Mothers' Day

What a wonderful day I was given yesterday!

As is my normal Sunday morning (every morning really) routine, after showering and dressing, I came downstairs to take care of Rocco and the cats, and start breakfast. Much to my surprise, BB had come down to "workout", and had instead, taken care of the animals, made coffee, set the table, emptied the dishwasher, put together the snacks for the kids' diaper bag, and told me to sit down while I ate, and he would take care of getting the kids ready for church!

Half an hour later, he presented me with a freshly dressed Captain Chaos (who had been bathed the night before), and had even combed the boy's hair! He also presented me with a Tiny Princess resplendent in her dress, tights, and cute little pink shoes...all the girl needed was her breakfast. BB had even found the bibs in her dresser, and had one on her so she "wouldn't get all messed up" before church.

He did everything that morning, and you know what? We were actually early to church. That has not happened since Captain Chaos was about 6 months old, and I could dress him, put him the car seat and give him his bottle of milk after having fed him his cereal and fruit...I mean it! It has been 18 months since we were early, let alone on time...OY!

At church, Tiny Princess was dedicated, and was by far the most girly girl there, as she was wearing a delightful cotton candy pink dress that had been given to us by a friend of my mom's. Said dress is beautiful! Hand smocked, imported from England...she was quite dainty and adorable in it, as you can see above. She smiled at our pastor, and was so good during church. She ate and slept after the dedication, and did not make one single peep!

After church, we headed down to my brother's house for a meal that he had bought and prepared...he had also somehow managed to clean the entire house, have fresh flowers in pots for my mother and I, as well as this fantastic dessert, all after having not gotten home from a week-long business trip to California. He's quite a catch that brother of mine...

He did all the dishes (mostly because his house is teeny, and there's really not room for more than one person in the kitchen at a time), and we spent the afternoon chatting and being entertained by Captain Chaos, who spent the better part of his afternoon going from room to room saying "Kitty!" and "Oh no!" when he couldn't find the cats. Said cats are afraid of people...and hide under the bed, couch, or entertainment center when anyone other than my brother is around.

We got home around 6, both kids were asleep, so we gently transferred Captain Chaos from car seat to bed, and tucked him in, with a sippy cup of milk in case he woke up. Tiny Princess got to sleep in her car seat until 9. Captain Chaos slept from about 6:30 last night until 7:30 this morning. He was soaked but rested, and has been mostly happy today...Tiny Princess got woken up at 9, changed, put into jammies, fed, and fell asleep in my arms around 9:45 last night. She only woke once, which was pretty good all things considered.

On the way home, the kids being asleep, BB took my for dessert (again) to our TCBY and after settling the kids, we took advantage of the beautiful weather, and mowed the grass, trimmed it, and then put some seed down in the funky dead spots we have from the traffic over the snow pack of the winter...thanks to our helpful phone company, the box for our line, along with 5 other houses is on the side of my house...so anytime they do anything to the lines, they tromp through my yard, break my Rose-of-Sharon branches, damage the flowers, and generally make a large mess. Our gas meter is also on the same side of our house, along with the Satellite connection that goes from the dish into the house...so anytime we have anything done, my poor grass gets trompled...add to that, that our driveway is curved, and the outside of the curve is where the truck gets parked...so anytime we back out of the driveway, we drive over a portion of our grass...so that part of the yard is in horrible shape...the rest of the spots confuse me...the only person who walks through the grass is our milkman...and he only walks on the corner between the driveway and walkway...hmmmmm...we must have rogue grass killers out there...

Anyway, we came inside at 8:30, both kids still sleeping, had dinner, I got to get all cleaned up while BB closed up the house, and then I was in bed and asleep by 10...that's the first time that had happened in a long time.

Now, for what you really want to know...what did I get????

Well... BB got me an adorable card from the kids, a cute one from himself, thanking me for being such a wonderful mother to his children, and my brother gave me a card that made me cry...it was really beautiful about how proud he was to see me become a mom...that's going into the scrapbook for certain with the others! And BB surprised me with a bag of Ghirardelli chocolate squares...the ones that are filled with caramel, mint, and dark chocolate...mmmmmmm...along with a beautiful plaque with a scripture verse that I love on it, and a great new book to read! YIPPEEE!!!!! He also gifted me with "babysitting". He didn't call it that, don't worry...he told me to put on his schedule "Mom Time" so he knows he has to be on duty while I do whatever I want to do for myself, by myself! I can't decide which I'm more excited about, the book and chocolate, or the time alone...that's a tough one.

We gave my mom her picture of Tiny Princess, which turned out SPECTACULARLY, and made her cry at how beautiful our baby girl looks all dolled up in dresses. It was such a cold winter, that I haven't put the Princess in many dresses...all the dresses I can find have short sleeves, or are sleeveless, and trying to find cute long-sleeved onesies for girls was like hunting for a needle in a haystack...oy! So, yesterday, in her dress was really the first time she's had a floofy, frilly dress on since she was born in January.

I hope you all had a great Mothers' Day...and I echo FarmWife in saying "to all mothers who are aching and waiting for their babies, or aching for those they've lost..." I honor you. I've been there, and know the pain.