A Woman Sandwich

Today I am in heaven. My mother is here this weekend to celebrate Mother's Day. My daughter, who is extremely mommy-addicted, is even more "Nana" addicted. She flings herself at my mother upon arrival even before she has a chance to exit the car in the driveway and doesn't give her up until we scrape her off of my mom at the end of the visit. Does she see the same thing in my mom that I do? Even though I am 35 years old I still sometimes wish I could fling myself at my mom upon arrival and not let her go until my husband drags me away from her at the end of the visit!

What a gift to have both my mother and my own daughter surrounding me today. I feel like the middle of a generational sandwich of women. I never really imagined a day when I could hang out with my mom and my own daughter together. Amazing. For those of you who don't already know this, I have always wanted a daughter. I have two sisters. My mom has three sisters and one brother. We are a family who knows sisters. I always assumed I would give birth to girls and watch my daughters experience sisters. Then I had a boy. And another boy. What? Then I spent two years studying how to have a girl and finally got my girl. After a few years as a Mother Of Boys it was strange to actually give birth to a daughter. Audrey is almost two now and it's still strange. Being with my mom and Audrey today makes me daydream about one day being with my mom, my daughter and her daughter. There is something special about mothers and daughters.

Having said that, there is something VERY special about mothers and sons. I woke up this morning to my 6 year old son and the sweet persona that he trots out a few times a year for special occasions. He has been all sweetness and light today, offering me breakfast in bed, a trip to the bookstore, and whatever else my heart desires ("we can play whatever you want to play today mom!").

Yesterday the three kids were on the swingset and Ryan (6) mentioned that for mother's day Audrey was going to keep me company. I asked where he was going to be on mother's day since it sounded like he wasn't going to hang out with me too. He said "For Mother's Day, I'm going to give you Five Minute's Peace!" Out of the mouths of babes.

So I came downstairs to open (I mean, let them open) their school-made gifts to me and discovered that Ryan had drawn the most wonderful picture of me pushing all three kids on our swingset, something we have done alot of lately. He also wrote about how much he liked my pink shirt and how good I was at helping him find websites. Then Jamie (4) gave me a standard pre-school handprint picture. I flashed forward to his future huge man hands and thought about the day when these handprints will look tiny. The time goes so fast.

After opening my gifts, I settled on the sofa to prolong my pajama time and Audrey came over with one of the boys' Nerf guns. She pulled back the slide, pointed it at me and with her chubby baby fingers, pulled the trigger. Ahhh, my princess. The result of the best of both worlds. The unexpected gift of two bright, funny, loving sons and the much anticipated but different-than-I-imagined gift of a daughter. A family full of loud, messy, chaotic love. The best gift on Mother's Day.