Happy Belated Mothers Day

Every mum can testify that motherhood can be rough sometimes.  And motherhood in another country without your usual activities, grandparents to fobbed them off to occasionally and days off can make it even more interesting.

Last week was one of those weeks. One of those rough weeks were you get stuck inside for a few days due to bad weather and then your kids start losing the plot with each other and as a mum you actually resort to locking yourself in the toilet just to get five minutes peace.

For the last 4 weeks, the girls and I have been together 24/7. Which isn't the norm for us. Hannah does school 3 days a week, Laura and Miss E go to daycare once a week, and they all have visits to the grandparents and have play dates with friends. We aren't really used to being together as much as we have been since arriving in Canada and I think we were all beginning to show the strains of spending too much time together. Hannah and Laura were fighting over the most ridiculous things, Miss E was throwing ginormous tantrums and I was happy to cut onions in the Kitchen if it got me away from the girls for ten minutes.

Of course this was the lead up to Mothers Day. A day which had completely snuck up on my actually. We aren't really living in a day of the week or date world over here at the moment. Most days roll into the next and it’s hard to remember what the date is.

So when Janice and Marla mentioned that on Mothers Day they were taking the day off from cooking and that everyone would be fending for themselves, I looked at them and was like “wait, what day is Mothers Day? “  That night, Marla mentioned over supper that originally she was going to have to spend Mothers Day alone, but thankfully all her family were able to make it now.

I joked that having the whole day to myself would be my dream Mothers Day. But actually at the time, I wasn’t joking.  I imagined a quiet day of reading , taking a long luxurious bath and I imagined what a relief it would be to not have to referee the girls toy sharing dramas or changing the extraordinary nappies Miss E has been producing of late and instead just been able to think and breathe and drink tea. Yep, total bliss!

So I guess as I entered the Mothers Day weekend, I wasn't really feeling it.

But as is often the way, God knew exactly what I needed and sprinkled these AMAZING moments to remind me that although being a Mum can suck sometimes, 80% of the time, it’s the best job on the planet.

Miss E’s moment:

She finally said my name! Mama! She is the only one to take this long to say it and I had begun to feel it would never happen. But she did and now whenever she says it I feel my heart swell a little.

Laura’s moment:

As any of you who know Laura know, she is such a little comedian! She hurt her finger the other day and she came to me and I looked and it could only see the tiniest of tiny red marks on it. So I laughed and said “Oh no, it looks serious Laura. Hmm, do you want me to give it a kiss or just cut it off.”

She looks up at me with a big grin and says… “Cut it off Mum.”

She is hilarious J

Hannah’s moment:

Wow Hannah is growing up. We have been having all these really grown up conversations lately. We chat about whether she wants to have kids or not, or why people get married and all sorts of stuff that I wasn't really expecting to talk about for another 10 years.

But the other day we were walking past the COLTS out playing Volleyball a little after 9pm and she said “Mum, why do they get to stay up so late?”  I told her that was one of the great things about being young and single, you can stay up late and play games, go to the movies. I told her when she is grown up and in her teens she will be able to go shopping, start driving, and all this great stuff. Then I added with a smile that she won’t want to hang out with me anymore. That she will think I am so uncool.  She took my hand and said 

“No way Mum! I will always want to hang out with you.”

Naw, what a sweetheart! (And I have it written down now so I can show her when she is 16 and keeps telling me to leave her alone J)

So, although this isn't really a Canadian post today, I just wanted to wish all the Mums out there a belated Happy Mothers Day and I hope that you get some special moments with your little ones this week, or at the least, 5 minutes alone in the toilet. Whichever you feel you need more J