parent day.

For Father's Day yesterday I let my husband sleep for twelve uninterrupted hours. Twelve freaking hours! Can you imagine?! He got coconut banana chocolate chip pancakes; photos of him and his beautiful babes in adorable frames; an awesome book about being a new dad (which I've already stolen multiple times to sneak advice); a transmitter thingy so he can listen to his iPod in the car; an afternoon marathon of beer and Dr. Who; and a night out with a fellow new Papa.

Now that is an awesome day.

It brought back the same nagging thoughts I had on my wonderful Mother's Day weekend: why is there only one designated day per year for this? Every freaking day is a Parent Day! We work our little tooshies off taking care of our babes and we deserve more than one day each year to sit back and relax. We need more that one day a year to recharge our batteries. Rest makes us better people which in turn makes us better parents.

So I'm pledging to give both my husband and I each a day all to ourselves once a month. I'll get a day where I can do whatever the freak I want all day long while he takes care of the kids and is extra nice to me. Two weeks later he'll get his turn to relax and unwind and have a perfect housewife and no child responsibilities. In between our "me" days we'll have "us" days where we'll make a conscious effort to have a date. Maybe we can even finagle our friends and family to babysit for us once a month so we can have a real soirée together.

Taking care of ourselves - what a crazy idea, right? You know what would be crazier? If all the mamas in the area had the same day off. Just imagine the possibilities...

mother's day print project.

Mother's Day should be the most important day of the year. Moms do a ton and are hardly ever adequately appreciated, and the presents we give mom and grandma on her one day of celebration each year often pale in comparison to our appreciation.

This first year with the boys I really wanted to do something special for the new grandparents and great-grandparents. I hope they love this project as much as I do!

Pretty simple in concept, although inking and printing hand- and footprints of two five-month-olds by yourself without getting ink everywhere... almost impossible!

The idea was to have the hands and/or feet be in the shape of a heart. It wasn't as blatantly recognizable as I had hoped, so I just outlined it. This could work with just one baby, just with both hands, and could probably work with siblings of similar ages, too.

Make sure to use toxic-free ink, as it is inevitable some will end up in baby's mouth.

The frames I found at a thrift shop; I love funky frames and each one was specially picked out to match a specific Mom we love!!! Quick project and one that is usually well-received. Who doesn't like baby prints???

Happy Mother's Day weekend to one and to all!!!

celebrate.

I woke up this morning to my husband snatching the babies and bringing them downstairs to let me sleep in a few hours. I slept for four uninterrupted hours this morning! And when I did wake, it was to a breakfast in bed of chocolate chip coconut pancakes.

I should draw comic versions of what I really want in life more often.

No but seriously, it got me thinking. This evening he cooked me and three of my girlfriends dinner and then put the babies down while we had a girls' night. Right before he took the boys upstairs I looked him straight in the eye and jokingly asked, "You know Mother's Day is on Sunday, right?" He replied that it should be the whole weekend, and it brought me right back to the idea that every day is Mother's Day, though not every day is celebrated.

Why is that?

Conversely every day is also Father's Day, and it reminded me to find little moments to celebrate both of us whenever we can. Before having children of my own, I always thought breakfast in bed and a foot rub was such an easy cop-out gift for a mom, but now I think it's the best present in the world. And I hope I can give Papa as wonderful of a break as he gave me.

Here's to parents, every. single. day.

happy mother's day.