Happy Mother's Day!

Five years ago yesterday, on Mother's Day 2004, we revealed to our families -- starting with our moms -- that Maggie was on her way! Since we wouldn't see my mom in person, we mailed her a frame that said "I -heart- Grandma" with the following picture inside:

10 weeks pregnant

(My friend photoshopped the words "Hi Grandma!" onto the image since it looks like she's waving, and we called my mom very early Mother's Day morning to make sure she opened the gift while we were on the phone together.)

Since Bobby's mom already had grandchildren, we bought her a birthstone babies necklace, with charms to represent her two granddaughters (June and July), one grandson (January), plus a November charm to indicate another was on the way! It took her a minute to figure out why there were four charms on her necklace! (Come to think of it, we still owe Lynda a corrected October charm since Maggie was born a month early!)

What a difference five years makes! I don't think any of us could have imagined how much we'd love Maggie or how wonderful our lives would be because she's in them.

I found a cute gift for my mom this year -- a recordable photo album that says "Grandma's the best!" on the front. Inside, it had room for six photos, plus room for journaling, prompted by questions. I filled it with pictures of Maggie and my mom through the years, then asked Maggie the questions; she answered as follows:

One of the best things about you is she's my Grandma! And also that she loves me very much!

One of the most fun things we've done together is play. She ate with me and we cook brownies. I stayed at her house, and I got to pet Joey and Callie. I don't know what else.

You're so special because I love her and she loves me and we have matching t-shirts because we're LoveBugs. She's my Grandma ... she's my special, special Grandma.

On the last page, Maggie wrote "I love Grandma" all by herself. The album also featured a recordable message, so she was able to record herself saying, "Happy Mother's Day, Grandma. I love you!" (And then nearly wore out the battery playing it back to hear herself over and over.) We gave Bobby's mom a digital photo frame loaded with pictures of Maggie, leaving room for photos of her other grandchildren as well.

As for me, I got a small wooden "treasure box" with Maggie's finger prints making a polka-dot design, a gift certificate for a pedicure, a bag of tootsie rolls (my favorite candy!), and a front yard makeover! We were working in the yard all weekend and still aren't finished, but I'm so excited about how well it's coming together, and I have some 'before' and 'in progress' pictures I hope to share later. Until then, happy Mother's Day to all of the moms in my life!