Blessed Beyond Measure: The A Team Week 33: Mom

The A Team Week 33 ended with my third Mother's Day as a parent. The day started off with Eric getting up with both of the boys and taking them out for a bit while I got a little extra sleep. When I woke up my boys will still gone, so I headed down to my computer to work on a blog entry. As I did so, I was greeted with a wonderful Mother's Day surprise: a blog entry that Eric wrote for me from him, the boys and our pup. It was beautiful and made me feel incredibly loved, so I feel that it should be (briefly) reciprocated:

Avery: You are my silly little monkey. Your big toothy smiles and twinkling eyes easily bring smiles to my face. The excitement and anxiousness that you express to be in my arms make my heart burst with joy. Your giggles for Daddy and Asher's antics bring a happiness that I never knew I could have. I look forward to watching you continue to gain more understanding and appreciation of the world around us and although I know that you will at some point desire independence, I pray that you always know I am here whenever you need me and that the bond we share will only grow stronger! I love you Avery Mikey!

Asher: I can't believe you're almost three! Watching you grow and learn these days is absolutely astonishing (& now that you frequently call Daddy & I "Mom" & "Dad", I am realizing even more how quickly time goes by)! Every day you have new words, new jokes and new ideas. Daddy and I love to see your imagination blossoming as you build cars and boats and take us for rides. You have a gentle heart and spirit with some craziness and goofiness mixed in. You are creative and thoughtful, polite and respectful, caring and loving. You are slowly turning into a mini version of your daddy and I love watching you as you try to be just like him! ...just remember that even your daddy needs me sometimes! ;) You are a great helper and big brother, and I (Mommy) love you VERY much!

Emma: You will always be my "fur-st" baby. You are a great pup and although we don't get to spend much time together these days, I am thankful for the way that you look after your little brothers and exercise necessary patience with them. You are a great big sister and a helpful vacuum after dinner time! I love your spunk and your lazy desire to spend the day relaxing in the sunlight...honestly I'm a bit jealous of that part...must be nice! :)

Eric: What can I say? After almost 13 years of marriage, I continue to love you more and more each day. You are my best friend, my biggest fan and a steady rock at my side. You are truly an amazing husband and father and I could never thank God enough for placing you in my life. Not every mom can say this, but I am very happy to see Asher look up to you so much and would be thrilled if our boys turned out just like their daddy...they will have some very lucky wives some day!

So, now that I've gotten that off my chest (but not out of my heart), here's what happened in our household the rest of the week:

Avery & Asher modeling the bunny cookies they received from a friend.

Our house was invaded by (adorable) dinosaurs!

This little man refused to nap on my day off, so we spent a little extra time together while big brother slept.

Avery LOVES bath time these days and will go tearing towards the tub (well "tearing" is a bit strong since he crawls at about turtle pace, but you get the idea) whenever he hears the water turn on. On this particular day he took his first bath alone in the (non-baby) tub and he had a total blast splashing around and chewing on toys without big brother to get in his way!

As I said, Asher wants to do EVERYTHING that Daddy does these days!

On Thursday night I asked Asher what he wanted for dinner. He said he wanted to eat hot dogs outside. Since it was a gorgeous Spring day, I obliged and we enjoyed a lovely family meal on our new backyard deck.

Even though Avery doesn't go anywhere quickly, he is still pretty determined to explore and find trouble wherever he can.

On Saturday, Eric poured a new slab of concrete for our grill. We couldn't resist the opportunity to make our family mark, so everyone (including Emma) got to make a handprint and when that wasn't enough (for Asher), Asher and Avery got to make footprints too...Avery was not pleased by this and started screaming. When that wasn't enough, Asher also made a print of his "knocker" (aka hammer) and a rock. Then Daddy had to end the fun or Asher would have stuck everything we own into the slab! :)

Finally, as I said in the beginning Sunday of this week was Mother's Day. After years of praying for children and not knowing what God's plans were for us, after stifling tears on Mother's day of 2011 as I sat in church watching all the other mom's stand and be recognized while I silently mourned the loss of our baby just two weeks prior and now after giving birth to two beautiful baby boys, I celebrate this day not only as a daughter that is completely blessed to have an amazing mother (& also mother-in-law) of my own, but also as a Mom myself. I get to be the one that dries their tears, kisses their boo-boos, changes their diapers, tickles their piggies, laughs at their jokes, guides their ways, cheers them on, corrects them, spoils them, loves them and oh so much more! Being a mom and their mom at that is truly the greatest responsibility and joy I could ever have imagined and as I type this and know that there are some reading this mourning the loss of their own child, the passing of their mom or wondering why God has never blessed them with children, please know that you are and were in my prayers.

So, here is a quick overview of my Mother's Day...

After Eric returned with our boys, Asher came into the office to greet me with a "Happy Mother's Day Mommy!", followed by "I did it Dad!" to Eric! :) Then we headed into the kitchen where I greeted my other little one and was given some heartfelt gifts from all my boys...some potted flowers (which Eric vowed to water, knowing they'd die if he didn't), some new (very soft) jammies (for the mommy who Asher knows well enough that the other day after work when I headed up stairs he asked, "going to put you jammies on Mommy?" and I replied "yep buddy, I am"), a colored tile that Asher made me at daycare, some handprint/photo art that Daddy made for me with the boys and finally one chocolate cake/chocolate frosted donut just for me (my favorite!). I was (and am) a very spoiled Mommy.