mother's day

It was my first mother's day. Kinda weird writing that, thinking of myself as "mom."

When I think about what kind of mom I hope to be, I get pretty emotional. I'm sure that I'll never do it (mothering) perfectly, but one thing I want to ensure is that my daughter never questions my love for her. I want her to know that I will always be interested in what she has to say, in what she's doing, and in what she hopes to be. I want her to know that no matter how insecure she might feel about trying something new or doing something that others would never dare, that I will always be there to root for her and to support her in achieving whatever it is that she desires. I want her to be confident in who she is and the gifts that God has given her. I want her to love her body, to feel comfortable in her own skin, no matter what size jeans she wears or how much acne might be on her face. (I've made a promise to myself to never point out her physical "flaws," to never make her feel that she is not the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen.)

I want to be the kind of mom who always has an extra minute, always has a helping hand, and always actively listens, encouraging her children to grow in confidence and courage. Likewise, I want to be the kind of mom whose children are proud of her. This means that I must get over a lot of my own hang-ups and fears, something that I have resolved to work on more each day.

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I had a lovely mother's day. It began with Sean preparing pancakes and bacon and picking up my favorite drink (frozen chai latte) from one of our local joints, Tryst. Since we were up so early, we decided to go for a little morning stroll through the neighborhood. DC is so peaceful on weekend mornings... only a handful of people are out, walking dogs or going for a jog. The day went by pretty quickly after that. We cleaned house and spent a lot of time trying to get Teagan to sleep (we think she is going through a growth spurt, which usually makes her pretty fussy). Since we skipped lunch, we were both pretty hungry by about 4:30PM. Sean knew exactly where I'd want to have a special dinner, but by the time we got there, the wait was over an hour. So.... we walked to a new spot around the corner called Mintwood Place. It was pretty good, but a little pricey. Sean had a half chicken cooked in an iron skillet and I had slices of steak and a watercress salad. I never knew I liked watercress! I'm sure it's been mixed in salads that I've had before, but I've never eaten it by itself. We finished the evening by watching the finale of 'Survivor'. Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and watch TV on a rainy night.

Here's a look at the card Teagan gave me:

I don't know if you can tell, but Sean actually had Teagn hold the pen and then he scribbled her hand around, trying to write her name. So cute. I pray that this card is true for my precious gal: "Before I knew anything else, I knew how it felt to be loved."

Hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day!