Wee Boy's Birthday Party

For Wee Boy's 2nd birthday we bought him an annual pass to Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum. Not something to open but thankfully he has grandparents for that!

 

After opening presents we headed down to the Please Touch Museum with Wee Boy's fresh pass in hand. Wee Boy rode the carousel, stuck his cute little face in the cutout, played pretend MRI (ya, that's totally for the baby dolls, sorry PTM), and played construction worker. There was plenty of other very fun things that Wee Boy was all about exploring but we found that once again small children foil their parent's well laid plans to capture their cuteness. While the PTM has ample photo opportunities, children are just way too excited to stop long enough for a camera to focus let alone take a decent picture. This is all we could muster. But it was so much fun being there as a family spending the day saying, "Wahoo!! Our Boy Howdy is 2!!" 

And then there was Cheeks, totally content to hang out in her stroller. This will most definitely not be the case for forever, but for this day, she was a golden trooper. It's a good thing we have this pass for a full year so she too will get her chance to play.

I have a 2 Year Old

Holy Smokes, my Wee Boy is 2 years old. Sometimes I look at him and he still so little and sometimes I look at him and he is so so so big. In the last year this little person has learned to walk, run wildly, kiss, share, be silly, disobey, show compassion to his little sister, peel oranges, throw items in anger, recognize his letters and number, and speak ever so slightly. He is my sweetness and my pill all wrapped into one. I have learned more about Heavenly Father deals with his children more this year than ever before thanks to this little one. For that and so many other reasons I am so grateful for this little boy finding his way into our family. The above is my favorite photo from his 2-year photo shoot.

But since we are taking pictures we might as well include Cheeks, she is 9 months old after all. Wee Boy doesn't really want to participate, and it takes all the patience and energy I can muster and the super quick fingers of the photographer to capture a few semi-decent photos of the boy howdy. Little girl on the other hand, sits, uncharacteristically still, and quite eager to have her photo taken. Happy Birthday my Sweet Boy!!

New Thoughts on Mother's Day

FYI - This post might be a little non-PC for which I apologize but I soldier on nonetheless. Another caveat, I make no apologies for poor grammar or punctuation. Read at your peril.


For years I really had no interest in having children; and then I got married and felt the clock ticking. Not that I necessarily wanted to be a mother per se, but it seemed like the next logical step in life and . . . the clock was ticking. Fast forward several years of trying and failing at pregnancy and I still don't think I wanted to be a mother so much as I didn't like being unsuccessful at something I had put my mind to do. Fast forward another year or two and I've finally gotten pregnant but I'm not sure I'm going to like this change to my comfortable daily routine, but people seem to be excited for me so I think I should be excited to, plus the wiggling in my tummy is kind of fun, so I go with it.

In all those years of Mother's Days I sat quietly listening to the accolades of mothers and thought of my own darling mommy and then I'd cringe at the well-intentioned nods to women without children who "mother" in their own special way. This might make some feel included, but it always made me feel spotlighted and then pitied, neither of which I remotely wanted. For me it was okay that Mother's Day not turn into Women's Day or Nurturer's Day.

So now that I am a Mother on Mother's Day, I want to say, I LOVE being a Mother. I love it way more than I ever thought I would. I love the insights I gain on how Heavenly Father tries to teach me in the same way I try to teach my babes. I love the growth I've seen in myself as I struggle through rough not-so-nice-mommy moments but then rally after some much needed sweet hours of prayers. I love watching my children loving on each other. I love watching their sweet little faces and drinking in the sweet moments of childhood. I love rejoicing in their victories and helping them work through their frustrations, even if it means living in fear of when the next tantrum will strike.

I know I am not a perfect mother, but I also know that I am doing a much better job than I would have if I had been blessed with children in my 20's. Some women are great no matter their age, but I needed a few extra years. I know motherhood only gets tougher as my babies grow but for right now let me feel successful that at least so far I'm doing okay.