When is Kids Day?

As I lay in bed tonight, nursing Quinn, waiting for Isabella to go to the bathroom for the 'last time before bed,' I called out to Isabella "I love you Isabella." She crawled into bed beside me and said "I love you too mommy." I said "thank you for such a wonderful Mother's Day." To which she replied "well, I didn't get any presents though..." I told her that mothers get presents on mothers day. She then asked "well, when is Kids Day then?"  Always thinking, that girl.

I think that this year, I had the best Mother's Day yet. It could have been for a number of reasons. After watching old videos for the past few days, I feel like I had a little reminder to really treasure every moment of my kid's lives.  Watching Declan as a cute little chubby faced one year old, and Isabella as a silly, loving two year old, and knowing that Quinn was just a new little lemon sized baby inside of me, just made me feel like being so completely present.  I miss the time that has passed. I miss all of their stages. But I love them so much right where they are now. I just don't want to forget.
Or maybe it was because Genivieve was here. It was her first Mother's Day.  Seeing her growing belly and knowing that in two months her own little baby will be here.  Listening to the baby's heartbeat, watching all the kids kiss her belly. I know how she feels. And I love it. Maybe it was because every year, Ryan tries even harder than the year before, to make the day special for me.  Or it was watching some of the women, the mothers, in my life be together, loving their children (and watching the three lone men-Taylor, Ryan, and Declan, cook an amazing meal for us).  Definitly a combination of all these things.

Taylor asked Ryan to 'arrange' the food. Ryan's dream come true, since I'm always telling him to 'stop arranging my food.'  I was pretty impressed with his show though...

We are lucky to have some amazing cooks in this family. Today, we were really lucky!

He was the official calamari taste tester. It couldn't escape the fryer fast enough before it was in his mouth!

Interesting. The best way I can describe our constant attempts at family photos.
Declan was number one, awake this morning. We heard him on the monitor "moooommy, I'm reeaadddy." Ryan quickly got out of bed (umm, can mother's day be every day, please?), turned the monitor off, and went upstairs to get Declan. He stayed upstairs with him for awhile, reading books, since the girls were still asleep downstairs.  Then when he heard Quinn wake up, he came down, walked into the room, and Declan said "Happy Mother's Day, mommy!"  I'm pretty sure that this year is the first year he said it so clearly, so confidently, and with an understanding of what it meant.  That was pretty special. So I snuggled with my babies in bed, watching them all really just snuggling eachother. Knowing, that they are doing what they see us do. They love Quinn so much. They argue over who gets more hugs from her, who holds her longer, who gets the better open mouth kiss right on the face.  It was perfect, even if the day ended right there.

Taylor made an amazing lunch for us. Declan sat on the stool right beside him, studying every thing he did. Asking questions about the food, the process, and insisting, about every 2 minutes that he needed another piece of 'camamari' (which is known to us as calamari). The boy loves his fried calamari....and Quinn, we now know, is also a fan.

The kids played hard. Isabella practiced her softball skills, learned a few victory dances from her dad, and ran her little heart out.  Declan searched for bugs, carried his caterpillar around in a wagon, and tried to be just as daring as his sister, on the slide.  Quinn laughed, crawled in the grass, practiced standing, ate some grass, ate some leaves, and played to her hearts content.

It was a good day.  This year, I am also so thankful for my mom. I'm thankful for her every year, really, but this year was hard.  We had a lot of changes, in addition to the usual things that every family deals with.  We have banded together, as we always do, and reminded eachother how important family really is.  Mom was always a mom first, and a friend second. Now today, we are both adults, we both have children, and we are best friends.  She knows how I feel more than anyone else, because she's been there.  A stay at home mom of four kids, very close together (in every sense), just wanting to love and be there for her family.  We are on the same page, we know eachother inside and out.  The only difference is, I don't know how she did it without the extended family.  She is a stronger woman than I am, I am sure of that. But she has taught me to be the mother I am.  I try hard every day to emulate, to relate, to appreciate the woman she was and is.  If my children feel for me, the way I feel about her, then I will be happy, content, and fulfilled. 

Mothering is the hardest thing I have ever done.  Even harder than those labors that stretched across days. It is also the most rewarding, most satisfying, most soul deepening thing I have ever done.  I will never forget the day that I came home from Colorado, 5 years ago, walked into the house, took a pregnancy test, looked at Ryan's face as we watched the plus sign emerge and realized that we had just become parents. I was a mother. We've been at that place twice since then and the feeling never gets old.

Happy mother's day to the mothers in my life that are so amazing, so strong, so beautiful and so very important.