Mother's Day

I can't believe we're already into May! Maybe it is because we just had snow last week. Oh well. The trees are still blossoming and the tulips still blooming, so I guess I can deal with the weather too! So I'm a little behind on blogging about life these days, but I do have one great accomplishment--I finished the Volume One scrapbook of Sam's first year (one hundred pages only covered the first six months!), and I'm almost done with Volume Two! Yay! I've been creating the scrapbooks on an on-line service called Shutterfly. I love it. While I've done scrapbooking in the past the old-fashioned way with different colors of paper, fancy scissors, stickers, and good ol' creativity, it is a lot of work. It takes a lot of time. And to be completely honest, I'm not as artistic as some other people are at creating scrapbook pages. I guess you could say I have my own unique style. Anyway, with Shutterfly it's just download pictures (which are all digital these days anyway), drag, and click. There are so many different formats and options, and just this past week they have some really amazing new features that they've added that make things so much easier and more exciting. Little Arliss' book is going to ROCK! I know I'm sounding like an advertisement here (hey, maybe Shutterfly will cut me some more deals like they did with my Christmas cards when they hear how highly I speak of them (because, obviously I'm so important and all)), but I just received Sam's first book, and it is amazing. The print quality is excellent, and the price not too bad. It was about $100 for the book. If you've ever been to a scrapbooking expo, you know that $100 is child's play in the scrapbook world! And I like that if I wanted/needed to make another copy, I could with no hassle at all. For example, one of the gifts we gave to the grandma's for Mother's Day this year was a project. I've designed this Grandmother book that they can go on-line and fill out details all about what they were like when they were little girls, how they met grandpa, their wedding, and anything they want to say to their grandchildren. My grandma made me a book when I was a little girl, and it is one of my most treasured belongings. And we can make the book and print off copies for every grandchild. Without too much work, we can make individual books for each grandchild. I think it will be really neat. In fact, I'm thinking of creating a family history book through Shutterfly. Anyway, I digress. I will end this tangent just by saying that you can check them out at www.shutterfly.com.

Mother's day this year was very special. Nic took care of Sam so I could sleep in (to the grand old hour of eight o' clock). Then Nic made one of my favorites, well, Arliss' favorites, crepes, for breakfast. Arliss loves crepes with fresh strawberries and whip cream. (His list also includes hot fudge sundaes, Cheetos, and corn dogs). Then we got ready and went to church with Nic's mom. She is such a sweetheart. I realize more and more how lucky I am to have such a wonderful mother-in-law and to have such a good friendship with her. I thought everyone was friends with their mothers-in-law and would hang out with them on a regular basis, but after talking to some of my friends, I've found out that that isn't always the case. Nic is such a momma's boy, and I worried when we first got married that I would never meet the standard that she set, but she is such a loving person. She just took me under her wings as a daughter and friend, and I love and admire her so much. When nothing else works, she is the only one who can talk some sense into her son. In fact, she is the only one who really knows how to deal with her husband and sons. They all have the same genes and can be a little hot-tempered and stubborn sometimes. She knows just how to smooth things over and get them back in line. I remember once, when we were first married, we had this big fight, and Nic went over to his parent's house. His mom listened to his complaints and then sent him right back home to me. I think she said something like, "You've said what you needed to say, now go home and tell your wife you're sorry!" She is truly an angel!

After we went to church with Nic's parents, we went to our church. I ended up substituting in the sunbeam's class because their teacher didn't show up. The sunbeams are three to four year olds, I think. I had three kids in my class, and they were so cute. Our lesson was 'I am thankful for my hands'. I love the simplicity of the lessons. I think we all need to remember the basics that God has blessed us with our hands, our eyes, our ears, our bodies, and everything that we have, and we need to have gratitude for all that we have. I remember about six years ago I used to teach one of the younger classes, and I would come home in tears every Sunday. I would get so frustrated because I really didn't know how to deal with these kids. I remember one time I was trying to give some lesson about Jesus and the boys all decided that they were cats and would only answer with 'meows'. They spent the entire lesson crawling around and licking their chairs. I had no idea what to do, and was so upset by my failures as a teacher by the end of the day. I'm proud to say, that I've learned a few things since then. It was like deja vu on Sunday when the three little children decided that they were kittens. Except this time I was able to work it into the lesson--cats don't have hands; aren't we glad that we have hands and can do things cats can't do. And I got my little kittens to clean up the room at the end of the lesson by offering them kitty treats (pretzels). They all gave me hugs before they left, and I felt good about things. This simple personal success was a great mother's day present for me. I felt energized as a mother and was left with the belief that maybe I can do this motherhood thing after all. Such beliefs can be fleeting! I think I will always have this fear that after all of the time, work, heartache and tears that it took to become a mother, what if I'm not a good one. And sometimes I think I put high expectations on myself and don't allow myself to complain about anything because, this is what I wanted for so long, and I fought so hard for this, I better shut my trap, step up to the plate, and hit a home run. But then I realize that I need to allow myself to just be a normal mom. The fact that I had to struggle and fight for motherhood doesn't mean I have to be perfect. And it certainly doesn't make puke or poop smell any better. I just need to be grateful to be a mom with all of its ups and downs, and remember to be grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is always there for me to help me to be the best mom that I can be.

After church, we headed off to my parent's house to have dinner with my family. Dutch Oven--yum! Yum! We then spent the rest of the evening with my family. Let me just say here what a great mom that I have. My mom and I haven't always seen eye to eye. In fact, I think we butted heads my entire teenage years. But I've really come to appreciate what she has done for me and to see the good things she does for others all of the time. I remember I used to get so annoyed because after church it would take almost an hour to get her out of the building. She had to talk to so-and-so and this person and that person. I would sit in the car and fume or just walk home. I realize now what a great quality it is that my mom really cares about other people and their lives. And a lot of the talking she does is bragging about her kids. She just loves to talk and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I get so shy sometimes and wish that I could just chat away with people. But too often I get all tongue-tied and awkward and don't know what to say. My mom just talks to anyone and everyone. And I love to see what a wonderful grandma that she is. Sam is her only grandchild so far, and so he is spoiled rotten. But I love how involved my parents are in his life and how loved he is. I don't think my children will ever feel unloved in this life with our family cheering for them and supporting them.

Anyway, that was my mother's day. It was a wonderful, busy day. Nic had my blogs printed and hardbound for my mother's day gift. It was such an awesome gift. He did my Infertile Myrtle blog and this blog up to end of 2010. It was a wonderful experience for me to look back over my experiences over the past few years. It was especially tender for me to read over passages from mother's days of the past. I read about my first official mother's day last year, about the mother's day when we announced that we were having a baby (we'll never be able to top that gift to the grandmas!), and I read about mother's day when I was in the midst of infertility. It has truly been a journey full of twists and turns. I remember the mother's day the year before we got pregnant. I was struggling, and as we were heading to Nic's mom's church, I was attempting to eat a Go-gurt (you know one of those yogurts in a tube). Well, as we were driving, I managed to squeeze the Go-gurt too hard and yogurt exploded onto my face, on my dress, and in my hair. I remember just sobbing. And it wasn't because of the yogurt. That was just the last straw. I just wanted to be a mother so badly. Nic and I laugh about the yogurt now, and I'm not allowed to eat Go-gurts in the car, but I will always remember that heartache. And now here I sit, a baby bouncing around in my round tummy while I type, and a beautiful, sweet little boy taking a nap in his room. How am I so blessed? But just like I had to learn to not always ask 'why' in my trials, I need to also learn not to ask 'why' in my blessings. And, looking back, I realize that I felt the tender, comforting love of God in the hard times just as much (maybe a little more) as I do in the good times. I don't think I would change a single mother's day!