My first Mother's Day

I have a really strong bond with my mum which just seems to grow stronger as I get older.  I am proud of this bond and hope that Ella and I develop the same sort of relationship as the years go on.

I took mum out for lunch to celebrate Mother's Day on saturday with Ella in tow and we enjoyed a really nice meal and catch up and we laughed at Ella's antics as she entertained everyone in the restaurant with her singing and laughing.

Since becoming a mama I have a new found respect for my mum, all mum's actually.  It's not an easy gig and nothing like I expected it to be.  Things were different when I was a baby.  Father's rarely got involved in looking after the children, they went to work every day and all responsibility of the 'home' kind rested on the mother.  My grandmother (mum's mum) lived in Mauritius so she didn't have support from her.  I don't know how she did it.  I have all the support in the world from my mum, from my mother in law and help from Tim and I still struggled.  This woman is definitely stronger than she appears!

Mum is always there for me whenever I need her.  She demands that I make an appointment at the hairdresser to treat myself every couple of months and will look after Ella because she understands the importance of having time for yourself.  She cooks for me, washes for me and still folds my underwear!  She looks after Ella 3 days a week so that I can work and earn money to help pay our mortgage.  There is nothing that this woman wouldn't do for me or my brother and I am so truly blessed to have her as a role model.

The words thank you just aren't enough.

***

Today we jumped in the car after Ella woke from her morning nap and Tim took us out to celebrate Mother's Day.  He confessed that he was hoping to surprise me with a picnic at Manly where we would order pizza and lay on a blanket near the water, the same way we did when we celebrated our 2nd Valentine's Day together when we first moved to Manly.  A night I reminisce about a lot.

But the day was freezing cold and it was blowing a gale so we headed down to Manly anyway but decided against a picnic.  Instead we ate at a Mexican Restaurant - stuffed japalenos (HOT!), pulled pork tacos, followed by churros and warm chocolate sauce.  This is my idea of perfection.  Plus I had my two favourite companions with me.

Ella was so good the whole time that we were at the restaurant.  She gets bored really easily, like most bubba's her age so sometimes going to a restaurant and keeping her entertained can be difficult and most of the time we just scoff our food down so we can high tail it out of the restaurant before she starts with the whinging.  But today Ella was a perfect little angel. She sat there as we talked, eating sultanas, playing with dolly, looking super cute and I was so proud to be her mama, celebrating my first mother's day.

And while mother's day is about begin thankful for a mama, the words thank you are not enough for my little Ella.  Thank you for the up's, thank you for the down's, the big smiles, the even bigger tantrums, for changing me so much since I had you and teaching me more about myself than I would have ever learned if you hadn't entered my world.