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I am a Mom of two young lads, a fitness fanatic and wife to a die-hard Packers/Brewers fan. I worked in corporate america for 12 years. Now I am on a new adventure - raising my sons and working part-time in the fitness industry as a Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor. I hope you stop by and read my updates- family, fitness, or life related!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Momma's Day 2.0


Momma and son at the lake. (One of the RARE preggo pics that I will allow!)
Swingin' Braden
Braden's new love for throwing sticks down the stream


Horsey ride in Nisswa while Mom shopped

Since I am known around our house as the "Momma", I was greeted with a smiley "Happy Momma's Day" from my sweet 19 month old. How can you NOT have a good Mother's Day when your child can actually say those words to you?

I am a lucky lady. I got to spend Mother's Day weekend up north with my family of three (or is it three and a half now?) On our way out of town on Friday we stopped in Stillwater to visit Teddy Bear Park, hit the ice cream store and we also visited my Mom's grave. This was Braden's first official visit to see Nana Judy, where he got out of the car and came up to the headstone with me. We talked about his Nana and how she is up in heaven as an angel. He kept repeating the word "angel". I explained that we come here to visit her spirit and tell her we love and miss her. I also told him that she will visit him in his dreams. Sharing this moment with Braden for the first time was very touching to me. I felt my Mom looking down at us, being so proud of our family of three. I also was overcome with thanks and graciousness, and naturally a bit of sadness. 

I am so thankful that I had Judy Sullivan as my Mom for 21 years. She was such a great role model to me in many ways, but the biggest thing she taught me about motherhood is to always show and express your love. The amount of love she showed me each and every day, taught me how important it is to express it to my own children. I never once doubted my Mother's love and it helped me to be a confident woman. Before I had Braden, I had no idea what a Mother's love entailed. Now, I can't even express in words how amazing it is and how lucky I am to experience it not only with one child but soon with another child. Of course there isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss my mom or become frustrated that she was taken from us, however I try to focus on all the gifts that she left me and all the blessings she has currently helped to give me as our angel up above.

This visit to the grave really helped put things into perspective for me. I have no idea how long I will be around in this life, but I want to make sure that I spend quality time with my family. I don't want life to pass me by and have any regrets on building special memories with my husband or children. Our weekend up north really made me realize how we need to have more getaways together. Sometimes when you are at home (even without a ton of plans on the weekend) you still spend the time running errands or doing house stuff. Going away forces you to bond, create memories and just enjoy each other's company and see things differently together. We had such a nice time up north. Some of the highlights were: swimming, taking morning jogs along the trail that winds along the lake and woods, exploring the resort, watching all the floater planes cruise up above, shopping in town, hitting the candy store, going to our favorite lakeside restaurants, sitting outside soaking in all the nature, playing basketball, throwing sticks in the stream and watching them float by, and most of all just hanging out as a family with no other external distractions. Braden had a blast and the three words he repeated NON-STOP all weekend were: boat, loon and airplane. Joe and I shared a lot of smiles just watching his excitement at all the new things he saw or did.

All in all, I had a wonderful second Momma's Day. I feel more and more blessed each year.

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