Summer

Today was my last day at work for this school year.

Max is finished Kindergarten.

We are ready!

Roll on summer...

Sleeping Pirates and 10 CHF Houses

Happiness.

A smile from my girl in front of her very kitsch doll house...

A pirate catching 40 winks after a hard day's plundering...

Wondering.

I realized today that I haven't taken pictures in a while.

They've changed again.

It is as if they went to bed and woke up bigger and more grown up.

I am scared that I will wake up tomorrow and this will be over.

This amazing time.

Waking up to the sound of feet pattering down the hallway to me.

Feeling their breath on my cheek as they whisper, pleading with me to get up, to be with them.

This being needed and wanted...

It fills me up.

How can I make sure that I soak it all up, take it all in?

How can I ensure that in the future, I will look back and say that I lived these precious moments to the full?

What about their memories?

Please God let me be fit for this job, this motherhood.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day.

*smile*

I love being a Mum.

It has been 6 years since Max was born...6 years since I first became her.

I always said that I knew I would be a good Mum because I have such a wonderful mother myself. She gave me so much. If you ask people to list the qualities of a good Mum, each and every one of those qualities would be one my mother possesses. She taught me by example and I hope every day that I am someone who makes my children feel the way she made me feel. Loved.

Being a Mum means every morning is like Christmas morning! I wake up excited to see them, touch them, talk to them...I can't get enough of them. I am so blessed to have these two naughties in my life.

Wedding...bah!

I am a royal wedding scrooge.

I did not watch William and Kate get married.

I just couldn't bear it.

I was not always this way.

My sister and I got up early for both Diana and Fergie's weddings. We watched it all, from the pre-pre-wedding show to the bitter, bitter end. We were embroiled in the dress debates and hair arguments. We were ALL about it.

Nowadays, I just can't ignore the feeling that there is something wrong with it. Not marriage! Royalty. There is something so fundamentally unfair about a family being given all that money and power in return for what currently amounts to ceremonial and social duties.

I recently read a discussion online of people debating the necessity of the Royal Family in the UK. It started out as a very interesting conversation about land ownership, taxes and entitlement. Then I read the statement, "...and William will make a really cute king. lol."

Help.

6

Tomorrow, Max will be 6 years old.

He was big (9.3 lbs). He was beautiful.

He made me a Mummy.

All my best 'firsts' are because of him.

And so tomorrow, for the first time, I will be the Mummy of a 6 year old.

I can't wait.

I have written before of the bittersweet feeling of watching children grow and change. I will miss his 5 year old self. He was a great 5 year old. He will be a super 6 year old. I will delight in watching him grow and change this year too. My little Maxi-moo.

Holiday's End

My holiday week is over. My 5 year old learned to ride a T bar without falling off and to ski down the 'big hill'. My 3 year old gave me oh so much love...just what her mama needed AND I found out that I can rejoice at 6 am! Who knew?

Holiday

So it is here. Another holiday. Another opportunity to extinguish the guilt I carry around every moment of every day for working away from my home and my children.

Challenge number one: to remain light hearted and congenial when Max wakes me at 6:00am each and every day.

Challenge number two: to cram in all the doctor/dentist/gynecologist appointments we need to catch up with.

Challenge number three: Not to waste away the days.

Challenge number four: Not to over-schedule

(Number three and Number four are hard to balance).

I think the key will be to get up every day being thankful that Max is such a bubbly morning person, that we are all healthy, that we have so much time to spend with one another and to rejoice in each and every day we are given! The interesting thing and the real challenge will be...can I remember to do this at 6am?

Can one really rejoice this early.

We shall see.