Happy Mother's Day!

This morning I slept in, and then was presented with sweet cards my family made me while we were eating a lovely breakfast together. Then we started to get ready for church. I was squeezing my post-baby rear-end into a skirt which I was forced to keep closed with rubber bands when I realized that there are A LOT of things about motherhood which were never revealed to me before I was in too deep. Some things I wish someone had told me:

1. You will revolutionize your look-- in addition to the obvious changes in wardrobe you will need to make (see above), you will also have to resign yourself to looking dirty on a regular basis. The only color that would adequately camouflage the most common baby/child related spots is so hideous that no woman should ever even consider wearing it.

2. You will do things you never thought you could possibly do-- like sleep in freakishly contorted positions to avoid squishing the child sleeping next to you in your bed, and using your feet to pick things up (like that armless lady in the movie they showed in high school biology).

3. You will understand how perceptive children are-- they will have an uncanny ability to find the most inconvenient moment possible in any situation to need your help. They will also know to only listen to what you didn't want them to hear and then find the perfect moment to humiliate you in public with that information.

4. You will develop a new level of patience-- the only other option would surely lead to jail time.

5. You will appreciate what your own mother went through-- because one day you will tell your child to stop blowing bubbles with their spit and see in their eyes that they think you are the soulless destroyer of joy you thought your mother was.

And in spite of all this, you will never be happier doing anything else with your life.

I leave the room for one minute...

...and this is what happens.

Natalie's obviously okay with it, I'm just amazed at how quickly her sisters can get her all blinged out. It's like the girlie version of a Nascar pit crew.