30 Things in 30 Days: Thing #6—Mothers' Day Breakfast

Today has been a great today. But last week was a long week. This post will be a short post. But don't let the brevity of my details fool you—today was jam-packed with the absolute spoiling of me by my darling Davie and my Hollie-Jollie.

This morning I awoke with Hollie in my arms. I must have brought her back to bed with me somewhere around 5 a.m. I would like to lie and say that I woke up to her big toothless grin and sparkly eyes, but to tell the truth, I woke up to her purple-nurpling me in her sleep. She wasn't nursing—she was literally purpling my nurple with her thumb and fore-finger. In her sleep. But I'm letting it slide because she is just a baby. As soon as I pulled her hand away, she woke up and gave me the big toothless grin and sparkly eyes. So all is forgiven.

Hollie and I spent the morning watching The Sword and the Stone (my favorite line will always be Madam Mim's "I HATE Shun-Shine!" and I will always tear up when Wart and Merlin have to leave the lady squirrel to weep over her lost love). Meanwhile, David cooked up a secret breakfast in the kitchen. When Hollie and I returned to the dining room, we were greeted by this gorgeous sight:

David made a quiche with red peppers, artichoke hearts, bacon, and gruyere cheese. The yogurt parfaits were delicious—I don't know how David found the best looking blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries that I've ever seen, but he did. The sliced almonds were toasted and crisp, and the granola was nice and granola-y. And roasted potatoes are Dave's specialty. It was wonderful. And the flowers are beautiful (and how great that we now have a purple vase!). Dave also got me a microplaner, which I know doesn't sound romantic, but I've been wanting one for years. I can't wait to start putting lemon zest, chocolate shavings, and grated parm on all future foods! It's the start of a new life, I say!

During breakfast, Hollie finally bit into a rice cracker for the first time (up until now, she's been more interested in smashing them against things).

This is her not knowing what to do with the cracker once she gets a piece in her mouth.

After breakfast, we watched the first twenty minutes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (which has always been near and dear to me, mostly because of my crushes on both Paul and Robert, as well as my desire to somehow, someway end up as beautiful and intriguing as Katharine Ross) until we decided that the day was too beautiful to stay cooped up inside, so we went for a walk to go birding. More on that for tomorrow's Thing #7 (yes, that's right, this post includes a cliff-hanger! My blog is turning into a terrible Dan Brown novel).

Anyway, it was a wonderful Mother's Day, and I love my creative, selfless, giving, talented husband very, very much. When I was a girl, I fantasized that my future husband would make me laugh and make me surprises. When I was in my early twenties, I realized that that is a fantasy that little girls have and big girls grow out of. I'm so very happy and relieved that my late-twenties self now knows that what I wanted as a little girl was worth waiting for. My days are full of laughter and surprises, more than I ever could have anticipated. It's mushy to say it, but I have to say it: it's like magic. It's like magic that I spent my whole childhood looking for a friend that matched me head-to-head and wanted to do all the stuff I wanted to do; I spent my teenage years trying to talk myself out of believing in such a person; I spent my 20s getting brainwashed by TV sitcoms and dramas that portray relationships as bewildering, muddling, frustrating, and difficult-but-worth-it-maybe-hopefully; and now suddenly I am married to the person I was looking for when I was a kid. And it isn't muddling or frustrating or even all that difficult. It's everything I always hoped that living in a house with my best friend would be. (Which, according to my oldest fantasies, means that David is basically Pippi Longstockings. Only without the horse and the monkey.) How do I write about this? How can I ever sufficiently express what I mean or what I feel? It feels like miracles.

Best little Mother's Day package ever.

And now I'm learning the same thing about motherhood. Diapers don't bother me, baby food on the walls doesn't bother me, staying home all the time and being with my baby all the time is the opposite of bothering me. Everyone warned me that being a mom is a lot of work and one long continuous chore, etc. etc. Of course, of course, I am just the mom of one very happy baby. Maybe it will be different with the next few (I'd like a bushel of babies...the secret is out). But I don't think it will. Hollie is too much of a miracle. I don't think I could ever look at this little person and be tired of her. Even when she wakes me up every three hours all through the night to eat (while most of her baby-friends have been sleeping through the night since they were three months old), I'm always happy to see her and hold her and help her back to sleep. I know what it is like to worry that I may not ever get married and have children. I just don't see how I can ever take my David and my Hollie for granted. I aim never to do so.

This Mother's Day has left me stuffed! I'm full to the brim! Goodnight and goodnight!