The Fab Foxes: Mother's Day 2011

I am so very grateful for mothers! I have been blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful women that are such awesome examples of what motherhood should be. I am not the perfect mother, any mother will tell you that there's really no such thing. We all make mistakes and do just plain stupid things some time, but for the most part, we love our children and ultimately want the best for them.

Motherhood is vastly different from what I thought it would be, I'm a very different mother than I ever thought I'd be. Motherhood has made me a different person, a better person I hope. I used to wonder what was happening to me when I realized my hopes and dreams were starting to change; all the things I had ever wanted in my life were all of a sudden so much less important. Somewhere along the line I became less obsessed with having a large beautiful house, or the car of my dreams, or even having the job that would enable me to purchase those things. And then I realized that it wasn't my dreams that had really changed, it was the value I placed in those dreams that changed. Sure, someday I'd still love to have a big beautiful house and the car of my dreams but it's far less important to me than knowing that our child(ren) are mentally, physically and spiritually healthy. Knowing that they know that they are one of the top priorities in my life, having an active role in their daily life, cheering them on whether they succeed or fail at anything, hugging and kissing them multiple times a day so that they know without a doubt just how much they are loved, and being able to be there when they need me and hopefully not having to brush them aside for whatever else happens to be going on at the moment. Those are the things that really matter to me as a mom and those are the things that I have been able to witness the mothers in my life do. I am nowhere near being the mother that I want to be but with so many positive examples of motherhood surrounding me, I know that sooner or later I will get there.

On a slightly different note, this Mother's Day (and Father's Day) we decided to give gifts to our parents but not to each other. We have something planned at the end of the month that we are going to be spending the money on instead (more details on that later, for now it's top secret, and if you know the secret...don't let it slip!). But I received lots of hugs and kisses and heard "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy" enough to leave me more than content with that. We went to church, returned home and made phone calls or did video chats, had dinner, got lots of rest and enjoyed being together as a family. I truly feel like the luckiest woman on the earth, well aside from the swollen feet, ankles and legs which I'm experiencing today, but even that couldn't ruin my day!