Week 33 and My First Mother's Day.

Twenty some years ago, when I first started to understand the concept of holidays, I probably presented my mom with a card. And on that card would be with my mom's portrait, really scribbles, but to me, it would've been unmistakably, my mom. As the years progressed, the presents would be crafts projects from school, an occasional ash tray, for my non-smoking mom, some tacky beaded jewelry. When I started to earn some money, the presents started to become store bought: cosmetics, perfume, lotion. Occasionally, I would still give her a hand made card. Some years, we would even take her out to eat. And then when I moved away, Mother's day was celebrated in the form of a store bought card that said something along the lines of what a great mother she has been and how she has been there for me all these years. Each year, it's the same. One day out of the year, I show mom how much I love her. But that day wasn't really that special...  it could be mother's day every day of the year.

But this year, Mother's day was a bit different.

I've been a mom for less than a year and I am just starting to understand how much work goes into being a mom. I can see why there is a special day set aside (one of the few holidays that is celebrated on the same day almost world-wide) to celebrate moms.  We have Presidents' Day to celebrate the sacrifice and leadership of past presidents. We celebrate Memorial Day to commemorate those who have sacrificed their lives for our country. Mr. Luther King sacrificed his whole life to fight for a cause that has improved what it means to be human. So, it would be natural to have a Mother's Day to celebrate the mom's who have sacrificed so much to raise us.

While I thought this Mother's day was going to be all about me, I found myself really focusing on my own mother, really appreciating her, and seeing her as a strong, independent woman, who raised us, mostly on her own - and I think she did a pretty good job. All this I once took for granted. But now I know.

So we visited my mom for Mother's day. She really enjoyed spending time with Nathan and kind of accidentally taught him how to blow raspberries. I joke about how she's teaching my son bad habits, but it's super cute and I'm glad that she taught him that skill. You never know when blowing raspberries will come in handy.

While we were in Plano, we also decided to go visit a park. The weather was beautiful and I just wanted to be outside. Living in Texas, you try to enjoy "cool" days when you can. My sister, Monica came along and we hiked a very easy paved path at a nature preserve. We had stopped by sonic to get some milkshakes and were enjoying them on the walk with guilt as runners and other exercisers passed us, slightly out of breath. Again, the weather was beautiful. Here are two of my favorite shots from that day. 

Besides blowing silly raspberries, Nathan is starting to make "b" sounds. He has become a very vigorous jumper on his bouncy seat. It's really funny to watch him blow raspberries, as he's shrieking, as he's jumping. He's also started to lunge forward whenever he has the chance. Perhaps this is the beginning of crawling. I'll keep my fingers crossed, hoping that this crawling milestone will come a bit later. 

The car ride up to Dallas was pretty terrible. We were thinking that if we left around his bedtime, he would sleep the whole trip. Were we so wrong! The return trip was better. We left right before his last nap of the day. He napped the first hour of the trip and was pretty happy playing with me in the back for the rest of the trip. He slept well in his pack and play at my mom's. But when he got back home, he has not been going down easily. Hopefully this will improve soon. 

New foods this week: Curried lentils, steak, pork with 5 spice powder, blueberries, melon. He likes all of these except for the melon.