Mother’s Day

May 9, 2010 by Jessica

This is my second Mother’s Day as a mother…and the third since I discovered I was going to be a mother. I have been looking forward to this day – it is such a wonderful way to celebrate family. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to be a mom to Micah, and cannot wait until next year when I can spend Mother’s Day with Twoey, too.

It was another wonderful day – I was not only able to spend it with my mother and my son, but my brother, husband, sister-in-law and nieces, too. What could be better? Rather than fight the lines at a restaurant and worry about restless and misbehaving children, we decided to get together for a brunch at my parents’ house. I brought our waffle iron, eggs, bagels and I mixed up a homemade Belgian Waffle batter. Jeremy brought the fruit and toppings for the waffles and veggies for omelets. My Dad set the table, provided the orange juice, and ran out to the store for the syrup my brother forgot. Elliot and Jeremy made eggs and waffles for everyone, and we all sat down for a wonderful brunch together.

We had a great time – the kids all played together and the food was delicious. We did spend half the day chasing the dog and trying to keep her from stealing the leftovers. There were a few meltdowns, lots of noise, and more than our share of smiles and laughter.

We took a family photo for my mother (she wanted a picture with all of her grandchildren to place on her computer desktop).

I love seeing Micah interact with Paige and Peyton, and I love seeing my mother with her grandchildren. It really was a great day to remember how lucky we are. We ended up staying there all day…Micah took a nap, everyone went for a walk, and we ordered pizza for dinner. All-in-all, it was a perfect Mother’s Day.

We topped off our day with some family time at home – Micah cuddled up on my lap and we read a few stories. He chased the dog around the house a few times, and he gave me kisses. At bedtime, Micah climbed the stairs, waved at me, and said “night night.” Perfect, right?

Getting nervous

May 7, 2010 by Jessica

I seem to be a delinquent blogger these days. I’m definitely getting nervous about reaching the end of my pregnancy. I’m about to hit 34 weeks, and I already am feeling a ton of pressure and contractions. I probably have about 2-4 weeks left of this pregnancy, and we do not have a name for this baby. I haven’t even packed my hospital bag yet! I finally pulled out the pee pad for the bed in case my water breaks in the bed again.

I’m feeling a bit bigger this pregnancy than I did with Micah, and definitely getting physically uncomfortable. My body hurts and I am having a hard time getting comfortable these days. I am loving how much Twoey has been moving around, though! I think it is interesting…I can already tell my two babies have different personalities. Micah was quite active all the time – he never stopped kicking, punching and bouncing. My belly would dance all over the place, and he loved to cause trouble whenever they put the monitor or the doppler on my belly -he’d go right over and start kicking and punching it! Twoey is also active…but in a more mellow way. She flips and rolls and occasionally kicks and punches, but she is much more likely to be stretching, or kicking one or two times in a row and sitting quietly for a bit. I think she is going to be more reserved than Micah. She does have that touch of cute-but-evil running through her – she finds a spot (like my rib) and she’ll poke it repeatedly. I almost imagine her with an impish grin as she pokes it over and over again while I’m thinking “don’t do that.” Micah STILL likes to do that now.

I’m getting excited to meet Twoey. I wonder what she will look like, and I wonder if she’ll be born bald or with a full head of hair like Micah. I kind of hope she has a full head of hair like Micah – we could immediately put adorable little bows in her hair! I wish we could figure out the name situation, but we are really struggling. We have a list of names…but we just haven’t found “THE” name yet.

On the Micah front – he is just being so cute most of the time. His Daddy took him to a free musical performance of Oh Susannah on Tuesday morning at the Lebanese Taverna. He has been busy in daycare and he has such a great sense of humor. On Thursday, we went to meet his Grammy and Grampy for a nice lunch, and Micah got to walk and hold their hands for the first time! They also played the “one-two-three swing!” game with him while they walked, and he laughed and laughed. He is definitely starting to talk more and more. Tonight, we were outside playing on his slide/basketball hoop toy that his Grammy and Grampy gave him for his first birthday, and he said basketball! (Okay, it sounded more like bah-ball, but he was definitely saying it). He kept shooting his baskets then stopping to clap for himself every time he made a basket.

But perhaps the BEST part of my week happened tonight. I got my first first Mother’s Day gift FROM Micah, MADE by Micah! I was all teary and happy – it was such a wonderful thing. They had him make it at daycare, and wrapped it up and sent it home.

.As you can see, they framed a picture that Micah painted, and they included a picture of Micah making the painting! It is currently sitting on the fireplace mantle, and I’m loving it.

For good measure, here is some video of Micah we’ve taken over the past two weeks. We finally have a new Flip video camera (we had given our old one to our niece for her trip abroad back in January, and it took us until now to replace it)!

Happy Mother’s Day

May 10, 2009 by Jessica

For the past several years, Mother’s Day has been bittersweet . . . it was a wonderful celebration of my mother, but it was tinged with sadness as I wondered if I, too, would ever get to be a mother. It was fun to celebrate the day, but at the same time, I would often bite back tears of grief and loss, as I was a “Mommy-in-Waiting.”

Last year, we had just learned I was pregnant and had seen Micah’s heart beating for the first time on the ultrasound only days before. Mother’s Day was so emotional for me . . . I was so excited that I was a “Mommy-to-Be” on Mother’s Day, and that this year I would finally be a mommy on Mother’s Day. I also had moments of fear . . . I was only 7 weeks pregnant, and worried that something could still go wrong. But mostly, I was brimming with hope, and a sense that Mother’s Day was truly a holiday for ME.

This year, all I can say is that I am so grateful to be a mommy, and so happy that Micah came into our lives. I was greeted this morning with a beautiful smile from my son, and several wonderful gifts from my family. Elliot bought me a brand new bike so we can go on some family bike rides together, my sisters-in-law bought me a gift certificate for a massage, and we are headed over to my parents’ house for a wonderful day together. What more could I want today?

I wanted to wish a wonderful Mother’s Day to all the Mommies, Mommies-to-Be and Mommies-in-Waiting out there!