Mother's Day.

Today I celebrated my first Mother's Day as an actual mother. Awesome!

Also, kind of surreal.

I mean, I have a kid!

And he's so cute and charming.

Especially when Raffaella takes pictures of us.




Don made blueberry pancakes (from scratch) and did a whole bunch of laundry in his overtures to Miss Sarah-as-mom appreciation.

Then I made some cake for family BBQ tonight at my parents'.

Vanilla golden cake with lemon curd/whipped cream icing and berries. All from scratch.




Dexter has this new koala-like tendency where he pulls himself up into a standing position and then clings to my leg. This makes it very difficult to get things done around the house.




Nonetheless, we achieved cake success!




The other new thing Dexter likes to do is play piano. When I'm busy with a student he crawls down the hallway and sticks his fingers through the bottom gap of the door indicating that he wants to come in. When I do let him sit on the bench and play he gets very very upset when we take him away.

But today was cute. A mother's day song for his mama.

I hope he is this enthusiastic about his own music lessons when he is older.




Transporting the cake.




My niece, Keira. Our family gets more and more fun with each new addition! Keira is almost 7 months older than Dexter so he's still considered the baby.




Dexter and Don enjoying some garden time while dinner is on the grill.




And here's my little dude, holding a present from auntie Raffaella to me.




I always say being a mom is the best decision I've ever made. People are so opinionated about motherhood and having kids, but I suppose one of the reasons why is because the choices people make regarding these things, is incredibly personal. After getting oodles of unsolicited advice (some good, some bad) I've boiled it all down to my own mom-code

Do what works for you. There are rules about this, that, and the other thing. Any decision you make about lifestyle with kids has pros and cons. Something that works splendidly for one person may or may not work for you. Take the parts of peoples' advice with grain of salt. Understand that it probably comes from a good place. Extract the parts that are useful to you, and carry on.

That's pretty much it! Love your kid. Keep him safe. Try to live in a way that is inspirational and responsible. Think about the best parts of yourself and be that person. You don't need to be a hero and do everything yourself. Let people help you. Create a community of people around your baby who love him and care for him.

Also, have fun! Times flies. Make it count.

Happy Mother's Day.