My Very First Mother's Day Weekend

I am pretty sure that our Mother's Day celebration lasted the entire weekend, and for that I am one lucky Mama!

To honor my very first Mother' Day, J started the celebration early. Anyone that knows Jason probably knows that he has trouble keeping happy secrets. As soon as I walked in the door on Friday afternoon, J took E's carrier out of my arms. I thought he was just going to release her from 'favorite' five-point seating restraint, but they reappeared with a little white box tucked into the carrier with her. J and E were so thoughtful to get me an iPad 2! We have been waiting for the right time to buy one, but I am so glad that we were able to get it before a couple of the long drives we are planning to do in the near future.

After feeding our girl her first breakfast in her highchair, I spent the early part of Saturday taking care of some errands with my little sweetie while her Daddy did some house projects. After all of the running around, J gave me a break so that I could spend the evening with a lovely group of girls celebrating the bridal shower of a great friend. Some of us Mamas may have stayed later that the rest of the guests to avoid interrupting Daddy's bedtime routine (or hearing the line, 'You do such a better job').

Watching the penguins swim and jump!

We woke up to a beautiful day on Sunday, so we headed up to Santa Barbara. After eating a quick breakfast at home to avoid the crazy crowds that were surely infiltrating all of the local breakfast joints, we hopped in the car to start one of my all-time favorite drives: Thousand Oaks to Santa Barbara. For anyone that hasn't experienced this pleasurable ride, it is 90 percent oceanfront and absolutely gorgeous. We enjoyed a great day at the zoo. It was fascinating to watch E check out all of the animals, sounds and smells at the zoo. I know that trips to the zoo will be more and more fun as she grows and her level of comprehension expands.

As the daughter of a fierce and resilient mother, I have had every reason to celebrate Mother's Day. But this year different. I have a beautiful daughter that allows me be part of this celebrated day. I love being a mom more than I could have imagined, and not just because I have the cutest girl in the world, but because I get to nurture that little life and have an amazing partner in J. We try not to take ourselves too seriously, laugh at the mistakes and remember that we can only try to do our best by E every day. Plus at this age she won't remember if we screw up anyway.