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Post by Jackie on May 11, 2008 17:56:13 GMT -5
Ok...so I am much older and wiser now...but gonna fess up about Mothers Days gone by...many moons ago I used to feel like on Mothers Day...somehow the "mother" part of me should just disappear for 24 hours. My expectations were ...that there would be no feeding of babies, no changing of dirty diapers, no cooking and certainly no dirty dishes. Also that all the laundry in the house would miraculously get itself clean , sorted, and put away  and that the house would be spic and span and stay that way all day. REALLY....all this was always a thought at the back of my mind that often made me sort of a mean old mad woman by the end of the day. ;D Not every year....but many! What I usually got were handmade cards (all of which I still have), precious gifts made at school, and quick wishes from kids before they went out to play. And sometimes a card from a husband who would constantly remind me I was NOT ...HIS mother. (like yah  ) Anyway my expectations were always set way too high...wanted to be revered as a queen...LOL...Wanted Mothers Day to be 24 hrs long with no deviation from said reverence. Now I have many long days where I AM the queen...no one really needs me...no one to tend to...sometimes we can even go a week without messing up the house...LOL...and I miss all that. I am not embarassed to admit all this. Like most of you I was worn out after each 365 days of motherhood and all I really wanted was a ....BREAK. Hope some of you get a BREAK to go with all the rest of it..... Luv ya Jackie |
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Post by Googsmom aka Jennifer on May 11, 2008 18:15:17 GMT -5
Jackie, of all the things i've read all day, you hit the nail on the head I luv ya!!!! ( I got no "break" today but I did fall asleep for an hour trying to keep Brook asleep Now I gotta get some dinner ready ) |
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Post by lespring on May 11, 2008 18:49:30 GMT -5
My ideal mothers day is to have the house all to myself for an entire 24 hours. Guess what? I got an ENTIRE WEEKEND!!! Friday morning Dean left for opening fishing (cuz opener in MN is on mother's day...lovely.) and Angela went to her dad's early. I think I was dropping her off at 3:00! What did I do??? Well, it was beautiful out so I came home, got on my bike (aka motorcycle) and went for a long ride in the country.
Tyler did help me out on Saturday. Dropping my sidecar off with the guy who is mounting it. Came home and took a long, leisurely nap, had dinner of Cocoa pebbles without having to share.
Today I messed around with a couple projects I wanted to complete, but mostly did a lot of nothing.
A perfect Mother's day weekend in my eyes!
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Post by elizabethsmom on May 11, 2008 19:24:42 GMT -5
Jackie,
Although I'm not in your shoes, I can sympathize. My "perfect mothers day" would be all of my kids and my husband home all day, everyone loved me and each other!
This is how my day went:
Joby took me to the mall this morning. Background: I MUST wear sunglasses almost from dawn to dusk if outside or suffer severe migraines. Therefore...I wear GOOD sunglasses. The ones I had were 4 years old and in the last year Elizabeth had done a little number on them so not as nice. Joby took me buy new knowing that if he didn't I would con't to wear the same ones and pay a bill or something instead. So.... VERY sweet of Joby!
Anyway, Joby took me to the mall. Of course, Elizabeth went with and that was great. Kelli (my son) was working then going to his girlfriends, Amber and Tia were at their dad's for the weekend. When we came home from the mall, the twins were going out to eat with us. Kelli came also AFTER finding out it was his favorite resteraunt (not, obviously his fav. mother haha). After dinner, twins back to their dads, Kelli to MY dad's to watch a movie, and Joby up north for work tomorrow. So.... here it is "mothers day" and Elizabeth and I are spending the night alone. I spent the day with 1 out of 4 kids (except for dinner). And found that my teenagers want to spend time with me if I feed the WELL. haha. (sigh)
Sounds like I'm having a pity party for myself (and I guess I did for a few minutes), but at least my kids are healthy enough to want to be independant and are building their own lives. (just wish I could keep them all here with me for say.... another 10-20 years!) Nobody tells you how you'll feel when you succeed (so Joby keeps telling me) in "mother" duties! i.e., bringing up strong, independant, capable kids who seldom really NEED you anymore! Lesson in Jackie's post is felt here... enjoy them while you got 'em 'cause it doesn't last nearly long enough!
Happy mothers day Jackie!!!
Sheryl
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Post by elizabethsmom on May 11, 2008 19:26:39 GMT -5
p.s., Jennifer, that pic of Brooke is AWSOME! :-)
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Post by laurasmom on May 11, 2008 21:59:50 GMT -5
Jackie I can so identify with what you said. This year and last Mike worked, so it was me with the girls for the day. We did go out to eat tonight at one of my favorite restaurants, and I did have a margarita. But no real relaxing today, laundry still to do (of course I could have done that yesterday), dishes to wash, breakfast and lunch to fix, and whiny kids that wanted to me to go to the mall, or to the movies, or go play putt putt, and all I wanted to do was relax and read.
So I think about the future, and know one day I will wish I had this day back again, whiny kids and all.
All in all, it was a nice day. I managed not to do too much. The girls and I watched Hairspray, and I did get to sit and read for a couple of hours.
Happy Mother's Day to all of us wonderful moms!!!
Sharon
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Post by Chris too on May 11, 2008 22:56:43 GMT -5
Thanks for the perspective Jackie. I am in the "midst of motherhood" right now & it is hectic, but I try to make sure to enjoy every minute I can, storing up memories for not-so-long down the road when the kids are gone. I had a great day with my family all around me, starting with breakfast in bed, made & served by my older daughters & accompanied by the younger ones. Every one of them who was over 3 made me a gift of some sort & all gave extra loviness today. Sweet. It is such a glorious privelege to be a mom |
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Post by Jackie on May 12, 2008 8:02:33 GMT -5
You are all right....Motherhood is a REAL JOB. I have had a number of jobs and MOTHERHOOD was by far the hardest and most challenging. Something no man or woman without kids will ever realize. (now some men ARE househusbands and I think THEY have a better perspective ;D) My kids growing up were involved in all sorts of things and NONE of them in the same parts of town....EVER  For several years I had four kids in five schools thanks to Emily's different programs. I could never carpool cuz our car would only hold the six of us so couldnt pay people back. Some of you have also had kids in theatre which required late night rehersals almost every night of the week! Ed with his long hours was seldom avaiable ...but did help when he could. And...all those nightime soccer games in April on cold foggy nights...LOL. I look back on those years with great fondness...for the kids...but NOT the HOURS! ;D I remember wondering after I got in bed...where the energy...both mental and physical ...would come from to wake up early the next AM...but I survived...LOL. Funny...but everyone was always sympathetic with Ed about HIS hours...but.......no one ever patted me on the back for getting up an hour and a half BEFORE him...and getting four kids dressed, fed, and delivered to school...LOL. OK...think I have now worked my M. Day kinks out...and looking foreward to soon seeing a couple more of my babes...and THER babes! I have about worn out my card that plays the Chicken Dance and has "signatures" of all four of David's little ones in it. And one of the first things we always seem to do when we get together is recite all the words to Dr. Seuss books...don't ask me why...but I love it. Em gave me my Mother's Day Foot Massage last night and ohhhhhhhhhhhh it felt so goooooood. Jackie |
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Post by Jessie on May 12, 2008 8:58:57 GMT -5
I'm one of the weird ones that don't want to spend the day away from my kids either. Yesterday I couldn't see my mom and it killed me. I figure as long as my mom is still alive and my kids are young enough to make them do what I want, I want us to all be together on Mother's Day!! Same goes for Father's Day too.
Brian did cook a fabulous dinner, Jake is sick (another ear infection and that's why we didn't travel to see my mom), Ellie wouldn't nap and was a pistol all day, and Jason was just Jason. So, it was a pretty typical day around here!
Jessie
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Post by Ericsmomma on May 12, 2008 11:33:24 GMT -5
I'm going to sound kind of selfish here, so cover your eyes...
I LOVE ALL MY CHILDREN to pieces, but my ideal Mother's Day celebration would be for them to send me to a overnight spa for some rest and relaxation. There, I said it! No kids, no hubby, (even though he's great)....just me, a jaqcuzzi, some hot stones (for my massage),
a good book, and room service. Maybe even sleep past 6am.
Instead I cooked for my Mom and 10 other family members (hubby did grill the burgers), cleaned up, washed a few loads, played with the grandkids, and changed a few million of Eric's diapers (gotta love those antibiotics!). I finally did sit down around 9:30 pm to watch the news. But I did get alot of kisses from my "girls" and Schmitty. That makes up for alot.
But Jackie, I understand what you are saying about expectations. They don't usually measure up to reality. Maybe next year....LOL!
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Post by Jackie on May 12, 2008 11:36:51 GMT -5
Hope I haven't been misunderstood. Never wanted to spend the day AWAY from my kids...just wanted to be waited on and have the day totally free to enjoy myself and them...without having to do all the "mommy" things...LOL. I love nothing MORE than family togetherness...I just LIVE for those times because our family is an unusually close one and we all work hard to have total family experiences even now with us spread out all over the place.
And what I said I wanted ...could really never be...I just wanted a "magic" few hours when I could click my fingers and everything would just take care of itself like in the fairy tale movies...LOL.
One of the most memorable Mothers Day was the time that we had the neighbors over...whose 2 daughters Ems age BOTH had active chicken pox...to have lunch by our pool. The thought being that if Em in kindergarten got the pox near the end of May ...she would never miss a lot of school with them Well...it worked...but we had no idea that her immune system (she is very healthy) would respond the way it did.!!!! Pox even on the whites of her eyes...she was...NASTY and still had scabs three mos later when school started. She looked much sicker than she actually was.
Jackie
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Post by mollysmomma on May 12, 2008 11:55:17 GMT -5
Well, things didn't work out at ALL for what we wanted to do...i love to fish...and we have a bass boat that's been in the garage since last year! Between the floods and the cost of gas (it runs premium) it's just stayed put. we had tornadoes sat nite...and sunday there was gale force winds blowing all day.... but we wouldn't have fished anyway...CUZ I NAILED A MIGRAINE! or a cluster headache or something...woke up with it about 2am...and it was 2pm until i got control of it... Daddy's gift was keeping molly entertained so mommy could have a little quiet. Molly had been home all week with some lower intestinal virus...so i cleaned the carpets! heheheheh YALL KNOW! and of course, lysol'd the house!! but i did make this for my older kids...who are all off living thier lives...*sigh* www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=5c7817b900e48a9a9bbf57&skin_id=1009&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url |
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Post by Googsmom aka Jennifer on May 12, 2008 13:11:24 GMT -5
That was a beautiful montage You have a wonderful family |
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Post by elizabethsmom on May 12, 2008 17:09:58 GMT -5
That was a beautiful video! Now I'm crying again! (should've bought stock in Kleenex a year ago).
Sheryl
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Post by laurasnowbird on May 12, 2008 17:43:51 GMT -5
Jackie,
You articulated something that I've thought for many a Mother's Day, LOL!
I DO seem to have gotten a little more realistic about it, perhaps because my oldest is 22, and the littlest is only 2. I've been doing this for so long now that most of my illusions have been stripped away. My husband works second shift, so most of the day was me doing the usual mommy thing, with a newly toilet trained two year old, what fun! But it was chilly and damp here, so I started a fire, and sat by it reading with my children last night, realizing that, in spite of all the "work" involved, life is very, very good.
I have an absolutely awesome mother-in-law, so my gift to her was to spend the day Saturday (from 7am to 4pm) working HARD in her yard. She's 87 years old, and the really heavy work is hard for her these days. I made dinner for them Friday night, and packaged it up and took it out with me Saturday morning for their dinner Saturday night. I got sooooo much pleasure out of spoiling her all day, and my kids "helped" too. Then went home to finish dinner (which was in my oven on a delay start, LOL!) for my oldest son's birthday dinner. We had a wonderful dinner, and lots of great family time.
Our perspective gets restored in the weirdest ways sometimes. After I'd tucked my kids into bed on Saturday night, I opened my e-mail to find news that a dear friend (only 36 years old!) who has been treated for breast cancer (mastectomy and chemo)for the last several months, had taken a sudden horrible turn, and was hospitalized in critical condition. They are still uncertain what is happening with her, and she is still unresponsive and on a ventilator. That's how she spent her Mother's Day. It made me very grateful for my day with my children, in spite of all the frustrations. I hope I can hang onto that sense of appreciation.
Julie and I were pregnant with our littles ones together, and her youngest is only a couple of weeks younger than my Aidan. I'm praying that the Lord's plans for her include a long life, and the opportunity to raise her children. I'd be grateful for any prayers you guys could offer for her.
Laura
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and that the house would be spic and span and stay that way all day. REALLY....all this was always a thought at the back of my mind that often made me sort of a mean old mad woman by the end of the day. ;D Not every year....but many!
)
]
For several years I had four kids in five schools thanks to Emily's different programs. I could never carpool cuz our car would only hold the six of us so couldnt pay people back. Some of you have also had kids in theatre which required late night rehersals almost every night of the week! Ed with his long hours was seldom avaiable ...but did help when he could. And...all those nightime soccer games in April on cold foggy nights...LOL.
