around the world...

...in 80 clicks!

as you know, matt and i (and others) have been feverishly working around the clock to get my parent's 100 year old (very big, lots of issues, but beautiful bones) house on the market so that it can get sold. it is a much longer story, as my friend nancy would say, but it has taken all of our time. i have a list that is pages long of things to do...including blog posts that i have been putting off! about a month ago, i got tagged by deliajude, whose blog i love for lots of reasons, in the quest to get around the blogging world in 80 clicks answering the following question:

what 5 things do you love about being a mom?

1. i love the morning with my daughter. i am NOT a morning person, but when i hear little m making her noises in the crib in the morning, i go in to pull her out and change her diaper, she is standing up, dancing back and forth, and laughing outloud! all because she sees me! it's kind of an amazing miracle to see that much joy when i open up the door every morning.

2. i love comforting my daughter. little m is, much to my chagrin, not a snuggler. but when she freaks out in the middle of the night or if she is super tired, and i pick her up, she snuggles right into my chest, lays her hands on my shoulders and surrenders. those moments, that no one else ever sees, those moments in which everything else in life kind of fades out and i am just a mom holding my baby, are treasures.

3. i love rolling with the punches. little m is fiery. and opinionated. she has been from the day she came into the world! and her opinions are everchanging- i kind of love learning her new favorites and those that are now passe (the puzzle is less enchanting now; it's all about her musical farm, and when it comes to food? cheerios are so february), and keeping up with what makes her laugh.

4. i love looking at the world from a child's eyes. suddenly the most mundane part of your day (the garbage truck, the magic of the microwave, the lights at night) becomes brand new and mystifying. it makes me slow down, savor, and take joy in the little things.

5. i love that as a mom, i am part of a bigger community than just myself. it is a gift to watch my mom, matt's mom, my friends, strangers, as they mother my daughter and/or their own brood. i feel like i am constantly learning what it means to love this little person, what it means to raise her, listen to her, teach her about faith and hope and love. no one is a perfect mom. we are flawed as human beings, and i love learning from the women in my life. it makes me more whole as a mom.

i absolutely love being a mom. i don't think i realized how much i would truly enjoy being a mother. despite the hardness of this past year, i feel like the amount of joy in my life has just exploded with my daughter.

and now, i tag five other moms (sorry, for no notice, but you are moms and used to things coming at you from out of nowhere) , to hear what they love: benbo, nyquist new branch, three bay b chicks, {{avoiding the inevitable}}, life with lucas.