I am an official blog contributor, with my first post being posted on Attachment Parenting International’s new blog, API Speaks. 

This new blog’s mission is to “capture the real stories of life as an AP family and to highlight the fact that, despite all the varied family structures, cultures, religions, and dynamics that exist in the world, there is one thing that unites us: Our love and compassion for our children.” (from API Speaks)

I will be a regular contributor with my posts appearing around the seventh of each month- give or take a few days.  The first post that appeared was a post that appeared on my blog, from last March- “Following My Instincts.” 

API Speaks, which was launched last month, is a helpful blog to read, and gain insight into different parents experiences with their children, ranging from birth, to feeding, to sleeping.  Even though every parent has different paths they take with their children in these areas, the common bond is, a respectful and gentle approach.

 It is so hard at times being a parent, and trying to do the best you can for your children.  For me it is like a breath of fresh air to read other parents have similar experiences, trials, and triumphs as I.

I hope you will not only read my posts at API Speaks, but read other experiences and stories posted there.  Check out this new blog- I am sure you will find something that speaks to you as a parent. 

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day.  This was my fifth one already!  (How did that happen?)

We got up early so we could make it to my favorite breakfast cafe, before the crowd got there.  It is a Creole cafe which serves to die-for beignets (which is like a cross between a sopapilla and a donut), and homemade biscuits among other goodies.  I got eggs, Creole style- which were scrambled with peppers, onions, cheese,  potatoes, and topped with tomatoes and an avocado. This was served with the biggest buttermilk biscuit you have ever seen, topped with homemade strawberry rhubarb jam.  It was delicious, and of course the boys loved the beignets and biscuits.

After breakfast we went to Joe’s parents house, where we had a present for Joe’s mom.  I had compilled all the best pictures during the last year, and made a photo book for her on Shutterfly.  I have to say, as a former scrapbooker, Shutterfly made the whole process incredibly easy, and fun.  The hardest part for me was picking out the photos to use, and cropping them before I downloaded them to Shutterfly.  I loved the way the book turned out, and I was so happy I ordered a copy for us too.  It is a wonderful keepsake, and Joe’s mom was very happy with it. 

After visiting for a while, we went home, where we all took a nap, except for Ryan.  Bless Joe’s heart- he “napped” in the living room on the couch, so he could watch Ryan.  After I got Cole to sleep, I took a luxurious hour and a half nap in my bed.  It was great.  I woke up to Ryan telling me I had a Mother’s Day card.  This was the envelope:

When I asked Ryan if that was him on the envelope, he said, “No, that is just a hairy guy.”  Okay- I guess my son thinks I like hairy guys. 

Cole was still sleeping, and Joe decided to assemble Cole’s birthday present.  Even though it is in about two weeks, we bought last week, and figured the boys should get as much use out of it as possible.  The directions said it assembled in less than an hour.  Uh, right.  We spent triple the time assembling it.  Cole had woken up in the meantime, and I fixed the boys lunch, which they ate outside, while they ‘helped’ Dad.  (I’m going to write more about the present with pictures closer to Cole’s birthday). 

I got a little yard work in, and cleaned the front porch.  When the toy was done, the boys played for awhile, and I told Joe I wanted some pizza from my favorite pizza restaurant-so off we went to a neighboring town, and we had a nice 20 minute drive or so.  I was a little worried the restaurant would be crowded, and we would have to wait, but we got right in, and it wasn’t super busy, until we left. 

When we got home, I went on a long walk by myself.  The weather was wonderful- warm but not too warm, and not cold enough to need a jacket. 

After I was finished with my walk, the boys were ready for their bath, and bed.  Ryan was so tired, but he told me Happy Mother’s Day again, and asked me if I had fun, “celebrating me.”

As I laid Cole down in his crib, he pulled my face in for another kiss, and then just held my cheek to his, smiling.  He gave me a kiss, and rolled over on his side saying, “night night.”  It was the best moment of the day.

I loved today, and even though I know I will have some things to catch up on, I wouldn’t have changed any of it.  I loved having a fun, relaxed, and easy day with my family.  :-)  Here are two pictures, after we arrived home from breakfast:

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day, how ever you chose to spend the day!

This video has over 24 million views, but I had never seen it before, and it is so funny and adorable!  The two boys in it, reminded me so much of my two boys for some reason.  :-)   Check out Charlie’s smile at :33.  How cute are these little guys!  Happy Laughing!

About a month ago, I blogged about the Global Giving project BlogHer was running through Mother’s Day to help save impoverished women and children’s lives. I announced that I would donate 50% of my sales from my on-line store, Little Pumpkin, Sweet Pea Designs from that post to today, Mother’s Day to the project.

While the sales weren’t as high as I would have liked- :-), I was able to donate double what I initally thought I could.  Thank you, thank you to everyone who supported this idea, proposed by Amy from Crunchy Domestic Goddess, and a BlogHer Contributing Editor. 

I was torn on which project to donate to, so I ended up donating to two:  I donated to Help Afgan Women Deliver Healthy Babies Safely, and to the Mother & Child Health Clinic in Rural Nepal.

As I wrote before, I feel so blessed to have been born in a country where I don’t have to worry about having access to basic health care.  As I celebrated Mother’s Day today, it really struck me how many less fortunate women and children never even get a chance to have a basic start in life, and have safe, and accessible health care. 

You can still make a donation to these projects, by clicking the links above.  The projects still need your help. The Nepal Mother & Child Clinic is only 7.8% funded, and the Afgan Women Baby Project is only 2.3% funded.  Any amount- as big or as little as you can give will help.

I read a great blog post today From Daily Mish Mash on the commercialism on Mother’s Day, and how it can make us feel when our expectations aren’t fulfilled. 

I admit that I too, had unrealistic expectations of Mother’s Day, when I first became a mother.  I assumed it would be like a commercial, with my husband thinking and planning that “perfect” day for me. 

Fast foward four years, and I have learned.  Mother’s Day is not about just one day of having a perfect day.  For me, Mother’s Day happens year-round, when my four-year old gives me an unexpected hug, or tells me something super sweet, like, “Mommy, you are my best girl.”  Or when the boys play together and actually have fun, and don’t bicker.  Or when they both do something I ask, just because I asked them, or when Cole looks into my eyes to give me a hug, and I see pure love in his big, blue eyes. 

Oh, surprises are nice too- who wouldn’t love a diamond necklace, like Daily Mish Mash mentions?  But I agree with her that expecting these amazing, thought out, well planned gifts, is just setting ourselves up for disappointment.  I have also become way more proactive, and instead of hoping and then getting mad that I don’t get the Mother’s Day I am hoping for, I have started to let Joe know what I would like to do. He makes it happen, and he is happy, because he is doing what I really want to do, and I am happy-obviously.  This seems to work out well for us. 

My husband is not the world’s best surprise planner.  I have learned that about him.  But he will drop whatever he is doing at a moment’s notice to help me with the children.  He will go to the grocery store for me at 11pm at night, if I have a dessert craving, and he will do anything for his family.  I may not get a diamond necklace on Mother’s Day, but I will take the little- and never ending gifts I receive every day, from my family over a diamond necklace any day.

Besides, where would I wear a diamond necklace to anyway?  I suppose the cashiers at the grocery stores would be very impressed, if they manged to notice it over my mom-stained shirt. 

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone.  I leave you with some quotes I like for Mother’s Day.

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.  She never existed before.  The woman existed, but the mother, never.  A mother is something absolutely new.  ~Rajneesh

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs… since the payment is pure love.  ~Mildred B. Vermont

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts.  A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.  ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

It kills you to see them grow up.  But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn’t.  ~Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

And my favorite, since I am part Irish, and have two boys: 

I have about a half-hour commute to work, twice a week.  I get to listen to what I want to on the radio (no Music Together, Barney, or kiddie music CD’s.)  So I like to listen to the popular talk shows, to stay up on what is happening in the world.

During the past month, I have heard every talk show talking about stay-at-home moms who have or get an “allowance.” This is money their husbands give them to spend each week, and once it is gone, it is gone- no more buying anything.  At first I thought this only applied to a few people, but I was amazed by the calls the radio shows were receiving, and these were all on different stations.

The allowance “rules” based on the women, who called in, seem range from the wife receiving a large allowance to buy groceries, gas, and other household necessities to only $20 a week to buy “emergency” items like diapers, or to splurge on herself. 

One woman said her husband gives her $50 a week for her allowance and with this she has to buy gas, diapers, and formula.  If there is any money left over, she said she can spend it on herself, like on a haircut, or clothes.  She said with gas prices being so high though, she barely has enough of her allowance left after buying gas. 

Another woman said her husband gives her $20 a week that she can spend on whatever she wants for herself, but if she needs money for diapers, or a doctor’s appointment, she has to submit the amount to him ahead of time, and he writes a check for that exact amount.  Some women had to even get trips to the grocery store, dry cleaners, etc. “approved” ahead of time from their husbands, so their husbands would know how much gas they were using. 

The calls went on and on, and evidently there are a lot of households in my area who are doing this.  Some of the women loved it- they said it helped them stay on a budget, but some women said they hated it, but felt like they had little choice, since their husband was the one who was earning the money. 

I’m all for budgeting the household money, and maybe if a wife requests the finances be run this way, I don’t have a problem with it.  Whatever works, if both parties are happy.  I do have a problem with the whole allowance issue if the wife is not happy, or feels like she has no choice in how finances are spent, even if her husband is the sole wage earner.

Stay-at-home moms contribute so much to the family- I am sure I don’t have to list it all out.  To be made to feel like you are a teen-ager asking your father for an allowance, just seems degrading to me.  I am of the thought (and my husband is too), that we both contribute to the household, and we don’t need “permission” to spend money.  Of course we run bigger purchase items by each other, but my husband doesn’t want or demand an accounting of every dollar I spend, and I don’t expect that of him either.

I am really curious now, what do you think about this?  I would love to hear if you have an allowance, if so, is it your choice, and what are the benefits or drawbacks to this. 

You would have to be living in cave if you haven’t heard about the controversy surrounding Miley Cyrus, regarding her Vanity Fair photo shoot.  Ellen DeGeneres has some thoughts on this controversy.  Happy Laughing! 

I got tagged by Jen from Daily Mish Mash on four things about me-

Four Jobs I’ve Held

• Floral Designer
• Legal Assistant
• Medical OSHA Consultant
• Bookkeeper

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over

• Gone With the Wind (best movie ever!)
• Somewhere in Time (second best movie ever!)
• My Fair Lady
• Summer Magic (old 60’s movie with Hayley Mills- can you tell we had the Disney channel  growing up?)

Four Places I Have Lived

• Albuquerque, NM (born there)
• Boulder, CO
• Estes Park, CO
• Santa Barbara, CA (only for a summer, but I did live there!)

Four TV Shows I Like

• Brothers & Sisters
• What Not to Wear
• Flip This House
• Actually don’t watch TV anymore- can’t think of another show I still like.

Four Favorite Foods

• Pizza
• Salad
• Anything Chocolate
• Wine (does that count as a food?)

Four Places I would Rather Be

• Anyplace tropical (Hawaii, Virgin Islands, Fiji, etc…)
• With my little sister in Seattle
• In a 5 star luxury hotel for at least one night, all by myself to sleep, sleep, and get more sleep, and to eat the little chocolate they put on your pillow
• Austria

Four People I am Tagging

• Laura (from Oraele: she won my Bloggy Giveaway)
• Jungle’s Wife
• Janice (from Mom on the Run)
• A Mom Two Boys

 This picture is of Ryan, Cole, and myself, about 14 hours after Cole was born.  It was the first time Ryan met and held his new brother.  This picture represents the essence of motherhood for me.  I not only had a brand new life, but also my firstborn, and two brothers before me, who are my sole responsibility.  I am still in amazement that I have been entrusted with these two precious little lives, and looking at this picture reminds me what a miraculous experience motherhood is. 

I am participating in 5 Minutes For Mom’s Giveaway with this photo, on what motherhood means for me. 

The past few days, Ryan has started telling me I am his princess.  He’ll give me a hug and say, “You are my princess, Mommy.”  Tell me that wouldn’t melt your heart. 

Tonight as I was tucking him in, he told me that again, so I asked him what he wanted me to call him.  He said, “You can call me “Prince.”  So I gave him a hug and said, “Goodnight, prince.”  He got a huge smile, and then said, “Okay, you go away now Mom- I need to go to sleep.”  I guess the fair princess has been banished out of the prince’s room. 

Cole is starting to talk up a storm.  Yesterday he started saying his name, very clear- at least Joe and I think it is clear.  Before this, when we would ask him his name, he would always say, “Me.”  He calls Ryan, “Eye-in,”  which is pretty good for an almost two year old. 

Cole’s latest dramatic antic when he wants something-anything, to pucker his face up, start whining, and cry, “Baby, Baby,”  while pointing to himself.  The boy is good- it gets my heartstrings every time (and Joe’s), but he still is my baby, and I guess he knows it, and is working it to his advantage.  At least  I haven’t been banished by him-at least not yet.