Resolutions

Today is New years day. Willow's first birthday and and a time for resolutions and new beginnings. All day I've been looking at my little girl and wondering where this first year has gone - it seems to have gone by so fast just like everyone told me it would. And no, I didn't believe them. I actually called my mom the day we brought her home, crying " Mom, I wish she were a month old - she just seems so fragile right now."

What a sturdy little chubba she is now, not lying on my breast sleeping most of the day away but walking around, carrying her "phone" with her tongue sticking out of her smile. So fast.

When I look back though, we've both learned so much. She ate, I fed, she crawled, I chased. She chewed, I learned the heimleich. Every day she teaches me to be a mom.

Her sister and brothers have been home this week and they are giving me advance lessons - fairness is big, sharing too, and finding constant creative solutions to the big questions of who gets the sword when. They are teaching me the value of imaginative play, the need for patience and the joy occasional peace and quiet.

I love all of the kids and so my resolution for the year is this:
Be a good mom.
Be fair
Be fun
Be kind
Be patient
Be creative

Forgive myself when I don't succeed
Forgive others and move forward in the best interests of all.

Happy new year!