Mother's Day

Last Mother's Day was a day I will never forget, as we were at Kirribilli House for the national Mother of the Year announcement.  I was up at 5 am to get my hair and make up done before appearing on Sunrise and then going to the announcement.  It was such an exciting day and I wish that every Mother's Day could be as exciting, but this year was extra special. 

It is my fifth Mother's Day since Aaron and Noah passed away, and it's always been a hard day (except last year).  Aaron always made a fuss on Mother's Day and made sure that he had taken the boys shopping for presents, cooked me tea and made sure I didn't have to lift a finger all day.  Being a widow as well as a Mum to a child who has passed away, makes Mother's Day extra hard.  When Aaron died the boys were still very young, and even though I didn't expect them to do very much on Mother's Day it's always hard when they have quickly given me their presents they made at school, or presents that Mum had bought for them to give me, and have then just gone on with their day like it was any other day. 

Last week I got a text from Jay while I was at work, telling me he would catch the late bus home. He said he wanted to go into town to buy me a present. I was very shocked and surprised as my Mum had always been the one to help the boys arrange something, and this year he did it all on his own.

Kobe excitedly brought home a little bag with a present in that he made at school, and put it the bench ready for today.  A couple of days ago Harri said he didn't have me a present yet, and I told him I didn't mind and that I would just love it if he would make me a special card. He said 'how do you know I haven't already done that Mum!?' and said he really wanted to buy me something.  Kobe said he wanted to as well, so yesterday I gave them some money and let them loose at Coles on their own.

It was very cute as they came back to the car with a bag and kept telling me not to look. I couldn't help but see there was a bunch of flowers in the bag, and I told them that if they were giving me flowers then they would have to put them in a vase or they would die overnight, so it was okay for them to give them to me early.

They cracked me up as they then went into a big discussion about the prices of the different bunches of flowers, and the ones they wanted to get were too much money, so they decided to get these ones.

I told the boys not to wake me up early and that I would just open up their presents this morning, once they all woke up.  They each came into my room at different times to say happy Mother's Day and they were so happy to give me their presents and cards.  Kobe made me this cute card at school.  He has terrible fine motor skills, so his handwriting is always very scrawly but I think it makes it extra cute. The last word says 'above'.

 Harri made me a lovely card at school and wrote this:

 Harri and Kobe gave me the flowers and also the blocks of chocolate. Kobe was so cute when I opened up his present from school and said 'shells!' like he thought I would be so happy about it. It was very cute. Jay said he knew that he wanted to get me something from the Body Shop, and his friend Skye went with him and helped him pick something out, since he said he didn't really know what anything was. I was impressed that he knew my favourite scent was coconut or mango and he got me a lovely gift pack with coconut scented products and also the box of chocolates.

It was so lovely  because the boys had made such an effort on their own to do something so special for me.

 I of course would love the boys to do lots on Mother's Day like cooking for me, but they're still kids (and boys at that) so I decided to just be grateful and happy that they made an effort to get me special things, and cooked brunch for all of us.  Milly always sits waiting for me, whenever I am cooking.

I felt sad during the day, but it was lovely to hear the boys running around tonight, having a Nerf gun war together. Because there's such a big age gap between the three of them, they often don't play a lot together, but they always love shooting each other with the Nerf guns.  I think that was one of the best parts of the day - just hearing them having fun together.

I thought about going to the cemetery but decided that it would only make me feel worse, and knew that Noah would be okay with it if I didn't go. I wish so much that he was still here to snuggle and complain about how heavy he was getting.   We didn't get to see my mum today as she is in Sydney for a couple of weeks, staying with my brother Chrish.

I'm grateful to be the Mum of four awesome boys. They are not perfect, but I'm very proud of them and I know that Aaron would be extra proud of them today.