My Mother's Handprints on My Heart

Today I want to talk a little bit about my favorite Stay at Home Mom, my sweet mother. She was the first person who left prints on my heart. There is a little part of her in me. When I was little, I wanted to be just like her. I wanted to be a mother. Being a Stay at Home Mom was my life goal and ambition. She was such a great example to me. As a Stay at Home Mom, she contributed much more to the family by being home than she ever could have by having a job and contributing financially. No amount of money, or elevated lifestyle could have replaced her. I loved having her there. I am so grateful for her sacrifice. When I was little she wrote this beautiful poem from a child's point of view.

Handprints

Through the years my hands leave prints
at first they're as cute as can be.
Until I climb upon your lap
and leave jelly prints on your knee.

You get mad at first, then look into my face
and cannot help but to smile.
You thank the Lord for your precious child
and wished you'd felt that way all the while.

I smile back at your loving face
That smile absorbs right through.
At that moment I know that you love me
and you know that I love you too.

Together we learn that material things
are not what matter the most.
even though your knees have been soiled
by my jelly and my toast.

My print on your knee will wash out you see
but the print that you leave with me
Will stay in my heart forever
and for all eternity.

My Mom has definitely left prints on my heart. I am glad that my mom taught me to be there for my kids through the thick and the thin, just like she was there for my siblings and me. Being a Mom is not always the most glamorous or clean job. But my mom instilled confidence in me. I have never once doubted my decision to be a Stay at Home Mom.

Being home has meant that I have been beat and battered by every tantrum, sickness and sleepless night. Although when I think of it, I wouldn't want anybody else there in my place for each of those moments. No one else could possibly love my kids as unconditionally as I do. I have loved them through their naughty fits, picked them up when they fell, kissed them when they were hurt, and cuddled them close through their endless whimpers.

It can be the most physically exhausting and emotionally draining thing you will ever do, but it can also evoke such strong feelings of love that you never imagined were possible. Being a Stay at Home Mom has also meant that I have been there to see my sweet son's very first intentional smile,  first words, first steps. I was there to see my daughter discover her hands, react to new foods with a funny face, and learn to pull herself up to standing position. I have been there for all of their new discoveries. I cherish those moments, and wouldn't trade them for the world.

Barbara Bush Gave a beautiful Commencement Address at Wellesley College on June 1, 1990.

At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a parent.

I will never regret putting a career on hold for my kids. There will be plenty of time for that when they are up and out, grown and gone. Right now they are growing and changing so fast. I don't want to miss out on their life, and I don't want them to miss out on me. I like to think they want/need me around.

My mom kept just about everything from school when I was little. I have several binders full of Memories from Elementary, Middle and High School. As I was looking through them a few years ago, I found a questionnaire from elementary school. As I read it, I was so proud of my 6 or 7 year old self.

Q:What do you want to be when you grow up?

A: A Stay at Home Mom

The desire to be home with my children has penetrated deep in my heart my whole life. I have never even considered my years as a young mother any other way. Before my now Husband and I got engaged, I had a conversation with him about it. I asked him what he thought about Stay at Home Moms without disclosing my opinion on the matter. I needed to know that my husband would be supportive of that decision without my convincing. If he said he thought that Mom's should continue to work, it honestly would have been a deal beaker for me. I remember exactly where we were when we had the conversation. We were drivingin his car  and I was super nervous about bringing up the subject. I really liked him, and I wanted it to work out between us. I gathered up my courage and we talked about it. I was so glad when he said that his mom was a Stay at Home Mom and he always liked having her home. He said that he would want that for his kids too. That was just one of the many reason's I married him.

I am so grateful for all Stay at Home Mom's out there making the world a better place by raising the next generation. I am grateful for the example that Stay at Home Moms set for me as I was growing up. I am grateful for my Mother in Law who raised my amazing husband, and I am especially grateful for my Mom and her dedication to stay home with us kids. We are pretty dang lucky to call her ours. Her influence didn't stop with us. Like I mentioned before, she left prints on my heart, and now I am leaving those same prints on my children. How lucky am I to be living this dream!

Hanging out on the grass with my Beautiful mom and daughter. I love spending time with my mom. I just can't get enough of it!

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Originally posted on June 14, 2016