In Honor of Mother’s Day: Cute Babies!

It’s almost Mother’s Day, and what says “Mother’s Day” better than cute babies? I thought I’d share some of my cute babies with you (even though they aren’t babies anymore… *sob*) to celebrate the #ShoutYourMotherhood campaign (a counter to Planned Parenthood’s “Shout Your Abortion” one).

Elanor

This is my oldest, Elanor (although she prefers to be called Ellie). She was 2 days old when this picture was taken, and now she is 14. She is starting high school this fall and I’m still in denial about it. I don’t feel old enough to be the mother of a high school student! (The featured image is a picture of Ellie also, age 4 months, sporting her mini-Harry Potter glasses!)

Ellie is a talented artist and you rarely see her without a notebook in hand. She draws pictures every spare moment she has! She also loves horses and listening to music. She’s a huge help around the house and is always happy to baby-sit her younger siblings. I have to say I love this season of life — having a built-in baby-sitter is amazing! She’s going to spend the summer with her grandfather in North Dakota, and she’ll be gone from mid-June until the end of July. I’m going to miss her (and her baby-sitting services!) terribly.

William

This is my second oldest child and firstborn son, William. Although you’d never know it to look at him now, he remains the smallest and earliest of all my babies — he was born at 36w3d and weighed 6lbs, 4oz. Amazingly, he didn’t need any NICU time and came home with us two days later! This picture was taken a few hours after his birth, and he’s now 11 years old.

William is a great student and such a fun kid. He loves computers, video games, Dungeons & Dragons, and Stranger Things. He’s coding a computer game as a school project right now and I can’t wait to play it! We also share a love of the Harry Potter series and Louis Sachar’s Holes. We are very proud of our young nerdling.

Violet

This is my smack-dab-in-the-middle child, Violet, now age nine. She’s named after my grandmother Violet, who passed away this past January. My grandma was visiting us when our Violet was born, and I’m so thankful she had 9 years to get to know her. Grandma Violet was so proud of her namesake!

Violet is, unlike her parents, an extrovert. She loves making friends and striking up conversations with random strangers wherever we go. She can always find someone to play with or someone to talk to — it amazes my introvert self! She loves music and dancing; one of her favorite artists is JoJo Siwa and she is so excited to be going to her concert next week (the tickets were her 9th birthday gift). She’s making her First Holy Communion and Confirmation on June 1.

Gabriel

I looked drugged in this picture, but I’m really not. It’s a natural oxytocin overdose, plus a consequence of being up all night long (he was born at 6:09am after a full night of labor).

Gabriel, age seven, is my firecracker. He’s got quite the temper but he’s also very bright and fun to play with! Like his brother, we’re raising him to be a good little nerdling. He also loves Stranger Things and D&D in addition to superheroes, Legos, and playing on the Nintendo Switch.

Peter

Oh, Peter. He’s an amazing little boy who drives me absolutely crazy. He was born with bilateral clubfoot, but he hasn’t let that slow him down a single instant.

He is also on the autism spectrum, which presents challenges at times — he has the impulse control of a toddler in a five-year-old’s body, and he’s incredibly clever at figuring out childproof locks and getting into absolutely everything. Still, he’s so much fun! He loves Pixar’s Cars and Toy Story, Scooby-Doo, Charlie Brown, and Kion from The Lion Guard. His current obsession is Spiderman — he has a Spiderman costume that he wears every single day without fail. He starts kindergarten in the fall and I can’t believe how fast his babyhood has gone!

Laura

Oh, Laura, my sweet rainbow baby. She truly was our rainbow after the storm. I was so anxious during my entire pregnancy with her, given my two previous miscarriages, and seeing her sweet face for the first time was such an incredible moment of joy and healing.

She’s now a two-year-old toddler terror, getting into anything and everything. She’s Peter’s little sidekick — she adores her big brother and imitates everything he does. She’s the darling of the family and is shamelessly spoiled by all of us. She’s been the sunshine of my life from the moment she was born, and she continues to radiate sunshine wherever she goes.

So, those are my kids! And even though I love each and every one of them to pieces, I’m very excited to be spending Mother’s Day weekend in a hotel by myself, soaking in the en-suite Jacuzzi and reading all of as many books as I can manage. I’m sure come Sunday I’ll be refreshed, relaxed, rejuvenated, and very happy to see them all again.