When I think about being a Mum, all I can say is that I love it. With our three little ones, Nick and I feel we are always 'surrounded' by family. It's such a nice feeling and there is never a dull moment. We do have our hands full and it is crazy and exhausting sometimes (see below), but mainly it is lots of fun.
My favourite part of Mothers Day is receiving the cards and gifts my children have made for me. I love their drawings and paintings especially, but my favourite (and the funniest) part is always the little caption underneath their picture - the one that they dictate to their teacher for her to write, describing their Mum and what they like to do with their Mummy.
(Look at my eyes! I think it's a pretty accurate portrait of me and how I've been feeling lately)
However I must admit, this year I was worried about that little caption. We have just come out of a terrible period of Ollie not sleeping. ie. not sleeping for the past three months! Honestly, we have had a horrific time, trying to figure out the source of the problem. The poor little thing has been so unsettled.
When his waking every 40 minutes at night became waking every 20 minutes (ALL night long), I sought medical help. And finally, (an answer to a prayer) we found out the problem - Silent Reflux. On medication now, Ollie is much happier and sleeping much better ... and we are slowly recovering from the ordeal, but it has been a very difficult time of extreme tiredness and fatigue.
So, my poor girls had many, many weeks of an exhausted Mummy. I was actually scared to read the caption on Elly's painting, worried it would say something like, 'My Mummy is always tired. She forgets everything! Sometimes she says she's too tired to play with me and she's always saying 'Shhhh! Ollie is trying to sleep!'.
Of course, we have had lots of good times during the last 3 months too... and
thankfully {big sigh of relief}, Elly chose to remember some of those instead!
[click to enlarge]
Ollie seemed to know just what I needed for Mothers Day;
New slippers (to keep my feet warm during those middle-of-the-night wakings!). In fact, those slippers must have made such an impression on Elly, she did a painting of them at preschool yesterday!
I also got some new winter boots! Thanks Nick ;)
Elly's Mothers Day gift for me was a beautiful butterfly footprint picture, photo keyring and gorgeous handwritten card;
'...Best Mum Eber'. I love it!
Livvie's card said she loves me 'to pieces';
And she made me a big magnetic flower clip for the fridge;
It's the Best Fridge Magnet Ever (Eber!)
(And just for the record, that's a drawing of herself, not me... Although I am quite sure that is what I used to look like in the mornings, after getting up to Ollie about 20 times a night!)
On Sunday morning, we went to the Mothers Day Mass, where Livvie did a reading (So proud of her, getting up in front of hundreds of people to read! And despite her saying 'woman' instead of 'women' at least 20 times when we practiced beforehand, she got it right when she was in front of the microphone!).
At the end of the mass, the children presented their Mums with flowers (and she didn't even mind that I was outside feeding Ollie during this part). Thanks Livvie!
Later that day, we had a little afternoon tea;
Elly gave Nanny her little present;
(See the hearts behind Nanny? Elly kept confusing Mothers Day with Valentines Day and insisted on making decorations for the occassion. I think it's cute that in her mind, it was all about love and love-hearts)
And Nanny gave me a present!
I told Nick I feel very lucky to receive a present from his parents, for being a
'wonderful Mum to their beautiful grandchildren'. How nice is that?!?!
Gorgeous mismatched china plates!
I love these. I'm very much looking forward to using them soon!
Then we spent some time getting photos of us Mums and our beautiful children;
It was a lovely day and the
best gift of all came later - when Ollie slept from 6pm to 6am and only woke up once (at midnight).
Yes, it was a Happy Mothers Day!
