Mother's Day 2011

I love being a Mum, and found this poem - unfortunately I don't know the author's name, but I rather thought that it captured something of what I feel sometimes as a Mum with young children...

Today I left some dishes dirty
The bed got made around two thirty
The nappies soaked a little longer
The odour grew a little stronger
The crumbs I spilled the day before
Were staring at me from the floor
The fingerprints there on the wall
I guess will still be there next fall
The dirty streaks on those window panes
Will still be there next time it rains
'For shame, oh lazy one' you say
What did you do at home all day?

I nursed a baby 'till she slept
I held a toddler while she wept
I played a game of hide and seek
I squeezed a toy so it would squeak
I pulled a sled, I sang a song
I taught a child what's right and wrong
What did I do this whole day through?
Not much that shows, I guess it's true
Unless you think that what I've done
Might be important to someone
With brightest eyes, and softest hair
If that is true, I've done my share.

Our girls at Mooloolaba. Thanks to Kathy Hughes.

This year, for the first time we had Mother's Day with just our immediate family - the five of us. No rushing around, long drives and grumpy girls - instead a cruisy morning with a delicious breakfast, some wallaby spotting, the traditional present hunt, plenty of tickles and cuddles etc. before heading off to Church. The three girls all fell asleep in the car on the way home (a rarity!) and then we had homemade pizzas for lunch - yum!!

I even enjoyed some time in the hammock on the back deck (before I was discovered) and managed to read over half the Sunday paper! We watched the girls riding their bikes and then later in the afternoon we and three other families from the estate enjoyed drinks and nibblies while watching two bonfires of cleared and dead vegetation on the neighbours block, with our local fire warden invited to the gathering.
A relaxed, relatively unplanned and yet delightful day - thank you to my fantastic husband and gorgeous girls!!