Mother's Day: A Gift From God

I am struggling trying to find the right words to describe this Mother's Day. For years, Mother's Day was a reminder of where I wanted to be in life, of what was hard and how much hurt and turmoil IF caused in our lives. After Nico was born Mother's Day forever changed for me. I felt so blessed to have been given this precious boy who not only was a miracle in his conception, but miraculously lived through and came out unscathed from his birth. When I look at Nico, not only do I see a goofy, smart, funny and handsome little boy, but I see something deep and special in him. There is only one reason a baby would survive what Nico endured, and that is because God has huge plans for him. So for me Mother's Day became not a celebration of me as a mother, but a celebration that God allowed me to be a mother to this particularly wonderful little boy who I cherish with all my heart.

Now, this Mother's Day was exceptional. I barely can express my gratitude once having Nico, but now I have two incredible angels and I can not seem to find just the right words to explain how grateful I am to God for Nico and Natalee. Natalee is a miracle herself. One would think that after enduring the IF journey and having a child, the pain would disappear, but that is very far from reality. No matter how many children you have, when you are on the IF journey, it is a struggle, it is painful and difficult to deal with for so many reasons that others do not understand. We now know how much of a miracle Nico truly was since IVF worked the first time when trying to conceive. With Natalee, it was more of a try, try and try again until you succeed. And each try, and each failure or loss was another break in our hearts. But one year ago almost exactly, our hearts began the mending process. Last May we tried one last IVF and I will never forget the phone call I got from the nurse at the clinic.  I was sure the call would be devastating news, but instead she was calling to inform me that indeed I was quite pregnant! Now I have the most beautiful, and happy baby girl I could have ever asked for. When I look into Natalee's eyes or see her smile I see God's grace, which I am forever thankful for. God knew exactly what He was doing; He just had to do it on His time....a very hard lesson for me to learn.

So this Mother's Day, while I do like to be appreciated, I reveled in the blessings I have been given and the fact that God has given me the gift of motherhood.

Here are some pictures we took throughout the day. Ed with a little help from Nico made me breakfast in bed....banana pancakes! Then we hopped in the car and went to explore the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. Nico had a great time running around, feeding the fish and looking at the beautiful flowers and greenery.