First Mother's Day

Here is a family photo on our first Mother's Day. We snapped this photo right after church service on Sunday. We were able to somehow keep Chiara from looking suspiciously at the camera like she normally does in photos.  Actually, we think the problem has been with the blinking red eye reduction light.  She is apparently fine smiling at a weird metal gizmo with three legs, so long as it does not have a blinking red light!



The first Mother's Day was pretty special.  Dad actually went to three different places early in the morning to try and make Mom some fancy French Toast.  He found out the early bird does not always get the worm, unless he is willing to wait until a bakery opens at 8:00 a.m. for it.  Oh well, the bread from the grocery store worked out just fine.  After breakfast Mom got to open a few presents.  A neat customized poster with Chiara's name and birth date and a Roman/maternal themed pendant for a necklace.  Dad will pick up the freight on Mother's Day gifts until Chiara can pull her own weight in the kitchen or the craft room! ;-)

Since this is a Mother's Day post, I would like to shift the focus back to where it is due, to Chiara's Mom.  Aside from personally and physically delivering a gift to us directly from God, Gina has been an excellent mom.  For those who know her tough exterior shell side, Chiara makes her melt like the chocolate inside an M&M candy! There is no shortage of maternal instinct or protectiveness either.  Chiara and I have much to be thankful for in Gina.  From the physical demands of carrying, delivering and nursing Chiara to the time consuming tasks of cloth diapering, endless laundering, and organic food making, Gina has made one incredibly happy baby and an enormously proud father and husband.

Living through Mother's Day as a parent for the first time was a wonderful experience for another reason too.  It makes you count your blessings for having a child and a wonderful wife.  It also makes you look back and really appreciate your own Mom in a whole new way.  You may have heard the stories, but you just figured they kind of had to do those things for you.  If you roll back the calendar 30 or 40 years earlier when your Mom was doing these things for you without all of the handy tools and gadgets we have today, you really wonder if they had any time for themselves.  When you become a parent yourself, you realize parents can either take shortcuts or they can go the extra mile.  Most importantly, you also realize the natural bond between a child and their mother. We hope those that are blessed to be honored on Mother's Day are always proud of their labor of love and given the appreciation they deserve!