I’ve been a mother for four years now, and I’m not sure I know any more about how to be a good one than I did when I was pregnant with Max. Just when you master one challenge, something new crops up to stump you. Not to mention that whole two kids dynamic. But the awesome thing is, those ever-changing challenges are blown out of the water by the new and amazing things we get to witness and be a part of. It’s a miracle when my babies start to smile, then laugh, then roll over, sit up, crawl and walk. And it’s just as awe-inspiring to see toddlers persevering to learn a new skill, or preschoolers engaging in hilariously creative imaginary play. I love the way Anna calls herself “Nana” and repeats her name with increasing urgency when she wants something. I love when Max uses his whole body to tell me a story. I love when they read the Sandra Boynton “Fifteen Animals” book together at nap time and Max recites it from memory with Anna saying “Bob” at the appropriate time. I am so blessed to be a Mama to these two amazing people.

We had planned to go up to my Grandma’s for Mother’s Day, but the kids were still recovering from a particularly nasty virus, so we laid low at home. We did venture out to our front porch and yard to take a few pictures of me and the kids. Of course they were interested in anything but pictures, but we still got some good ones. Thank you Maxwell and Anna for making me a mother, and Jeff for being such an amazing partner on the journey.

For Mother’s Day we had Max do an “All About my Mom” questionnaire. Here are the questions with his answers in bold:

My mom’s name is Mama
My mom is 25 years old
My mom weighs 61 pounds
My mom’s job is to work
My mom’s favorite food is pizza
My mom laughs when I do silly dancing
My mom always says “I love you, Max.”
My mom’s favorite color is blue
My mom cooks the best food
If my mom had time, she would love to snuggle me (just for the record, I do snuggle him!)
My mom and I like to play
I love my mom because she loves me

Here are the pictures. Anna wanted to sit in the chair all by herself:

I can’t remember what we were talking about, but it was clearly very important:

We convinced Anna to join us briefly, by letting her hold onto the planter dish:

Then we decided to take a few out by the fence, but we had to pause to inspect a snail:

Me and my babies:

And a couple randoms that I like: