A Mother's Day to remember.

I really didn't have any expectations for my first official Mother's Day. I mean isn't every day, kind of mother's day?? But I never would have thought it would be quite so stressful. Leading up to Mother's Day Reese had become increasingly more sick. On Thursday she completely stopped taking her bottles. I took her to the Doctor on Friday but they just said to keep watching her for dehydration and try to get as many liquids as possible in her. By Saturday afternoon she still wasn't eating and I was getting really worried. We took her to the insta-care where she was finally diagnosed with a double ear infection. They put her on antibiotics and again warned us to watch for dehydration, but that she would probably start eating once the antibiotics kicked in.

We woke up on Sunday to discover she still had a fever and still would not take a bottle. And now she wouldn't eat solids either. I spent the morning trying every possible way to get some liquid in her. She wouldn't take her sippy cup, she wouldn't eat any fruit, she wouldn't eat a Popsicle; the only way she would drink anything was drinking out of my glass and that was only a sip at a time. Arnold and I spent the entire day having her sip out of our cups every 10-15 minutes while constantly doing the dehydration tests that the doctor gave us. Needless to say, it was a long day.

But then around 6 p.m. Reese decided to give me her mother's day gift. While sleeping in my lap, I quickly swapped out her binky for a bottle and she drank 4 ounces. I tried it again at bed time and she drank 6 ounces. She woke up the next morning with no fever and willing to eat...finally.

Looking back now I've decided it was a pretty fitting mother's day. I really couldn't have been more of a "mom" that day.

On another note, Arnold was so good to me on mother's day. He made me a video collage of photo's put to music about our life together. It had all my favorite sappy songs and little messages narrating everything we've been through. Of course it highlighted the best part...our little Reese. It was so beautiful. I started crying 2 senconds into it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I honestly beleive that every woman is a mother wherether they have children or not. One of my favorite quotes on the topic is by Sheri Dew. It's long...but well worth it.

"Have you ever wondered why prophets have taught the doctrine of motherhood—and it is doctrine—again and again? I have. I have thought long and hard about the work of women of God. And I have wrestled with what the doctrine of motherhood means for all of us. This issue has driven me to my knees, to the scriptures, and to the temple—all of which teach an ennobling doctrine regarding our most crucial role as women. It is a doctrine about which we must be clear if we hope to stand “steadfast and immovable” regarding the issues that swirl around our gender. For Satan has declared war on motherhood. He knows that those who rock the cradle can rock his earthly empire. And he knows that without righteous mothers loving and leading the next generation, the kingdom of God will fail.

When we understand the magnitude of motherhood, it becomes clear why prophets have been so protective of woman’s most sacred role. While we tend to equate motherhood solely with maternity, in the Lord’s language, the word mother has layers of meaning. Of all the words they could have chosen to define her role and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve “the mother of all living” —and they did so before she ever bore a child. Like Eve, our motherhood began before we were born. Just as worthy men were foreordained to hold the priesthood in mortality, righteous women were endowed premortally with the privilege of motherhood. Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature, and the unique traits our Father gave us...

As daughters of our Heavenly Father, and as daughters of Eve, we are all mothers and we have always been mothers. And we each have the responsibility to love and help lead the rising generation. How will our young women learn to live as women of God unless they see what women of God look like, meaning what we wear, watch, and read; how we fill our time and our minds; how we face temptation and uncertainty; where we find true joy; and why modesty and femininity are hallmarks of righteous women? How will our young men learn to value women of God if we don’t show them the virtue of our virtues?...

Few of us will reach our potential without the nurturing of both the mother who bore us and the mothers who bear with us...As mothers in Israel, we are the Lord’s secret weapon. Our influence comes from a divine endowment that has been in place from the beginning. In the premortal world, when our Father described our role, I wonder if we didn’t stand in wide-eyed wonder that He would bless us with a sacred trust so central to His plan and that He would endow us with gifts so vital to the loving and leading of His children. I wonder if we shouted for joy at least in part because of the ennobling stature He gave us in His kingdom. The world won’t tell you that, but the Spirit will...

We just can’t let the Lord down. And if the day comes when we are the only women on earth who find nobility and divinity in motherhood, so be it. For mother is the word that will define a righteous woman made perfect in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, a woman who has qualified for eternal increase in posterity, wisdom, joy, and influence."

AMEN!!!! If you want to read the entire talk click here.  

I feel very lucky to have been intrused with "full time" motherhood.  Reese is the greatest blessing Arnold and I have ever recieved.  We can not imagine our lives with out her.  But I also realize and hope that throughout her life she will encounter many "mothers" that will assist in shaping and molding her into a rightous woman.