This may not have been my first mother's day as a mom, but it was my first "real" mother's day as a mom. You see, last year my husband and I were living it up thousands of miles away from our posterity, in Thailand! So on that particular day I wasn't being much of a mom (at least not in practice).
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| This is a picture of us last year getting a foot massage at Chatuchak Market in Thailand. . . FYI--Thai massages are the painful (but. . .good) kind of massages, not the relaxing kind :) |
In contrast, this year felt like Mother's day in many ways. My daughter, with her almost-two-year-old antics, made it loud and clear during sacrament meeting at church, that I am a mom. When I picked her up from nursery, she proudly handed me a mother's day present--a scribbled "I love you mom" picture.
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| She thoughtfully personalized the picture by sucking on the edges and crumpling it up a little :) |
Normally after church we go straight home and I put Leila down for a nap. But since it was Mother's Day we were planning on going up to my mother-in-law's house, during which time we hoped that the little girl would take her nap. When we left church and approached the car, Leila pointed to the front seat, indicating her desire to play up front. In an effort to kill some time I figured "why not?" So she stood on the front seat while I sat in the back. She thought that was pretty funny!
Hoping to capture her cuteness, I thought of what we could do that would make for an interesting video. Her language abilities seem to be improving exponentially. Every day she is learning one or more words, she uses phrases often and is even starting to speak in broken sentences. Despite these positive indicators, I was still skeptical that she could, or more likely would, say "happy mother's day", but I asked her to say it anyway. She said it wonderfully the very first time! "Happy Mudders Day!" But she whispered it. After I clapped and cheered enthusiastically, her confidence blossomed! She smiled in pride! I asked her to say it again. . .and this was the result:
Oh man!! Of course, I almost died of cuteness overload! Leila just loved the praise I gave her for it, so she just kept saying that sentence over and over (with the word "day" gradually escalating in volume until she was practically yelling it!)
We made it to our destination and Leila was in family heaven. As the only great-grandchild/grandchild/child/niece, she gets copious amounts of attention and she just eats it up!
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| As always, one of the first orders of business was to play with Auntie "Nat". This time it was coloring with sidewalk chalk. Can you see the discrete little message written in the background? |
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| My sweet little Red Riding Hood with pigtails! |
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| Mothers' Day about marked the half way point in my pregnancy of baby girl #2! What better day to get a baby bump shot?! |
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And there wouldn't be a Mama's Day without a Papa! (And he's a darned good one too!)
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Then we got to indulge in a special Mother's Day treat--Hallmark of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's one of two days a year we get to Skype with our family members who are serving as missionaries! We love you Sister Sarah Parker!
It was a great first "real" Mother's Day! Feeling the love from my little girl, spending time with my wonderful mother-in-law and Nana-in-law, Skyping with my sister-in-law, and talking on the phone with my mom and step-mom. I've sure got a lot of great women in my life! |
