For this Mother's Day, I asked Phil for one thing, one extra hour of sleep - alone. My plan was that once the kids woke up, he would take both of them downstairs and leave me to sleep for another hour. That was my plan, but not everyone agreed with this plan, especially Natalie. She was still asleep in her bed when Philip woke up. So I fed Philip and casually suggested to Phil that he should take Philip. That casual suggestion didn't spark any movement, so I said, "If I will have any chance of going back to sleep today, I need you to take Philip now before I'm totally, fully, completely awake." This direct approach got him moving and he took Philip with him. A few minutes after they left, Natalie woke up and and promptly came in to our room to see why mommy was still asleep. "Mommy, you awake yet?", "No baby, mommy asleep", "Why you asleep?" After that question, Phil came in and said "Natalie, let's let mommy sleep." After which, everyone left me in peace.
About 5 minutes after they left, the bedroom door comes flying open and Natalie loudly announces "I'm a super hero mommy, come play super hero". I asked her if I needed to get out of bed, to which she responded "YES!" with a very adamant tone in her voice. So I got out of bed, sans the extra hour of sleep, and made my way downstairs. When Phil saw me he said, "Couldn't fall back to sleep huh?" to which I answered, "I probably could have, but Natalie really wanted me to play super hero." The best part was, Phil didn't even know she had made her way back upstairs or that she was in our room.
Once I was downstairs, Phil told Natalie to go get my present. She ran downstairs, where she had hidden my present the day before, and pulled out a cute card and CD that was hidden in her kitchen. So sweet. Phil also had a special gift for me hidden in the entertainment center - a lovely locket that he had already put photos of Philip and Natalie in. He has a way of buying me gifts that I would never expect or even choose for myself, but turn out to be my most favorite things. This locket allows me to carry my babies with me all the time. After the gift giving was over, Natalie and I went outside to play and do some yard work and then back inside to make breakfast and feed Philip. The rest of the day it rained, so we all stayed inside. I started to pack for my work trip, we all played, and then went to dinner at my mom's.
Motherhood is a total adventure! There are days (and nights) that I think I can't take much more...and then one smile or laugh from either of my babies makes every late night, scuffed knee, missed nap, or other catastrophe all worth it. Over the past few months, I've had to stop and remind myself what an honor it is to be a mother to these two precious gifts that have been entrusted to me by some higher power. What a blessing it is to be their mother and get to enjoy every minute of their lives. Lately my "mother-worries" have strayed from the common worries of falling down or getting hurt to the worry that I might miss one second of their lives. The thought that I won't be here to see, feel, and experience every moment, every I love you, every smile, every wink, every laugh, every cry keeps me up at night. Being here and getting to be in their lives is something that I wake up for, that I look forward to every day and night. Phil and I have regular conversations about how lucky we are to have what we have and these two littles make it that much more exciting!
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