Mother's Day.

today we celebrate mothers.
this post i want to celebrate my mother.
i think about those who have lost their mother or maybe never had a motherly influence in their life.
i think about how different my life would be with my mother in it.

when i was home babysitting my sister's kids for 8 days i realized how much moms do (you hear that & you know it, but it's different when YOU are doing it) ...more specifically my mom.
holy crap.
sorry for the language but literally crap...do you KNOW how MANY diapers one mom changes in 24 hours? holy crap.

cash had a blow out...literally out of his pants.

i have done my fare share of babysitting over the years with two younger siblings as well as nannying in high school/college BUT nothing like an all day every day for a week makes you realize what moms really do.

 i would call andrew and be like ummmm so what if we never had kids and then sometimes i would call and say aw i want a baby. maybe that's how motherhood is? ha one minute you are overwhelmed with their cuteness and sweetness and then the next minute you want to pull your hair out. alls i know is it's an emotional roller-coaster & don't know if i'm ready to buy tickets for that ride...yet.

all of this rambling has a meaning.
i promise.

this is so funny cause it's true.

so my mom was talking about how she wished that she could listen to her funeral while she is still alive...ha their is some irony in that statement...but what i think she is trying to say is how cool it would be to hear all those nice things that people save until you're dead & i agree it would be nice to know those nice things that some people only say after it's to late and your gone.

so i wanted to write a little something for my mom while she is still here. so i know that she knows.
(i wrote it in past tense just so my mom can say she got to hear those nice things at her funeral)

My mom, Leslie Anne (Chilton) Whipple, is what i think of when i hear the word motherhood.
she was the ultimate nurturer. she always knew the magic remedy to any flu, headache, stomach virus, ear infection, bruise, bump, cut, scrape, rash, you name it she would open up her homeopathic remedy book and ask me what my symptoms were then pop a few pills that i loved cause they tasted like sugar. she would rub essential oils on my back or stomach or the bottoms of my feet. she would make the best smoothies after getting my wisdom teeth out or after my braises were tightened. she was a natural healer. i never went to a doctor when i was young, never had to get stitches or broke a bone. so whatever sickness i had was cured at home by mom. she wasn't the biggest fan of the hospital because she felt like doctors never knew what was wrong or would just prescribe some advil...my mom always "knew" better.

she also knew better... then the restaurants. if you ever went to eat out with her she would comment on how SHE would make it better...how she could just "doctor it up" and it would be a "million times better" i always cracked up when she would say "i can make it better" because she prob could. mom had a love for cooking and being creative in the kitchen. she made the best homemade bread, cinnamon rolls, jams, sunday dinners: "pulled pork" "enchiladas" "santa fe pasta" "homemade bbq chicken pizza" "pad thai" "teriyaki chicken & spicy green beans" "chili" "minestrone soup" "curry" BUT don't ask her to bake cookies unless you like some crunch (hockey bucks). she isn't into timers or recipes she likes to just ad a little dash or splash. measuring cups are not her cup of tea. she was all about the "eye balling it" method.

you could always count on a dramatic story by mom. she loves to add a little theater into an every day conversations. she was a character. being a character is a good thing. it's so much better to be a character then boring! my mom was never boring.

she loved diet coke. she drank it in the morning in a mug...i would think she was drinking herbal tea or something but when i would look in her mug and sure enough some ice cold dc.
if you buy her a coke she will "love you forever".

mom loved her family. loved being social. loved to laugh. her laugh is LOUD. you can hear it from upstairs in the morning. when i was a teenager i wanted to sleep-in BUT no mom was on the phone in the kitchen talking to some family member and laughing SO LOUD. her laugh was hilarious, but maybe not in a movie theater.

when i was little she would make me pb&j toast & turn on a show for me when i got home from school. she would decorate the house for holidays & got us all excited to help.

we would walk up the hill from the school bus stop and couldn't wait to get home on our birthday so see what mom has done. she would make a sign outside the door and then in the dinning room she would have our fav cake all made with balloons and presents wrapped. i loved it on my birthday she would sprinkle valentines conversation hearts all over the dinning room table.

in the fall we walked in the door with the smell of pumpkin bread and pumpkins on the steps on the front door steps. 

she loved halloween and decked us out with face paint & homemade costumes. 

she volunteered in our classes and dressed up as a scary witch every year and brought the witches brew with dried ice in a huge bowl. 

 mom made every occasion so special and taught me to do the same. my mom would kiss us all over our faces and say "i love you, i love you, i love you". she knew how to make us feel loved & that we were the best ever! she gave us so much confidence that almost to the fault because i had know idea i was bad at coloring because my mom made it seem like i was the next van gogh. mom was so supportive and thought anything was possible, dad was always there to bring us down to reality. mom was a great daydreamer and made me believe in dreams. made me believe that if you have enough you could truly move mountains.

 ^^ she holds babies like this...seems a little sketch, but i look perfectly content. 

now for the present tense:

mom's "nerves" are shot and she gets her "shakes" BUT i know why...when i think about all she did for us for so long my nerves would be shot too!

by the time she was 26 she had three children under the age of 3 (holy toledo) & with a husband working 12 hour days in a place she had no family. she did it with no help. she had 5 children by the time she was 30! (YIKES) then 5 years later when she thought she was done she had 2 more! who has that much energy for seven kids these days?

my mom did.
& did a gosh dang good job at it too! 

love ya mommy!

p.s. love this quote: