I am agreeing with my old friend Nicole that mother’s day is not just a day but a weekend. I didn’t mean it to be this way but since it is just Baby Bug and I and I can do whatever I want (since I’m the boss afterall) we made it that way. Really, every day has been mother’s day.

When I think about mother’s day, so many days come flooding to my memory. Those mornings that my brother and I would get up super early and sneak out of the house to steal dewy sweetpeas from our neighbor’s yard so we could put them in a vase and surprise my mom. Those many crafts we made at school… the years we forgot, the years we remembered and then as we got older how we over-compensated for the years we forgot with super-expensive gift certificates to the spa… So many memories.

I think the day I most remember of all my mothering days was that second day in the hospital. The late morning after she was born. Toby had gone home to sleep after staying up all night long and it was just me and her. The nurses were gone. I picked up my camera and took this picture:

I’m so glad Baby Bug was born in the digital age. I’m so glad I’m the kind of girl who has her camera handy at all times. I don’t think if I was still shooting film, with my big fat lens, I would have even brought it to the hospital. I know I wouldn’t have stuck it in her face. But my digital camera is small, so small I thought nothing of digging it out of my purse and documenting this wonder that I held tangible in my arms for the first time in my life.

I don’t mean to be selfish and push Toby out of this moment but it truly was the most beautiful moment in my entire life. It was just me and her and I knew the rest of my life was never ever going to be the same. I remember everything. I remember those flowers that my in-laws sent. I remember the view out the hospital window. I remember staring at her until I thought my eyes would break. It was the most precious of times. When I talk to expectant mothers now, I try and try to explain what that day was like for me but my words fall short.

I think that was the best mother’s day of my life.

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and live up every other mother’s day in my life. Oh no! We are going to pull out all the stops and have a whole weekend of mother’s day stuff. Like chocolate pancakes for breakfast and picking flowers from our neighbor’s yard. Painting all day and then pizza for dinner! And that was only Saturday! I have no idea what we’ll be doing Sunday.

Happy Mother’s Day everybody! Go give your mom a hug!

Speaking of hunting… we had an Easter egg hunt this weekend. Yeah, I know, you want to hear about Toby dressing up in full camo and hunting for some poor helpless little doves in Argentina but I don’t have any news yet so I’ll just share our Easter egg hunting stories instead.

Since we spent Easter on the plane heading back from Hawaii, Toby and I sort of glossed over the holiday. I don’t know if Baby Bug is even really old enough to understand the real meaning of Easter. She does understand the meaning of the Easter Bunny and candy though.

Oh yeah. The subject of candy has taken up a significant portion of her brain. She’s even gotten so bad that she doesn’t ask for cupcakes and birthday cake anymore. Now it’s candy this and candy that. Good thing she’ll probably inherit my super-strong industrial strength teeth that have never had a cavity to this day. But don’t worry, we’re brushing daily just in case she doesn’t.

Before Toby was even on the plane to Argentina, I had already called up my nieces and asked them to come spend some time with us. I hate being alone the first night when Toby leaves. Ever since my car got broken into, being alone kinda gives me the heebie jeebies. Of course my mom, sister-in-law and nieces were happy to oblige.

We’ve been up to all sort of hijinks with the niece-com-poops. Doughnuts for breakfast, three-layered pudding for desert, making play dough from scratch, an Easter egg hunt in the park, and of course plenty of beach time. If we keep it up the time will fly by.

Daddy who? Actually Baby Bug does miss her dad. Especially after spending eight days with him and getting LOTS of attention.

We took Toby to the airport early on Friday morning and she was more than happy to get dressed and hop into the car to go to the airport. I think she thought she was going on the airplane too. Since we built up flying so much for our Hawaii trip, she thinks it’s a fun roller-coaster ride or something.

She fell asleep on the hour drive to the airport and we didn’t have the heart to wake her up so she could say goodbye. The truth is, I was just plain selfish and I wanted her to sleep the whole way back from the airport because I hate playing the Fetch-the-Pacifiers game while I’m driving. Especially when I’m driving in traffic home from LA. So we let her sleep.

Well, you know what happened next. When we were about five minutes from home she magically woke up and then there were tears. A river of tears…

“Where’s Daddy?!!”

“He’s on the airplane”

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!! I WANNA GO ON THE AIRPLANE!!!!”

“I’m sorry, Baby. Not this time.”

“I WANNA GO ON THE AIRPLANE TO HAWAII!!! I want to go in the POOL! I WANT DADDY! I WANT TO GO SWIMMING….. Waaaaaaaah Wahhhhhhh Waaaaah!!!!”

On and on it went for the remainder of our drive home. I think it would have kept on going for days if I hadn’t master-minded my nieces visit to take her mind off the unfairness of the world.

She really loved the pool in Hawaii. I think it will be permanently branded in her memory.

I’m going to have to find a pool around here if I want to keep my sanity.

I know I said I was going to Hawaii on Thursday but I was wrong. We’re leaving tomorrow morning. (Which is Friday, which is only a few hours from when I am typing this. Eeek!) I don’t know what’s wrong with my calendar-reading skills. I guess I can’t be bothered since every day is the same when you’re a mom. Oh it’s Saturday? I didn’t know. It feels like Monday to me. Or something like that. Whatever. We’re leaving on FRIDAY at the crack o’ dawn. Maybe I’ll see Whoorl at the airport.

Since I suddenly had a whole extra day to kill I decided to not pack and get ready but instead dye Easter Eggs! Yay! Fun! Yeah! It’s going to be so great to have dyed green fingers on the plane tomorrow. Everybody’s going to think I stole some counterfeit money or tried to pry off one of those protective devices that they stick on clothing. Do they do that anymore with ink? Probably not. Oh well.

Anyway, my hands are green. My fingers are. I went to the restaurant next door to us and asked for some latex gloves and the guy was kind enough to give me some for free but then I forgot to put them on. Dur. Partly because I knew they would be too big for Baby Bug anyway and partly because my plan was to use tongs and NOT my fingers for dipping in the dyed water. I used hot water out of the kettle (scary scary!) but that didn’t really stop either of us.

It was fun and I’m glad we did it. I’m not sure where we will be on Easter itself so I figured I might as well do the fun part now anyway. I’ve always loved coloring eggs. We never celebrated Easter as kids but my grandma (my dad’s mom) would always hollow out eggs for me and let me paint them with dye and a toothpick. I’d do it all year around. And then she’d save them in her big wooden hutch next to all her fancy china. She had those egg cups just for my painted eggs. It was so great. I miss her.

It’s funny how a lot of my memories of her center around eggs. The way she used to make me “eggs and toast” for breakfast is the exact same way I make them for Baby Bug. Poached and cut up on small pieces of ripped up buttery toast. Not the prettiest dish but oh-so-very tasty!

I tried to do some fancy tricks on these eggs but they didn’t really turn out. We tried candle wax polka-dots, they fell off. I tried string. It sort of worked but not really. White crayon worked the best, but… well, I was doing it with a two-year-old so I didn’t really have high expectations. And of course they were mostly all green. I didn’t even bother making any other colors except blue and green. I knew they would all end up in the green water anyway.

Then we ate them! Well, Baby Bug did. I didn’t want her to but she doesn’t really exercise self-discipline very well and I guess they smelled like food. She cracked open my most favorite one and chewed it up to bits.

And then she spit the chewed up egg out again. That’s a toddler for you. If she weren’t so cute I’d want to clobber her over the head. She has no respect for my dainty egg artwork. Pfffffff!

I’ll leave you with a glimpse of the Easter Bunny. I know it’s a bit early but you just never know when those silly bunnies are going to pop up. Hopefully we’ll be popping up in Hawaii very soon. I think I’m ready. And with that I will say bon voyage for reals! Pray for me, it’s going to be a very long flight with a toddler. I’m very excited but I’m also a little bit scared.