Andy asked me several times in the last week what I wanted to do on Mother’s Day and I shrugged. I just wanted to be with my family. Which, of course, I get to do every Sunday but there is something remarkable about being with my family on Mother’s Day. When the walks, wipes, answering questions, lullabies, peanut butter snot kisses, backyard toddling and morning cuddles linger a little longer, press a little firmer into my soul.
I really love being a mom. Being their mom.
Meals were prepared and carefully served by little, helpful hands. We biked downtown for the Wild Walk parade and fetched sunny coffee. The excursion was perfectly Missoula as we bumped into hoards of friends and kids ran free dressed as bees, pandas, parrots, tigers and lady bugs.
We even (eventually) laughed at the questionable performance involving a grizzly bear ripping through a campsite and shaking a tent with a screaming woman inside. I am sure the acting was to teach about putting food up at a camp site or something. We wouldn’t know because we turned and ran up the sunny hill where we sat and answered Margot’s questions about giant bears attacking people in tents.
There was one thing I really wanted to do yesterday: bury Ruby’s placenta. It has been in our freezer since minutes after her birth, since we cut the cord that tethered her life to mine. Goodness, I think placentas are so cool. My body grew an entire other organ that grew a human.
In the hot sun, I prepared a patch of earth while Ruby napped. She woke, the temperature fell. It rained lightly, we wrapped ourselves in coats and honored that little physical miracle that will now nourish a willow.
Margot’s flowering plum is thriving.
Except for strawberry pound cake made by Andy and Margot, the day ended just like they all do. We unwound together, read books, debated the perfect pajama, brushed teeth and sang our lullaby. This song has followed us since I was very first pregnant and I wrote about it in this week’s mama digs: our lullaby.
So it is The Day after Mother’s Day, the day we plunge back into the routine that keep our homes together. It’s nice to pause and feel loved and celebrated in a really intentional way, on a Sunday in the heart of new growth, spring. It’s also nice to roll into Every Day where motherhood holds firm, like that cord was never cut.
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all photos taken with a Canon Digital SLR from Vanns.com
25 Comments
<3 it!! thank you!! You reminded me to dig out my placenta. Since I am planting, its a perfect time to bury it!!
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This is so beautifully written….I DID raise awesome people.
Love you so…
ps…..back later to comment on cherished rituals
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I just wrote about something similar in my new mom blog. I have only posted one story so far, because publishing and sharing them feels like I am walking around without any clothes. Hopefully I will get there soon. Plus, I am still working on the layout and design. I would love to have you read it, Nici, since you are a big part of my inspiration for writing to and about my kids.
http://musinginmissoula.blogspot.com
Today’s mama digs: beautiful as usual! Thanks.
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Yep, we sing a song before nap and bed. It’s called ‘Monkey Time’ and Ben and I both have different lyrics. I will spare you mine but it goes to the tune of rock-a-bye baby. Sulli demands “sing Monkey Time!” several times before agreeing to let us leave his bedroom.
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This is so beautiful. Do you mind sharing the lullaby? Do you have the name?
II ask you because ‘m pregnant again!!! (#2 on the way). The age difference will be just like your girls. Sienna is 15 months now, she will be 21 by the time #2 comes.
And I absolutely love this idea.
So grateful to have your blog for guidance and inspiration!!!!
Hope you has a nice Mother’s Day.
What a great day you all had. Andy told me he and Margot were to make that cake. Sounded great. I’m sure Margot had some concern about the bear in the tent. Funny venue for that point to be driven home. Oh well one can expect the unexpected in Missoula town. What kind of tree did Ruby get?
Ever since becoming a Mom I have felt weird about Mother’s Day. It’s hard to describe why because I don’t really know. But I request that there are no gifts and no cards. I love being a Mother everyday. So when we woke up on Sunday morning (after 8, which was enough of a gift itself) I told the hubby that I wanted to go get donuts for breakfast. :)We never eat donuts and Ivy bounced from wall to wall for about 3 hours. It was fun to watch and that made my Mother’s Day perfect!
Oh I just saw that Buby has a willow. Nice choice Rubes.
So funny how many placentas are out there! Mine’s in my freezer still – 16 months after my son’s birth. I meant to plant it last year but couldn’t part with it. We know were going to move within the next 5 years and I’d hate to leave it behind. Learning to let go…
Happy Mother’s Day to you!
Happy Mother’s Day, Nici!
happy momma’s day Nici! You are raising two awesome people.
xox
Melina
Again, Ruby’s dress!! Uuhhh, so cheery! Because of your blog, I now go to bed thinking about material…sounds odd, I know, but seriously, all your colors make me “sew” happy! But I don’t know HOW to sew. And so for Mother’s Day, one of my gifts was having my HUSBAND teach me to use the sewing machine!!!
He really knows how to thread my bobbin :0
Kelly
p.s. I started with burp cloths…many of them…because my Nora Girl is so spitty. At least I’ll have something cute on my shoulder.
I love love love being a mom and yesterday was a nice reminder that it’s worth it. There are those bad days, but a good day just makes my whole life better. I so appreciate your outlook on motherhood and how you interact with your girls. Happy belated Mother’s Day!
I love Ruby`s brown shoes – my girl has the same pair – we love Livie&Luca shoes, they just wear so well!!
And thank you for reminding me about the placenta in our freezer!! I was about to go buy a new tree for the yard so now is the perfect time!
And honestly, I don`t ever want a repeat of the time I mistook the contents of that bag and took it out to defrost for supper…….hahaha!!!!
happy mother’s day ♥
Beautiful Mama Digs… would love to hear that magic lullaby!
Just wrote today about a few of my favorite family rituals… most center around our bedtime routine… special rocking chair time, extra kisses in the ears in case they need them in the middle of the night & telling any worries to a little angel doll that rests on a high shelf in their room. All moments carried over from my own childhood. I love how these things flow through me, into them, waiting to be passed along again in their own time.
Happy (belated!) mother’s day!
Cheers,
Kate
Maybe we’re friends because I, too, think placentas are cool. Maybe Dig should make a placenta shirt? In truth, it’s so important to give it back to the earth. I love that you did that on Mother’s Day.
And if toddler peanut butter snot kisses aren’t a bouquet of roses, I just don’t know what is.
Well written, as usual. Word.
Mmmmm. I am drinking this all in. I’m still so emotional and raw and exhausted from the weekend but it makes reading these even better.
I love that you have physical reminders in your yard of both your pregnancies.
And I love cherished rituals. We have many and it’s never too late to add new ones. xoxo
hee! we still have both the kids’ placentas in the freezer, one of which looks suspiciously like a roast. I think this summer, rather than waiting on the miracle of our barbie dreamhouse, we’ll go ahead and bury them up at the family cabin.
happy day to you and yours!! beautiful little trees for beautiful little ladies!
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Nici,
I loved this post. The power of music is something that resonates so much with me! I remember playing my cello throughout all three pregnancies. The babies LOVED the vibrations as my belly grew and they would be up against my instrument, and I found that those same pieces calmed them as babies when they were fussy.
btw, I am working on my first lullaby CD, to be on my new website this summer…..called CELLOBYS.
I am looking forward to sharing….
Hope you had a beautiful Mother’s Day, beautiful mama!
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Ya know, sometimes I’m not sure who the night time songs are more comforting for, me or them. It seems we all calm, the instant they are started. We have a few songs we sing together and then I sing each of them their own song as they go to bed.
My oldest son is sung an old camping song. He was a newborn and fussy. For the life of me I could not think of a lullabye. The only song that came in my head that night, was the camping song taught to me in third grade. By some miracle it worked and I have sung it to him since.
For my youngest I sing and sign ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’. I tear up everytime. I’m tearing up now. Everyday he pushes and strives to learn and do more, and I want him to know that one of those stars up there belongs to him, he owns it and when he’s ready, he can claim it.
Happy belated Mom’s Day to you too! Hope you had a wonderful day.
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Thankfully, I know the lullaby and just used it to get your Ruby to fall asleep for her afternoon nap! She’d been fighting it, and then I read this and *poof* magic! Very good to know!
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Rituals when you and Trav were little…always a warm bath before bed, clean jammies, story and in bed by 8:00…. I practiced my labor breathing on you both when you were hurt…I would say, “take a deep breath and let it out real slow”…followed by a kiss on the owie… & then there is Yingel Bells at Christmas!
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Little Bird Little Bird sung by Pete Seeger and then redone by Elizabeth Mitchell. We love our birds here and the girls love to sing along and they love picking which birds we sing about.
Happy Mother’s Day!
We planted my son’s placenta on Mother’s Day as well. It seems so fitting to do that on Mother’s day.
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