mom? Are you guys disappointed in me?  This is the honest truth of it all.  I’ve got less than two years experience and I’m still learning.  At least I can say that I love to learn.  I even attended a conference last week, called Project Mom- Be Even Better. My iPad is now packed with both voice memo recordings of the speakers and notes from each class I took.  But the first thing I did when I got home is go over all my notes with Mike and try to decide how to apply new new-found knowledge. 

My marriage is a partnership!  I’ll admit that all the Mother’s Day stuff going around really made me feel like I wasn’t measuring up, but then I decided that I am just lucky to have such a great partner who can pick up all my slack!