Mother Love

OK, so Matthew and I are both beat. Like dead tired. Me because I wake up repeatedly each night with Jonah and Matthew because he was out late partying last night. As for the partying, that's another story altogether, but the point is we decided to turn in early tonight. Like 8. So, now it's 9, and both Matthew and Jonah are fast asleep, and the house is quiet and peaceful, and I should be sleeping, but I realized I just couldn't end the day without writing a little something for Mother's Day.

I had my first Mother's Day today. It got off to a bit of a rocky start (a little something related to the partying story, but, again, I digress), but then quickly smoothed over into a very lovely day. After I napped with Jonah, Matthew retrieved the boy when he woke up so I could stay in bed a bit longer. When I got up, Matthew fixed breakfast for me, including scones he baked himself. Nice touch. Then, he gave me my gifts. A framed photo of my beautiful baby and a DVD of a slide show of photos of Jonah over the four months since his birth, set to a couple of Jonah's favorite songs from his "You are my little bird" CD. Of course, from the first image, I was a gonner, tears streaming down my face. It was so beautiful and sweet. Jonah loved watching it, too, I think.

In the middle of the day, we took Jonah out in his new stroller (yay, we finally got a lightweight stroller we can take travelling!) down to the farmers' market in Dupont Circle. Jonah snoozed a bit on the way home. Clearly, he likes the new ride. We picked up some yummy olive bread and tapenade to take with us to our friends' house, where we gathered this afternoon with several other young families to celebrate Mother's Day. It was great. We chatted with our friends about our kids, our work, politics and ate some yummy food. Jonah and another baby were the youngest kids, at four months old, and the oldest was 2 1/2. At around 6, Jonah started getting squawky. When he gets tired, he sometimes gets a burst of energy and starts squeeking and yelling. He's not crying, but he's vocalizing and it's very cute and he seems quite delighted with himself. Around 6:30, we knew it was time to head home. I sat in back with Jonah since there was a very real possibility he'd have a meltdown if we missed his sleepytime "window" and he got overtired, but he was quite cute and smiley in the car, even giggling at me now and then.

Sometimes, I still can't believe I'm a mother. Of course, I can't help but think about my own mother today. I remember quite vividly the last Mother's Day I spent with her. She was sick and my sister was living far away from all of us. My sister and I hatched a plan for all of us to be together and surprise my parents with Dani's arrival. I have a photo from that day, not of my mother, but of me and Dani curled up together on my parents' couch. It was a nice Mother's Day. Ever since then, Dani and I have made a point to wish each other a Happy Mother's Day in some way, as a way of remembering Mom. But, this year, for me, it was different. It was better. Mother's Day took on a new happiness for me. This morning, when Matthew and I were getting Jonah ready in the stroller in front of our house, a small group of people walked by. A young woman looked at Matthew and Jonah on the sidewalk, and then up at me on the top of the steps. "Happy Mother's Day," she said, looking right at me. "Thanks!" I yelled. I thought that was very nice. Very cool. We called Matthew's mom during our walk. "Happy Mother's Day," I told her. "Happy Mother's Day to you, too," she said, adding, "Don't you just love hearing that?" Indeed, I do. Of course, I talked to my dad today. He wished me Happy Mother's Day and said, "It's nice to say that." I knew what he meant. It's nice to say that again. And, I said, "It's nice to hear it."

To all the mothers, past, present and future: Happy Mother's Day! ~ Nicole