The Day So Far....

Mother's Day started around 5:00 a.m. here, with Joe-Henry clutching his stomach and his chest and saying he felt terrible. I was convinced that we would be going to the emergency room, so I woke up Charley to quell my panic, and he reminded me that this has happened before. We had taken him to the e.r. where they diagnosed reflux, and so Charley brought in a children's mylanta, and I read him a story, and all was well. In fact, all was really great for him, and he wanted to wake up right then. Yawn.....

Alrighty then.

He had been begging me all week to give me the present he made for me at school, and now I know why - isn't it beautiful?



Then we got dressed up and went out to brunch....





Do you like my new bag? It was a gift from my sweet husband.

There were mimosa's for mom at the restaurant



See how happy mimosa's make me!



But nothing was quite as nice as getting lots and lots of these today...



Happy Mom's Day to you!

Mother's Day

This weekend began on Friday evening when our friends Anne and Anita arrived from Seattle with their beautiful children, Hazel and Gabriel. Hazel is two months older than Joe-Henry and the two of them get on like gangbusters. Gabe is ten weeks old, and really, there oughta be a law against babies so cute.


He is turning my shriveled old ovaries into dance halls, where I picture my beat up old eggs in faded flapper costumes, with cigarettes hanging out of their painted, wrinkled mouths saying in a gravelly, whiskey soaked voice "Hey, Sweetheart! Ten cents a dance! Ya can't beat that with a stick, know what i mean?!" All that to say - he's just a little lovebug.



Saturday morning we woke and Joe-Henry and Hazel played Cadoo while I fixed us breakfast, and Charley made coffee. We sat around in pj's gabbing, catching up, and talking about how amazing it is that we were all friends before we married, before we had kids, and here were our offspring, these gorgeous, smart and kind-hearted children of ours, playing together like the best pals they are.

We then wandered into "the 'Couve" for the Farmer's Market and got a few extra goodies for dinner that night, and I got some tomato plants for the garden. The kids played at the park with Charley, while the girls, and Gabe (by virtue of the fact that he can't walk yet and was fast asleep in the snuggly next to his mommy's heart) wandered in the market, looking at jewelry, plants, purses and people, free from sleeve tugging and whining. Saturday afternoon took them into Portland, and Joe-Henry and I attended a birthday party for a little girl in his class. He went swimming, they ate cake, and he got to get his face painted like an endangered grey wolf.


Saturday night they came back with their lovely friend Stephanie and Charley made us all pizza and we had adult conversation, interrupted only occasionally by short superhero spys.


Then came Sunday morning, Mother's Day Morning. Hazel and her Mom's had picked out a book for Joe-Henry called The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip (which is now my favorite book of all time), and I read to the kids while my husband, my amazing, talented, handsome, funny husband made us the brunch to end all brunches. There was bacon and potatoes and coffee and a fruit salad as tasty as it was beautiful and the most amazing baked French toast I've ever eaten. I gained 10 lbs just looking at it. Joe-Henry and I had painted coffee cups at the glazing studio in town for Anne & Anita for Mother's Day, and the kids all gave their moms gifts they'd made.



My husband, who didn't let me in the kitchen for twenty four hours, (which really was all the gift I needed), also got me a gift certificate to an amazing garden store in Portland called Garden Fever. After brunch we all drove over there, where we shopped around a bit, and then had to bid our houseguests adieu, as they were going to meet Gabe's father's mom for the first time. Joe-Henry and Hazel hugged and kissed and cried, and my little boy was kind of sad for the rest of the day, but he still gave me lots of love and hugs, and tried his very best to mind his mom for one whole day. When we got home, we did an iChat with Charley's Mom, and got to say "hi" to the family that we miss so much.

The day ended perfectly, with a snuggle from my boy, and something even better from my husband. Let's just hope those ol' dance hall girls don't get any big ideas.

The Perfect Gift

I love to get presents. I love to be pampered. And I love to give presents, too. So I have no issue with these made-up holidays. But as mother always said, the best gifts can't be bought in a store. My mother said this very thing the Christmas I made her a pencil holder out of a juice can, green clay and red rick-rack. She said it was her very favorite gift. It was ugly as sin, but you know what? I believe she meant it.

In honor of mother's everywhere, I give you my top five MOTHER'S DAY GIFTS THAT CAN'T BE BOUGHT:

1. A DAY FREE FROM GUILT
You let your kids watch too much t.v.? You let them eat candy? Or God Forbid, FRUIT SNACKS? This is the perfect gift for you. The blame will be assigned somewhere else when the dental-doctor-therapist bill/failing report card/police car comes.

2. A DAY FREE FROM WORRY
Your child is behaving badly at the park? Sick with a fever? Failing in school? I give you one day of sunshine, fresh air, and a seed to plant in your heart that will grow into this knowledge - IT WILL BE OKAY. Take care of yourself, go for a long walk, notice the sounds the birds make.

I don't pretend that this will actually work. I myself own the title "Worrier Queen", so I know you can never truly give it up. But that's what I strive for, and that is my wish for you.

3. A DAY WHERE LITTLE WHITE LIES DON'T TROUBLE YOUR SOUL
"Mom, do you love my stuffed animals as much as you love me?" "Mom, are we almost there?" "Honey, did you remember to mail that thing?" "Yes, I do." "Yes, we are." " Yes I did."

And not a second thought.

4. A DAY WITH ALL THE ANSWERS
"Where do babies come from?" "What makes the rings around Saturn?" "Why is there war?" "What is Heaven like?" "Why does the sign at Taco Time have a cactus and not a taco?"

You will have the answer to all these questions and more dancing on the tip of your tongue.

I didn't say they'd be the right answers. Just go on back to number 3 and ponder that for a second.

5. A DAY WHERE YOU FEEL ALL THE LOVE AND ADORATION SENT YOUR WAY.
Mothers are often too badly tested, too unappreciated, and treated too much like the maid. I wish for you a day when you can see beneath the punk attitude, the forgotten kiss, and the dirty socks on the floor. A day when you remember those heady first days with your newborn, that first smile, those times when you have been their whole world. Those days will pass so quickly, as they will and as they should. But those memories. Those are the things that get us through the rough.
Every day. I wish for you a head and heart full of those sweet memories, and the certain knowledge that under all that other crap beats the heart of a child, your child who loves you madly.

Happy Mother's Day.