All Things Mum

It seems only appropriate on Mother's Day weekend to make a post about all things in our lives right now related to Mum.  Luckily for my non-creative self, I have had lots of recent Mummy moments to tell you all about. (And since it is the US Mother's Day, and the fact that I am not actually British, just living here, I am going to quit the whole "Mum" thing right now.)

My Mommy (Nanny)'s visit -
Mom left everything (and everybody, sorry Dad and Mullady's) at home and came to visit us for a week. It was a fantastic week of having her along as a side kick to me and the girls as we just lived our daily life. When she was here in December we were still getting used to London and settling into a routine, so it was fun showing her how our days go from school drop offs, to parks, to ballet. We did get a few sight seeing stops in, but mostly we just got spoiled with her gifts from home, extra hands around the house, and home cooked meals. As all visits do, the time went too fast and we already miss her now that she's gone.

We got to spend a sunny Saturday at Windsor Castle just the two of us. It has probably been since well before Avery was born since we had an entire afternoon alone together. Needless to say, it was my favorite day of the visit.

Avery and Nanny in "their" London telephone booth

Mother's Day 2013 -

Since the UK celebrated "Mothering Day" back on March 10, and I sufficiently got spoiled that day by the girls and Lane, we are keeping it low key today. This forfeiting of my own US Mother's Day is leaving us the entire day to think about how lucky we are to have our moms back in the states, how much they do for us and our girls, and how excited we are to go home to visit with them in June ( okay, let's be honest... we both are talking about how we are going to let our Mama's spoil us rotten while we are home, but that should show you how awesome they are).  In our six months away from home, we have gotten an even greater appreciation for these women and how much they do for us. They are the women that never miss sending us a holiday card ( I think BeaKay even sent the girls a St. Patricks Day Card!), that bring trunkloads of stuff from home when they visit ( including at least 100 baby spoons and 8 containers of makeup when I only asked for one!), and that we see so clearly in each of our girls ( Stella looks like my Mom and Avery has BeaKay's blond locks streaking through her hair).  As they are most definitely  the only two people who stalk our blog on a daily basis - Happy Mothers Day Moms! We love you so much and can't wait to be with you soon!

Stay at home Mama - 

One of the hardest things for me in the entire transition to London has been all of the sudden staying at home with my girls all day, every day. I would be lying if there were not a handful ( or two) of days that I gave Lane the " I wish I could leave and go to work like you" evil eye as he walked cheerfully out the door for a days work with adult conversation.  Although I do long for the morning walks to coffee with Coworkers, the feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day and of course the paycheck, I am finally settling into this "stay at home" thing.  I feel I can safely say from experience that both staying at home and being a working mom are equally challenging. At the end of the day though, I am so blessed to be spending these years in London with my girls and wake up every morning to their smiling faces that are ready to start a new day with me ( I couldn't say the same about my old co-workers every day!). 

Speaking of smiling faces.... Since it is Mother's Day I feel I am allowed to show off a little by sharing these picture we got done a few weeks ago while my mom was here. 

Hoping all the American Mums out there are sleeping in this morning, 

~L, L, A&S