I am probably the most blessed Mom in the world (and maybe out of the world even). I started out with the best husband. Sorry girls, there was only one and I have an eagle eye and found him first! Well, I'm sure there are some who come a close second but I have #1. He is the reason I am able to celebrate my 44th Mother's Day and feel so blessed and content. Life isn't always perfect but what would it be like to have hum drum perfect? (well I have to admit it could be nice....ha ha oh well.... I love my family..... All of them!) I decided to tell the world, and hopefully not make anyone jealous in the process....here goes.....
I became a mother for the first time in May. Todd was born on May 5th, 1966 at 4:06 p.m., he weighed 8# 3oz and was 22" long. What a precious little boy he was! I came home from the hospital on Mother's day. I never felt so special in my entire life. I had a beautiful new baby boy and he was perfect! This is my official 44th Mother's Day. Then just 14 months later on July 14th 1967 at 10:32 a.m. a second son, Tony was born. He weighed 6# 6oz. and was only 19". I still remember the shock of seeing my firstborn when I came home from the hospital. He looked so big and Tony was such a tiny baby. I felt so guilty and felt like I had robbed Todd of his place as baby. Tony was such a sick little guy and it took us almost a year to find out that he was allergic to milk. I always felt guilty that I had done something to cause this for him. He was such a precious little guy and to this day he is the most patient, unselfish loving person you could ever hope to meet. I felt so lucky but learned my lesson and waited 3 years to have another one. On July 14th, 1970 at 4:27 a.m. ....oh yeah....three years to the day, our sweet Gary was born. He weighed 7# 1 oz and was 20". He had lots of black hair and he was gorgeous! (He still has black hair) He was such a good baby! After 3 years, having another baby seemed to be a piece of cake. Both Todd and Tony were potty trained, no bottles, diapers (besides Gary's) and life was good. No....life was great! We had bought our first house and had 3 precious little boys. I remember Revis Taylor telling me one Sunday that we had the perfect family and I have to tell you, I thought she was sooo right. However I really wanted a little girl but had a secret fear that I would never have one. Back in those days there were no ultra sounds to give the secret away. On December 22, 1972 at 10:45 p.m. (7# and 21 1/2" long) our precious Brett made his way into the world, just 1 hour and 45 minutes away from his Daddy's birthday. We came home from the hospital on Christmas Eve. I thought I knew what Mary must have felt like when she had the Christ Child. I held this perfect little boy in my arms while we had our Christmas Eve Home Evening and felt that the Lord must really love me to give me this little boy at this special time of the year! I decided that 4 boys made the perfect family and my impressions that kept coming to me must be right, no girls for me and I was becoming more satisfied at that but Major suggested we might try one more time for a girl. I was the one who wanted a large family not him, so this was a surprise but I was happy to try one more time! (Every Mom wants a little girl just like every Dad wants a son) On August 27th, 1975, our precious Holly made her way into the world, with lots of black hair like her brother Gary. My fastest yet......about 2 1/2 hours from first pain to last. She was born at 6:45 p.m. and weighed in at 7# 6 oz and was 20". Oh my gosh was a shock when I changed her for the first time! I was not used to this change in the "plumbing!" ha ha She was beautiful and I was at peace. I had a daughter. I had the baby blues after Holly was born and I was so grateful that she was a girl because I thought people would think I was blue because I had another boy. I love boys! I would have been fine but what was a bonus she was (and is). Well Major and I decided we had finally broken the mold and decided we'd better hurry and have another girl before we forgot how to have one. On August 7, 1977 at 4:44 a.m. our precious blonde blue eyed Mark weighed in at 8#6 oz. and 21". Not the girl we thought we'd hurry and have but oh he was beautiful! He had the whitest blonde hair you could imagine! And so much of it. He took after his Grandmother Graham who at her death at 85 still had the blondest hair you would ever see. (She never did turn gray!) We gave him her maiden name Harris as his middle name because of it. 5 boys! wow how blessed were we! He was such a good baby and life was good. We were done! We had our 6 kids (which was what I had set my goal as a teenager for ha ha) For a little over 7 years we basked in our perfect size family. Holly looked up to "her guys" as she called them and was our little princess. (although she was a tomboy much to her mother's dismay.....what were her chances of not being a tomboy with 5 brothers! What was I thinking?) However, every night when we would kneel around the kitchen table for family prayers, many, many, many, many times I would look up before we started to pray and ask who was missing? (slap my face! no one was missing....we were all there!) But guess what? We were NOT all there! Our little angel in heaven was trying to remind us that we had forgotten her! On Christmas morning, December 25th, 1984 I awoke to severe nausea! Oh my gosh! I knew immediately that it wasn't the flu! I was pregnant! I was a little upset at first but got my mind right very soon, however I did ask the Lord for one favor...."please don't send me another cub scout!" I was soooo tired of Cub Scouts! He granted me my wish...on September 4th, 1985, a little over 8 years later, Tara was born weighing in at 7# 1 1/2 oz at 9:42 a.m. For the first time I had an ultra sound but they were pretty new and said they thought it might be a girl. I didn't want to jinx myself and painted her room blue, the crib and dresser blue etc etc. After all a girl looks very pretty in blue but a boy in pink? I think not! Holly was so pleased to have a little sister even if there was 10 years difference. She would sit her in the middle of her bed and surround her with all her dolls. Tara couldn't make a peep before someone would grab her up. I'm surprised she ever learned how to cry. Her chances to try it out were few and far in-between. She had 6 willing babysitters and life was great. And the best part.....no more "someone is missing" at family prayers! Our family was complete and life is indeed good. By the way did you notice a pattern? I'm a "numbers" freak. All my boys were born either at 4 something or 10 something. Holly was born at 6:45 so when Tara was giving us a hard time trying to make her appearance, I took a look at the clock. It was getting dangerously close to 10:00 and I told Dr. Vassall, "Hurry up and get that baby out! It's almost 10 and it will be a boy!" He complied, used a suctioning machine and she was born just 15 minutes before the deadline!
Well there you have it! My 44th Mother's Day has come. My family is spread out these days, Todd and Pam are in Farmington and have given us our start with 5 grandchildren, Tony is in Colorado and has given us our beloved J.L., Gary is in New York with his beautiful wife Kayelyn and 1 granddaughter, Brett is in Oklahoma with his sweet wife Heather and have added 3 more grandchildren, Holly is here in Farmington with one more granddaughter to add to our list, Mark and Brittani recently moved back home with 6 more gorgeous grandkids (and gave us our angel twin boys) and finally Tara and Mathew are in South Carolina patiently (well give or take a little impatience) waiting for our newest little granddaughter to arrive. That makes 8 grandsons and 11 granddaughters! Tanner, Chloe, Devin, Cole, Elise, Chase, Brooklyn, Taylor, Eli, Cayden, Rachel, Dalin, Kaylee, Morgan, Nicolas, Eliza, Miriam, Sariah and Ryleigh! Now what could be better than that? Nothing.....I rest my case!
