A mother's day (so far)

(A lucky thrift shop score I found just before Lake's birth, this tree of life has four figures, Papa, Mama, and two boys, along with a creative menagerie of animals.)

6:35am: Wake to Lake crying from a bad dream about a basketball coming out of his nose.  What?!

Tuck him into bed with Calder and return to my own bed for a last few minutes of rest.

6:45am: All the boys are in the kitchen and, from the bedroom, I hear whispers and the sound of chalk art being made on the chalkboard.

6:50am: Calder and Lake run in to get me up and out of bed to see the "Happy Mother's Day" greeting and artwork they've drawn with Jeff.

7:00am: I make breakfast (waffles) while Jeff does some much-needed yoga.

~ a couple hours pass easily by with waffles, pear sauce, coffee, piano playing, car+trucks+trains ~

9:00am: Jeff and Calder go for a quick bike ride in the neighborhood.  I take a shower.  Lake plays with his cars.

9:30am: Clean and dressed, the boys back from their ride, I set myself down amongst a pile of diapers(!)

10:30: From where I sit on the bed I can...

HEAR: Calder and Jeff playing T-ball in the yard;

SEE: Lake, his long blonde ponytail reaching halfway down his back, completely occupied in the sand boat outside; and

FEEL: Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of cloth diapers/liners/covers surrounding me.  We've accumulated so many through Calder and Lake's baby-hood.  They were both out of diapers early, and the bags and boxes of quality bum-covers have taken up space in the closets and bedrooms for far too long.  I'm buried in diapers we haven't needed for years, and it's time to sort through and post them on Craigslist.  A giant cloth-diapering pot-o'-gold for some lucky family.

In and amongst all this, I KNOW: All this, all I see, hear, feel, and do today IS because I am a mama.  It's wonderful and difficult, easy and complex, scary and amazing, trying and fulfilling.  Thanks to my boys (Jeff, included) for all the love and recognition.  You guys made me "Mama", and everything about my life was forever changed.