100 Things I Love About Being a Mother

This is my 100th blog!  I could go on and on, but I limited myself to 100...for now.

100 Things I Love About Being a Mother:
1.  My son's freckles
2.  My water birth experiences
3.  Luna's musical voice
4.  Tulip's spritely skip down the hall

This is Luna's current favorite face to make - surprise!

5.  How each child is a little slice of me and a little slice of my husband and a big slice of their very own
6.  They are a reminder that I am capable of amazing things
7.  They make me want to sing and dance (because this is what they do)
8.  Bedtime routines
9.  Saturday morning pancakes
10.  Luna's midnight visits
11.  How Wolfie explains and describes things to me in great detail
12.  Tulip loves to touch plants and dirt
13.  Playing
14.  Hugs
15.  Kisses
16.  Tears
17.  I love how they can sense when I'm low and they treat me with oh-so-gentle loving gestures
18.  Their eyelashes - each and every one
19.  Bath time and the mega-dry
20.  Brushing tangles out of my girls' hair
21.  Coloring
22.  They way Wolfie calls Toy R Us, "Toy Are Rust"
23.  Bunk beds
24.  The soundtrack to my life balanced by "Mama...I'm ready for you to wipe my butt!" and "You're the best Mama ever.  I love you."
25.  They way my children look when they are sleeping
26.  Little socks
27.  Brand new first time underpants
28.  Sticky handprints on the wall
29.  The first day of school
30.  Breast feeding!
31. Wiping noses, clipping nails, cleaning ears, brushing teeth - anything that allows me to touch my children and care for their little bodies
32.  Hearing the words, "Look at me!  Look what I can do!"

Trying out a new pose for the camera...

33.  Tea parties
34.  Building legos
35.  Playing restaurant
36.  That heavy, yet soft, sinking feeling when a child falls asleep on your lap
37.  Poo poo humor
38.  Infectious joyful giggling overheard in the other room
39.  Knowing that they will always have each other
40.  Hospitals, sickness, injury, and hurt - because these are important things to experience and make me a stronger mama
41.  Hand made cards and pictures just for me
42.  How each of my children's first pronunciation of computer has been "pooter"
43.  Teaching my son how to answer the telephone, and hearing him do it
44.  Christmas morning!
45.  The way Luna likes to stick stickers all over herself, and all over me
46.  Hearing my children say "please" and "thank you" when I didn't even have to remind them
47.  Babywearing!
48.  The last day of school
49.  Showing my children how to dig a hole, drop in a seed, and then gently cover it up with dirt
50.  Loose tooth
51.  Amusement parks, zoos, fairs, carnivals, museums all have renewed excitement
52.  Sun-kissed skin and white stripes in the folds
53.  Invented games such as Throw the Washcloth on the Wall
54.  Hearing Luna say, "I do it by myself" and realizing that she actually can
55.  Hearing Luna say, "I need your help" and knowing that she will always need me for something
56.  Holding hands
57.  Building a snowman
58.  Picking apples
59.  Baking cookies
60.  Carving jack-o-lanterns
61.  Making homemade costumes
62.  Being entertained with a song and dance and puppet and karate moves and magic tricks show
63.  Watching little hands help littler hands
64.  Creating a new rule and sticking to it
65.  Hearing the baby pronounce her sibling's names for the first time
66.  Watching my toddler play for 25 straight minutes with a handful of tartar sauce packets
67.  Sitting next to my daughter, watching her build a puzzle, enjoying every little furrow of her brow and marveling at her logic

Wolfie's new buddy, Steve

68.  The endearing way my children ask for favors: "Mama, I just love you so much.  And, can I have some ice cream?"
69.  Relearning rules to sports...like soccer
70.  Road trips
71.  Breakfast for dinner
72.  Naked Saturday
73.  Reading books to my children
74.  When my children realize they can read books to me
75.  My children's insatiable desire to "help", as much as it drives me crazy sometimes
76.  Making and eating s'mores
77.  The way baby feet feel on my cheeks
78.  Prying open a baby's closed fist while sleeping to wipe off the lint
79.  The smell of my baby's hair
80.  Knitting clothes for my children (or their dolls)
81.  Rolling up pants that are just a little too long
82.  Packing away pants that are just a little too short
83.  Watching my children love on their Papa
84.  The spin: a reward in my house for doing something awesome like making pee pee on the potty or getting a spare in Wii bowling
85.  Family jokes such as "Remember when Papa sneezed so loud I dropped my strawberry?"
86.  Snuggling on the couch
87.  Watching my children play so well with each other and knowing that they love each other as much as I love them
88.  Reacquainting myself with the Guardians of Childhood (Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, etc.) and learning that things have changed since I was a child - there is now a Stitches Fairy
89.  I can easily be a hero with either a popsicle or a bandage
90.  Seeing Wolfie carry a stuffed animal in a baby sling
91.  Seeing my girls breastfeed their dollies
92.  Cutting food into tiny little pieces
93.  Remembering what it felt like to be pregnant
94.  Traditions - new and old
95.  Butterfly kisses
96.  Teaching my children how to be kind, considerate, compassionate and courageous
97.  Learning from my children how to be kind, considerate, compassionate and courageous
98.  Tucking my children into bed and immediately missing them
99.  Summer vacation
100.  My husband - without him I would not be a mother