A Perfect Mother's Day

Take that to mean a perfect “mother’s day,” not a “perfect mother’s” day.

It was such a beautiful today. I spent the afternoon of my first Mother’s Day on the deck. We had a delicious lunch with extended family. While the non-mothers were cleaning up (thanks guys!), I relaxed and watched my son have his first experience with potting soil and bonsai tools. I’ll include a picture below. I also re-potted our ficus benjamina, a plant given to us by my sister-in-law when our son was born. (One of his middle names is Benjamin). Eventually we had supper on the deck too, and went for a walk. Oh – I almost forgot to mention the card I got from Jonah this morning! Daddy and Uncle Mark managed to paint Jonah’s bare little bum and put two bum prints on my Mother’s Day card for me. Now that’s precious. So, it was pretty close to a perfect day.

I wish I could say the same for myself! As I review my first year as a Mom, I am both pleased and disappointed. Overall, “I done good” but there sure is room for improvement.

In his first year of life, Jonah has already fallen off our bed head first and fallen naked to tiled floor from my lap after a bath. One day, Glenn and I also noticed Jonah crying on the floor in Zellers… We could have sworn he was in his stroller seconds before that… how did he end up there? No actual serious injuries though. And I never once forgot that I had a child and left him in his crib all day or anything that crazy. [During my pregnancy I had that recurring dream.]

What else? I have definitely run out of patience on many occasions. I have often wished Jonah would just sleep an additional hour or two each day. I got way too worried and stressed about the solid food issue when they told me Jonah didn’t weigh enough. Why did I let that get to me?

And, most frustrating, why is it so hard for me to get up cheerfully at 6:30am? That has been my biggest challenge. I can’t tell you how many times I have given myself the “I am going to be happy when I hear Jonah wake up at 6:30am” pep talk. [I remind myself that so many people would be thrilled to wake up at any hour to the sound of their very own child’s voice. Jonah is a gift from God; it’s an honor and a privilege to have him, and so on.] But, I just can’t seem to do it. When I hear him, I growl internally and just wish he would go back to sleep until I am well-rested. Jonah wakes up at 6:30am or earlier now every day, no matter when he goes to bed… 7pm, 7:30pm, even 8pm… still 6:30am. Why? And why can’t I get myself into bed at 9:30pm? If I could just be asleep by 10:30 I would get my 8 hours and feel good in the morning. Grrrrrrr! I frustrate myself.

But enough of that. Let me finish this on a positive note with a tribute to my Mother and Mother-in-law! When I think of both of them, the word selfless comes to mind right away. I can ask either of them to do anything, and there is no hesitation. The answer is always “Yes!” And so often, I don’t even need to ask. And, they are not just selfless when it comes to me; they seem to be all-around-selfless. So, thanks Moms for being a great example of selflessness for me to follow!