Happy Mothers Day!!

Well today is the special day that is just for all of us MOTHERS. So I have been doing a lot of thinking and wondering, what exactly IS the definition of the word mother? Well, I can tell you that when I looked up the definition here is what I got " A woman who conceives, gives birth to, or raises and nurtures a child." It's the OR that is the important part of this definition because as many of us know, giving birth does not make you a mother. It's what you DO that makes you a mother.


So maybe that's why when NBC created their huge Mother's Day contest I was personally offended, no, let me re-phrase that, I was personally IRATE WITH MY BLOOD BOILING that I was considered a NON-MOM. Yes, that is correct, there was a special category for me because my child is "adopted" and therefore, I am not allowed into the regular categories, I fit into the category called NON-MOMS. Please, someone, enlighten me as to how I am a non-mom? Is this not he most utterly disgusting and offensive thing you could tell a person that has longed for a child and fulfilled that dream by adopting? You tell her that she needs her own category and that she is really a NON-mom? Now, please note, that so many of us adoptive moms complained that it actually made National News and NBC and Teleflora, who sponsored the contest, changed the category to "adopting moms" and issued an apology. I am sorry, NBC, but you got it all wrong. Yes, my daughter is adopted, but in no way, shape, or form do I deserve a "special" category. I am a mom just like every other mother in this world. I give my children baths, feed them when they are hungry, kiss the boo-boos and bandage them up, tuck them in bed at night and make sure they have their special "lovey" and "blankie," fight for them, love them, cry for them...hurt for them. Being an adoptive mother does not make me different. If anything, it has made me more aware of what the meaning of the word mother really is. Please, media, I beg of you to quit singling out the adoptive moms in our society and just refer to us as what we are. Mothers. In every sense of the word.

On this very special day I feel blessed. Not only do I feel blessed to BE a mother, but I feel blessed to HAVE a mother. On August 30th, 2002, the meaning of the word mother took a different turn when I held my newborn son in my arms for the first time. It was at that moment, at 11:49 PM after an emergency c-section and 17 hours of labor, that I learned what it meant when someone says "there is no love like a mother's love." I felt it. I had it. That was the moment that I became a mom, and I have never stopped being one since. I love being a mother. It's what I always wanted to be! It's the reason Kris and I decided to have children so young, because I couldn't WAIT to have a baby. But having a baby and being a mother are two totally different things. I learned this once my son was placed into my tired arms.

And some day I will have to let my children go....watch them fly and hope that they can spread their wings and make it on their own. No longer will I be able to catch them when they fall for they will be grown up. And that's another stage of motherhood. This is the stage MY mother is at. She has been nothing less then the most supportive woman in my life. We have not always seen eye to eye on my decisions. In fact, there have been quite a few that she told me to re-think. But she knows me well, knows that I typically DON'T think, and she let me fly on my own. Sometimes I flew well...and other times I fell flat on my face. But she was always there. A mother's love never ends. Not when you are 2, 10, 20, or 50! Nope...it's always there. And I am so glad. Sometimes I know I have made a mistake and I will call my mom just to cry. She never scolds me or tells me maybe I should have thought it through first. She just lets me vent and get it out. I love this. Thank you mom....for being an amazing mother at EVERY stage of motherhood.

And thank you Alec and Mikayla, for giving me the chance to be a mother, and for loving me when I am not perfect.

And thank you Kris. You are my everything and I thank God that we are in this journey called "parenthood" together. You are my strength.


So what did we do to celebrate? Well yesterday Kris and I and the kids went up the Rainforest at the Cleveland Zoo. We knew that today was going to be CRAPPY weather so we wanted to do it yesterday. We also went out and had a wonderful lunch together. It was such a fun day. The kids were so good and loved seeing all the animals and exhibits. Today we went to church and then had lunch with my mom and dad in Wooster. We got right in! No waiting! And it was so nice to see my mom and dad despite the cold, rainy weather. My mom bought me some fun things for Florida and put together an amazing little scrapbook about "mothers and daughters" for me. I LOVE it. Kris bought me a gift cert. to New York & Company and the "kids" got me an amazing matted picture frame that says Happy Mother's Day at the top, both of their pictures in the middle, and their names at the bottom. I will have to take a picture tomorrow and post it. I am too lazy to do it now. LOL. And of course a beautiful card from my husband and a sweet card from my kids:-)


Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Mommy and Me
Ready for the ZOO!
Checking it all out...
Alec loved it there
This picture looks fake!

Alec had a zoo map to make sure we covered everything. LOL.
Me and sweet boy
Kris and I are forever taking pictures of ourselves together like this. We seriously are so dorky...people I just know laugh at us.
Another mother son shot
Daddy and Alec by some palm trees. Everything in there is REAL. It's like one huge Greenhouse. So awesome.

TRYING to get a good picture in front of the waterfall
Feeling the mist from the waterfall
Awww.....sweet girl
This is what happens when Kris gets the camera. This is the picture HE took. Yes, of an elephants butt. Men. I swear...he and Alec laughed about this for over an hour!
Isn't she so pretty?

Alec in front of the Lions
Can you see them in the distance? I love this picture of Alec looking at them.
OK at this point Mikayla was ready to go home. She said "ENOUGH" take me home people.
No, I will NOT smile for you mom. In fact, I pulled out the camera and she looked PURPOSELY the other way. She HATES the camera. HATES it.
Five minutes later in the car....out cold:-)