The Very Long Post About Mother's Day

I am extremely blessed to be friends with an amazing group of mamas. I really can't imagine what it would be like as a stay-at-home mom without them to learn from, lean on, laugh with, and love (yup, love ya'll :)).

Emily is very likely the kindest person I know. She is genuine and loving and her kids (Sam and Eliza) are so sweet.

Wendy is just a fun person to be around. She brings spontaneity to our little group and her son Coleman is so evidently loved, and is a joy.

Cheryn is an awesome mama to her two littles, Nolan and Sadie. Sadie is just a couple of weeks older than Charlotte, and it was fun to have another mom to share in the pregnancy joys and woes with me.

Jamie has taught me a lot about just having fun with my girls. You can tell by their interactions that she loves her daughter Eden and that she is so happy being a mama. She will be bringing a tiny new member to our group sometime in July of this year :)

Rachael has taught me so much! She is a great source of advice on everything from gardening to parenting, and I think the Maya is very similar to her older daughter Becca, so it's nice to sortof have a glimpse of what is coming! :)

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Beth demonstrates what I want to be as a parent. She is very confident, and when I have an issue that I can't figure out, she is often who I go to for advice. Her two boys are a similar distance apart as my two girls, so it was nice to see how things play out between siblings. She just recently had an adorable little baby girl, Sarah (awesome name, right???!!! :)), and her family is adjusting beautifully. I hope that if/when we have a third, we are able to handle the transition as well as she has!

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Linda is who I want to be when I grow up (and this says nothing about age ~ just that her kids are older than mine :)). She is loving and gentle and confident and her kids are truly a joy to be around. Nick, her 2 year old, is just enthralled with Charlotte and we joke that they should have an arranged marriage! Also, Linda recommended the midwife that we used for Charlotte's birth, and I'm not sure I can thank her enough for that!

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Adrianne and her daughter Kendall are the newest members of our group, but you'd never know because they fit so well! Adrianne is also one of my coleaders in LLL and I love having such a responsive mom as not only a coleader but also a friend!

Sierra is, well, Sierra. I think we were sisters separated at birth. I'm not sure what I would do without her friendship. Her daughter Isabella is awesome, and I find myself telling her that at least once a week. Her cutey-patootey son Isaac (who is pictured above, with Beth's daughter Sarah) is the newest member of our little group and it is SO FUN to see these tiny new ones grow into little people. Thanks to Isaac and Beth's daughter Sarah, Charlotte is now one of the "big kids"!

Here are two pictures of part of the group from when Maya was 5 months old. That's Julia, Nick, Maya and Isabella (from left to right)

And this one is Simon, Maya, Isabella and Julia in the "I have to put everything in my mouth all the time" stage! :)

Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

The girls are lucky to have not only 2 but 3 grandmas, and 4 great-grandmas! How loved they are! Happy Mother's Day to the grandmas and great-grandmas in our lives!

Finally, my two little girls. What can I even say? I am so so so blessed to be their mama, and while I felt extra special and loved today, they bring me joy and love beyond what I ever knew even existed every single day, and for that I am grateful.

Tricycle

My littles are getting too big!

Charlotte turned 10 months old yesterday (as in, there are only TWO months left until she turns 1 ~ eek!); she can sign "milk", "more", and "all done"; she can wave and clap and say "bye bye"; she is quite adept at climbing; and she has even taken a few steps. I can't figure out where the time has gone!

Maya is also growing by leaps and bounds. For all the frustration and difficulties we have (what with both being very strong-willed :D), she is such an amazing person. I say this about every age as it comes and goes, but I think that 2&1/2 is my favorite age so far. She is so full of life and energy and excitement about everything. The girl is pretty smart, too (not that I'm biased! :)). She is starting to pretend, which is just such an awesome development ~ it's something that I thought I would have to teach her to do, but like everything else, she just started doing it on her own. The 2 year old brain is so interesting :)

So anyway, all of that stuff is cool and fun, but ya'll ~ Maya learned to ride a tricycle this weekend! It was so cool to see her persevere and figure it out. She was so proud of herself (and as you can see in the video, Michael and I were pretty stinkin proud, too!).

Trying to Catch Up

I've been getting behind on blogging, and the number of pictures I want to share has become a bit overwhelming! Tomorrow I'll blog about Maya learning how to ride a tricycle (!!!) but for today you just get lots of pictures :D Not even the standard captions-on-every-picture. Here's what we've been doing the last few weeks: