And I’m not talking about Chinese food, which actually sounds good right now considering it’s 7:45pm and the last thing I ate was a microwaved breakfast bowl at 11am. That of course explains why my daughter has nothing but formula all day and mommy isn’t making any milk. :-(
My day started out like one of those sour candies that you bite into and immediately shocks your mouth with disgusting sour, then after a few chews becomes a mellow sweet treat.
The Sour
I had a bad week. I was really looking forward to Mother’s Day weekend, planting flowers, spending some quality time with the kids, and mending a broken heart. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way. Instead I was up until 4am because of my husband’s snoring and didn’t manage to crawl out of bed until nearly 11am. Then my husband snatched up the kids and took him to his parent’s house for two hours. By the time they got back it was time to head to my mom’s house.
While at my mom’s we got to looking at pictures of me as a kid and teenager. I have to say it’s never made me feel more depressed than I’ve been in awhile. I see these pictures of myself at 16 and 17 years old, I was thin, smiling, my expressions were just lit up, I looked so pretty then. I look back now and just wish I had realized it. It’s tough to look in the mirror these days and see what I’ve let myself become.
Overall it just turned out to be a pretty cruddy start to my day.
The Sweet
The great part of today was when it came to mommy gift time. I ended up buying my mom her first digital camera. She’s never owned her own camera and always asks for pictures of the kids so I thought it would be a great way to for to have some of her own.
And then of course my kids gave me their present….
Do you see my husband’s hand in all of this? Instead of wrapping paper I got hand drawings and junk mailed taped to the box. LMAO! The pictures I love…but junk mail? I guess I have 
to give him props for finding a way to recycle the stuff. Inside was an external hard drive. Umm…yeah, we’ll just leave it at that. As The Love Dare book says, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all. Here’s to nothing at all!
But, but, but…..my sweet, adorable, loving little son made me the prettiest little flower pot ever. Thank goodness for our school district’s art teachers. They helped him create this thoughtful little gift that I can tell he worked so hard on. There’s ladybugs, butterflies, catapilars and even a few creepy little spiders. I think he threw those in just taunt me. :-)
—-
I guess the part that disappoints me the most about today is I didn’t get to spend any time just being with the kids, especially Emma. It was my first Mother’s Day with her and I thought for sure my husband would do something special to remember the occasion. I suppose there’s always next year though.
Wait wait. Is that a current picture of you? Because if it is, I have no idea what you’re talking about. You look great! Snap out of the funk and smile. An inner confidence really works wonders for you. Fake it if you have to. I can’t really comment on the other stuff but as far as how you look, really, you do look wonderful. Too bad YOU can’t see it. :(
I love the gifts my kids create! This was the first year I didn’t get anything handmade from them though. My youngest daughter drew me a picture though. My husband took us to San Francisco on Friday to celebrate Mothers Day. Then yesterday I got the day off from cooking and got to relax with the kids. Good enough!
I hope that you are able to find more sweetness and let go of some of your feelings of sourness. I think that maybe focusing on things to be grateful for would be a good place to start. You were able to celebrate Mother’s Day with your children, who are all healthy and thriving, AND your own Mom. That is a blessing. Think of so many people who don’t have their own Mom to celebrate with anymore, of who have lost a child, or who have children who are ill, or severely disabled. Think of the sourness of Mother’s Day for them….every year.
So many of us wish we were thinner, prettier, happier in our relationships/marriages, richer, etc. We need to see what we DO have and not spend so much energy focused on what we don’t have.
I am not just preaching and being holier than thou….just so you know. I am a single mother of twins who were born 2 months prematurely and who both have significantly developmental delays. One of my sons also has autism. I am always worried about finances and making ends meet, and I have battled severe obesity for years and looking at pictures of my younger, thinner self makes me wistful, too. However, none of those things could possibly ruin my Mother’s Day. I was able to hug and kiss my sons, who were both able to hug and kiss me back (not true last year!! they actually had to LEARN that in therapy!). I was able to spend time with my own mom and sister and brother and nephew. I was able to reflect on what I have and how lucky I am.
I wish you much peace and luck in finding your happiness.
Aww, I wish you would have had a much better Mother’s Day. Mine was pretty crappy too.
Awww sorry there was some sour in your Mother’s Day :( LOL at Hubby’s gift – I’m assuming that’s not what you asked for eh? Men are pretty clueless, I’ve learned!
Oh, Cat, I can relate to you in this post on so many levels. I spent part of my Sunday trying to buy an outfit to wear to an upcoming reunion. I bought something but I’m not convinced it’s my style. The real problem, of course, is that I have NO STYLE. It’s a good day if I manage to shower and put on an ol’ t-shirt.
And, I will just say nothing about my unwrapped book that I was with my husband when he bought for me and still had the price tag on it. And the card from him that is so NOT ME. And the fact that he didn’t even try to have my kids make me a card.
Hope you got more sleep last night.
Well… If it makes you feel any better. I did not receive a card, gift, an I <3 you, you’re a great mom. NOTHING!! It felt pretty crappy but @ the end of the day I was just happy to have my 21 month old baby girl with me. (Even if my husband is a total A**) I can only hope for better nxt yr.
Husbands sometimes have a hard time living up to our expectations. They just don’t see things the same way, so they don’t always come through with the sentimental memory-making and romantic gifts. Honestly, sometimes we just have to tell them what we want. It takes the surprise out of it, sure, but then we aren’t disappointed and they are happy because they’ve made us happy! The other option is just lowering our expectations!
Hugs :) feel the same way when I see my pictures from 10 years ago :) and Mother’s Day here was so Sour too, Hubby kind of remembered it around 8 PM, and I didn’t want to remind him before LOL but my sweet little girl made me some cute drawings :) so it made the day a little better!
Sorry that your Mother’s Day was a disappointment. It’s hard not to have expectations on your one special day each year and it’s easy to get disappointed when your hubby doesn’t put forth the effort. He could have got some nice paper for your gift at the very least. And, in all honesty, that external hard drive is awesome. I just got the same one last week and it’s great! I know it’s not the best Mother’s Day gift but hopefully it’s something you needed and it can help protect those precious memories of your kids. So, in that respect it is appropriate. Just trying to find the positive here. If it makes you feel any better I got a mouse (?) and a lapdesk for my laptop. My hubby said the kids picked them out…hmmmm. He did get me a massage though (but I’d been throwing out some heavy hinting over the last few weeks that I needed one). Maybe your hubby needs a little nudging…er….shoving in the right direction. Better yet…go get something nice for yourself and don’t wait on your husband to do it for you…even if he should. Your kids are adorable and I hope that their smiling faces will lift your spirits when you’re down.
Sorry to hear that your Mother’s Day was sour! I know things have been tough for you lately and I wish you all the best. I have come to learn that Mother’s day is always a huge let down. I never get anything from my Hubby, he says I am not his mother. Oh, life goes on…
So cheer up and get a smile on that beautiful face!!
Call a “do-over!” Make a list of what you wanted to do from Mother’s Day, cross out anything unrealistic or not that important (We see a lot when we see it on paper.) Then make Mother’s Day into Mother’s Week (or month!) until you’ve gone thru your list and squeezed all the lemonade-y goodness out of that lemon.
Kisses and wishes, Heather
Ok, I have to laugh about the junk mail. Never heard of that before, lol. But I can relate to the crappy day. My kids made me cards and pictures that I love but my husband. After work he bought me a Burt Bee’s gift set. It would not be so bad if it wasn’t the exact same one I already had which included 85% of the stuff I don’t need. Well, at least he tried. I hope you feel better and Happy Mother’s Day :) Btw, you look great!!
You look great!
And, in your hubby’s defense, I’m hoping it was at least something you needed (although not necessarily wanted)…hopefully, he was thinking of you:) And, at least he got you something!
Big hugs Cat. I just read your post and see that you do have reason to be said on Mother’s Day. I am so sorry to hear about Gavin. I know he is up there looking down on you. HUGS!
I am sorry you had such a rough day but that was great that your family thought of something. My husband didn’t even get me a card. He made me lunch and that was about it. But as you know he was gone and now he’s working all the time. :( I do hope that you can look back at Sunday and say “You know what, I had my family with me!” BTW You look great! Stop beating yourself up!
? Didn’t u just have a baby like 3months ago? Um HEllo. It took you 10 months to put it on you can’t expect for it to disappear over night. I’ve finally learned to except the lbs that found me after the last two births. I think we’ve all been doing a little slacking on our exercising.
Summmer is coming and the time for getting out for walks is so near. FResh air, flowers, children playing in the sun and pool. And walks at the zoo. Those lbs are just going to melt off. Remember your body is holding a lot of water weight and your blood volume stays up because your breastfeeding. Its going to be awesome and if you think about “EVERY DAY IS MOTHERS DAY”.
Oh, Cat, I can so relate about the lack of feeling “special” by your husband on Mother’s Day. My husband is just as clueless. I stopped by after you made that comment on my Mother’s Day post with flowers. That was as much as I would say for my Mother’s Day because I don’t feel entirely comfortable sharing my “downs” with everyone on my blog. I have too many family members and friends reading it and that does hinder my ability to ever rant about my husband. He is a fabulous father and a good husband but he is CLUELESS about Mother’s Day. Last year he got me nothing. NOTHING! (Not even a card.) I got pretty upset about it and he tried to make up for it by sending me a huge bouquet of flowers the following week on my first day back to work from maternity leave. He signed the card “Thinking of you mommy! Love Lucian and Warren” Of course I started bawling like a baby at work. It was super thoughtful but I know it was his way of trying to make up for it. So this past Thursday he actually asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day. Are you kidding me? Of course that is what I told him and said he could find hints on my blog and he dropped it. On Saturday we are at Target and he comes by with, get this, Dance Dance Revolution for the XBOX, asking me if I’d like it for Mother’s Day. Seriously? I don’t play much for video games, save for WiiFit every once in a while. He thinks he is being thoughtful since I love to dance but I’ve never shown an interest in it and really that isn’t a Mother’s Day gift unless I’ve been dying to get it. He leaves and then comes back with an electric griddle. Granted, I’ve said we need to get a new one and I prefer to cook pancakes on it versus the stove since it so much faster. But I just said we should buy one. Not that it should be a gift. In retrospect it wouldn’t have been too bad of a gift but what fun is it when you SHOW it to me the day before and ask if I want it? So I ended up with nothing as a present but at least I got cards this year. My mom blew me away with a half day spa package. How great is she? She read my 100 posts blog post and saw that I’d never had a pedicure or professional massage and thought she’d get me one. That is only one of the many reason why I love my mom so much. She is so thoughtful. In all fairness I just think my husband doesn’t know how to act for Mother’s Day because they never really did anything for his mom but get her a card. So I took time Mother’s Day morning while we were riding up to my mom’s and explained what would make me happy. I told him about how it doesn’t have to be expensive, just thoughtful. That he could have taken Lucian to pick something out and whatever he got me I would have loved because it was from him. I explained that it is about making me feel special and appreciated and even doing something like letting me sleep in or letting me take it easy for the day would be great. ANYTHING! He seemed like he got it but you know what? The whole day I took care of the kids while he relaxed on the couch (he ran 22 miles the day before because he’s training for a marathon). So I totally know how you feel Cat.
Sorry it wasn’t a great one for ya! That flower pot sure is cute though. And the junk mail? lmao So funny! Great pic of you all too! I love his shirt!!! :)
I agree with Badger mama. You are stunning! I have say that your Mother’s Day was far better than mine was. DH didn’t even get me a CARD. What does he do? He breaks in to my Hallmark REVIEW stash, gets out a card that says something like “I like you” or some crap like that, writes in it saying how he is thankful that I tolerate him. Uh. Ok. I was really expecting at least a CARD from the KIDS; not him. Hell, a Willow Tree would have been nice. I have never gotten anything for my birthday, Mother’s Day, or any holiday for that matter. I haven’t blogged about it yet, but I plan on it. Uh. We even went to Bob Evans, out of town, with a GIFT CARD that was a review as well. Oh, and I went shopping while we were out. I thought if he didnt get me anything from the kids, I am going to get some summer outfits, so I did.
I have learned not to wait in the spouse to get anything or show emotion – I just go get it myself. I hate it, but it’s what I have grown to do.
Love you Cat!
I spent my mothers day at my twin sisters house. My husband and step kids were off hunting and I had my baby girl. I got…exactly NOTHING on mothers day. I did get a stepping stone kit that “I” am supposed to help the kids make for me.
Yeah that’s awesome. Thanks…whatever!
Catherine