On Motherhood

This week, in honor of Mother's Day, lots of people have been posting on their facebook pages the names and dates that their kiddos were born.  I've looked at each of these postings and smiled, comparing sizes to Finn's birth weight and thinking about how tiny he once was and how totally over the moon I was to meet him for the first time.  I've thought about adding his stats to my status - Finneaus Uriah, 07.14.10, 8 lbs, 12 oz.  21 inches long.

But what do I add for Abby?  I'm not sure how much she weighed when she was born or how long she was.  I don't know if she was born in the morning or afternoon or the dead of night.  I can't tell her if she was a fussy baby or what soothed her.  I'm not sure what her first food was or her first word or when she started crawling and walking.  I can tell her that I met her for the first time in April of 2007, she was 7 years old and she had a very squeeky voice; she loved to play Polly Pockets and perform dance shows for us.  On June 25, 2008, when she was 8 years old, she came to live with us for the summer and she never left.  That fall we walked to her first day of 4th grade and she held my hand.  On November 5, 2008 she became Uriah's - and, by default, mine - legally.  Uriah and I celebrated quietly with champagne after she went to bed.  On October 17, 2009, when she was 9 years old, I became her step-mom.  She cried like a baby during the ceremony. 

One summer, I think maybe the summer she came to live with us, she got me a key chain that said "#1 Mom."  I still have my keys on it.  The thing of it is, I don't need to know her "stats." She didn't grow below my heart, but she has surely grown in it.

This morning, in what I guess is my first official Mother's Day, Finn woke up before 7.  He needed his pants changed and a pre-breakfast snack and since I'm a single parent these days, I was awake, too.  I made a bottle and we went back to bed together, although there was no going back to sleep for either of us - even after my Dad came in to get him and gave me a few extra minutes in bed.  Abby was awake at 7:30.  She has not mastered a quite voice, but she did have some Mother's Day "surprises" for me - mostly in the form of flowers and  new rose bush that I can plant when we get into our new house.  She and Finn worked on a secret craft with my Mom (along with some help from our super sweet neighbor) as a surprise for me - vases with painted flowers that they used their fingerprints to create.  I got lots of hugs and slobbery kisses and Abby informed me before she went to bed that she told me "at least 60 times Happy Mother's Day" today.

And it was just that...a very happy Mother's Day with both of my kids.

Thank you Sarah, for taking the lovely picture!