Happy Mother's Day!

A fellow mom forwarded this poem to me, and so much of it rang true to me. I thought I would share it. (Original Author Unknown)

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
Or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not
My plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
And my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
So doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
Watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn't want to put them down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
When I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
Could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of
Having my heart outside my body..
I didn't know how special it could feel
To feed a hungry baby..
I didn't know that bond
Between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
Could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
Every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
The joy,
The love,
The heartache,
The wonderment
Or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
Before I was a Mom .

Aunt Tobi Got Married!

We come from a big family and Peyton has lots of great aunts, great uncles, cousins, and everything in between. But I have just one sister and Patrick has just one brother. Patrick's brother Matt has been Peyton's only uncle up until a week ago. But Peyton now officially has two uncles because now he has another Uncle Mat. My sister got married last weekend and we went down to New Orleans for all of the fun and festivities.

Peyton got his first haircut while we were there and he got to spend some quality time with the Harrells while Patrick and I participated in all of the wedding festivities. They got him all dressed up and brought him to the wedding, and I realize that I'm a little partial, but I think he was the cutest thing there!







Patrick and I got to hang out together like the good old days and go to jazz fest with some friends.

We also went to the air show while we were in NO and got to see the Blue Angels. Peyton liked pointing at all of the airplanes.

It was also Uncle Bill's 50th birthday, so we got to celebrate that with him too!




It was a whirlwind trip but we enjoyed it and we're happy to add another Uncle Mat to our family!

This link will take you to the gallery of all of the pictures and I've separated them by category:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jharrell528