Mother's Day

I was in a bit of a tizzy this Mother's Day. I had decided last week that I wanted to have both sets of parents and my sister and brother in-law join us for church on Sunday and then back to our house for a Mother's Day brunch. I had this vision of a Martha Stewart style brunch, I'd use my coffee table to set up mini pastries and mimosas, I'd serve several versions of egg bake, and I'd decorate with fresh flowers everywhere. E and Cora would be dressed up in the cutest outfits for church and I was planning on wearing one of my favorite spring dresses. It was going to be fabulous!

My tizzy started on Saturday night when it was after 7pm and I was just starting to put together my egg bakes and hadn't even started decorating the tables. The day just got away from me. Somehow I must have forgotten that I just had a baby less than three weeks ago and I can't go go go. I was exhausted. Even with the help of Mom and Mike, my Martha Stewart vision was dwindling.  Screw the different types of egg bakes, a basic one would be fine. And my mimosa/pastry table, well that was just a bad idea to begin with. It would have been right at E's level and I would have spent the entire time saying, "No Evan!" or have a huge mess in my living room.

It continued downhill from there when I went to try my dress on.  Again, I must have forgotten that I just had a baby. The dress was not happening. I went digging through my closet and came up with an alternative outfit for church. Not what I had planned, but it would work. I went to bed Saturday night feeling a little defeated.

Sunday morning, I woke up feeling more confident. My egg bakes were already in the oven baking, when we got home from church I could just throw them back in to quickly heat up. Everyone was up and we were on track to leave the house at 10am. I had Cora dressed in her outfit which I had planned out days before. It was the cutest navy and white stripped dress with pink trim, pink leggings, and a navy cardigan sweater. She was ready to go, bow in place and shoes on.  Cora was in her swing and I went to check on her. The smell hit me fast. She pooped...again. No big deal, there was plenty of time to change her. I started changing Cora and it was a blowout. Once again I found myself digging through a closet to find an alternative outfit. Feelings of defeat were creeping back. I found Cora another outfit and that girl is so dang cute she can pull off anything. All was well again. We were out the door at 10am and even had time for some family pics.

During church, E had fallen asleep. He was snuggled on my lap and as I looked at him I wondered how he got so big. How could this be my baby boy? Where does the time go? I began to reflect on the events that had occurred over the past 24 hours. I was ashamed at how upset I got about silly things. My Mother's Day brunch would never be featured in Martha's magazine and I didn't get to wear my dress. But none of that really matters. Sitting there in church holding E I just felt so blessed that he made me a Mom. Because there was a time when I could have cared less if I ever became a Mom and that thought scares me. The idea that I would never know E or Cora is unimaginable.

Leaving church, I let my original vision of brunch go. I decided to enjoy my Mother's Day with my family and not spend time worrying about how my table looks. And I did enjoy my day. The food was excellent, the company even better and seeing E deliver Mother's Day cards to everyone was priceless. Let this Mother's Day be a reminder to me that enjoying real moments with people is more important than spending time trying to create perfect moments.

The Perfect Moment