my 2nd mother's day

Mother's day was quite a blur this year. Since I had to work from 8am- 1pm that morning Ben made me breakfast on Saturday morning instead. Waffles and hot decaf coffee, just want I wanted. The rest of the day went by quickly as I had to prepare for a team meeting of all my incredible volunteers that was happening that night. Had I known how busy the weekend where most Mother's get to relax would be, I would have rethought choosing to meet then, but it was the only day in all of May that wasn't crossed out when I took into account everyone's availability. The meeting went well and we ate a lot of great food!

Sunday I went off to church/work while the boys stayed home and concocted my Mother's Day surprises. I went about my morning during 1st service as usual. Just before logging off of my computer to oversee transitions in the classrooms I decided to change my desktop photo. I came here to my blog thinking I'd save a photo of Malakai as my background photo, but there was an unfamiliar post staring back at me. Ben had written some very beautiful and meaningful words and I'm so glad that I was alone when I read it because of course I cried. I also thought I had perhaps stumbled upon something that was meant for later.

Once Ben + Malakai arrived at church (with a special Mother's Day starbucks drink for me) I told him I'd seen his post and loved it. He assured me it was okay that I had discovered it already as he had meant for me to find it by surprise whenever I had happened to check in around here. What a thoughtful and surprising way to express his love and appreciation for me!

We checked Malakai into the nursery and he was having a really hard time transitioning. His whole life he has had no problem with us dropping him off. He barely notices we're gone, but lately he's been very attached. At first it was to me, but now it's both of us. It's sweet, but so very sad. I don't want him to get too upset for fear of him aggravating his hernia and I also feel like I've entered unfamiliar territory because he's not done this til now. I think his mood swings and attachment are due to a combination of teething and him sensing the changes happening around us (my pregnancy and his upcoming surgery).

Ben and I rarely argue and if we do, it's quite subdued. We never raise our voices or use harsh tones that would indicate to Malakai that something were wrong, but I think he can just feel it. I'm hoping that after his surgery everything settles down a bit and we can all breathe a little easier.

Anyway, after church Malakai napped and Ben told me I could request whatever I wanted for lunch. I chose Cafe Yumm! and we ate while watching the SNL Mother's Day episode. Once Kai woke up he and Ben presented me with a gift.

{It says "Happy Mother's Day" and "+1" with an arrow toward the mama's belly}

Malakai was hesitant to hand it over, but once I got it he watched me open it. Then he reluctantly posed for a photo. I love handmade gifts and that Malakai is old enough to do some art projects. He and daddy collaborated on this one and it will take a very special place in my frame, which was last year's gift!

Later that afternoon we headed over to celebrate my mom and have dinner with my immediate family. The last part of my gift, which is also our gift to my mom is a date for us girls to go to Sweet Life for dessert.

Overall it was a wonderful day and turned out to be more relaxing than I had anticipated. Now I am working tirelessly to get our house in order before Malakai's surgery so we can focus all our time and energy on him and his recovery (more on that later).

How was your Mother's Day? I hope it was special!