Posts Tagged "Mother’s Day"

Mummy in Training

Posted by cafebebemama on Apr 6, 2011 in Blogger Love, Gallery, Motherhood | 11 comments

Yesterday, Little Miss was playing so nicely in the lounge after a rather horrid morning at play group. She has such an imagination and readily has conversations with her toys. I think this is a good thing! She does tend to get a bit shouty with them, from time to time which makes me wonder how shouty I really am but that’s another matter entirely. Lately Little Miss has been particularly keen to play with her baby dolls. She carries them around by the neck (as you do), feeds them (soup for some reason although Little Miss never eats it herself) and puts them to bed in nests on the floor. It’s rather precious.

The other day Little Miss came to me with her old nappy changing case. It was the one we left down in the lounge for daytime nappy changes. She had a list of items that she needed: nappy, cream and wipes. I dug out an old, size 1 nappy, a pack of wipes and a changing mat but told her there would be no cream. I’m not daft after all. She happily packed the items in her changing bag and off she went to change baby’s nappy. What a funny thing to watch! A 2 1/2 year old, putting baby gently down, folding baby in half to wipe baby’s bottom and then staring at the nappy wondering how to put it on. I showed her how then which seemed to satisfy her. She’s a Mummy in Training already!

After yesterday morning’s rubbish series of events I was feeling a little bit down in the dumps. After drowning my sorrows in a glass of Coke and clicking around the internet while Little Miss was napping, I heard a gentle knock at the door. I opened the door to a glorious bouquet of flowers from Interflora courtesy of A Modern Mother, Susanna. My friend Susanna had nominated me to receive a Mother’s Day bouquet from Interflora and on Tuesday (a bit late but I’ll never complain about receiving flowers) I got that rather gorgeous Mother’s Day bouquet. Now I just have to find a vase! Little Miss was most eager to help me with it…it’s nearly as big as she is!

Thank you very much to Susanna and Interflora for making my Tuesday considerably brighter and spreading the motherly love! Wander over to Tara Cain’s Gallery to see more beautiful images of motherly love!

How to Spend a Mothering Sunday

Posted by cafebebemama on Apr 3, 2011 in Motherhood | 5 comments

Take one lovely Little Miss, add one clever and patient Daddy and the outcome is…

a WONDERFUL Mother’s Day for Mummy and a new tea pot as well!

Sprinkle in a dollop of trampoleening, a smidgen of “hulee-hooping”,

a stick of sunshine and a measure of togetherness which results in…

How to Spend a Mothering Sunday.

I hope that all my UK Mummy friends have had a wonderful Mother’s Day! How did you spend your Mothering Sunday?

Cafe Bebe’s Mother’s Day Wish List

Posted by cafebebemama on Mar 28, 2011 in Blogger Love, BMB Video Bloggers, Motherhood, Vlog Posts | 1 comment

Mother’s Day is THIS SUNDAY!!! That’s Sunday 3 April folks! My American friends and family will think I’ve gone potty as American Mother’s Day is always the 2nd Sunday in May (8 May, 2011). We like to complicate things in the UK by varying Mother’s Day (or Mothering Sunday) based on the Lenten Calendar. Go figure! So every Spring, Mother’s Day is different. As if it wasn’t challenging enough for our families…we go and alter the date every year. Geesh!

I’ve recorded a wee vlog to share with you the Cafe Bebe Mother’s Day wish list. Mind you, I don’t expect to get any of it so I’m drastically lowering my expectations so I’m not too disappointed. I think all mothers will be happy with a lovely day spent with friends and family so I’ll be the same! However, if any Mother’s Day Fairy Godmothers are out there, I have prepared a list for you. Enjoy!

The Best Laid Plans

Posted by cafebebemama on Mar 29, 2010 in Motherhood, Writing Workshop | 12 comments

I didn't mean for this to happen!

I have found, thanks to my over-active imagination, that the best laid plans often go awry.  This stems from a compulsion to create the best events possible and to have the most amazing things happen.  My dad used to make every holiday, no matter how small, special.  I remember for my mom’s birthday for many years he used to make cards and pretend that they were from some of my mom’s favourite celebrities or current event figures.  He wanted to make her special day SPECIAL.

More recently I’ve had a number of things happen where I anticipated something brilliant happening and I ended up more than a little disappointed.  But I never say anything, do I?  May I please vent now?

• Anniversary- Hubby and I have taken to NOT buying each other anything significant for our anniversary as we just don’t have the money.  I would settle for flowers and a card.  And a kiss.  And remembering to say “Happy Anniversary” when I wake up.  I got a card.  I gave a card.
• Mother’s Day- I had grand ideas that I might get flowers, breakfast in bed, a nice day out.  I got a card and a bottle of Bailey’s (good times!), no flowers and made everyone’s breakfast myself.
• The Baby Show, ExCel Arena- I had more grand ideas.  I was going to do live blogging, live tweeting and maybe even live vlogging!  I was going to visit lots of cool stalls and find some brilliant new products to promote.  I was going to create a scintilating video of the event which everyone would love & PR’s/Companies would be so impressed with that they would flock to me.  As there was NO WI-FI, I could do virtually none of the above.  I did manage to live tweet a bit thanks to a friend’s 3G Mobile phone (could I have one of those? no!).  But that was it.  There were so many bodies and such little space that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.  3 hours flew by and I had to leave.  All plans of brilliance and a bit of technological genius were left on the floor of the ExCel centre.  Pahhh.

I find that I build up these special events and occasions so much that I almost always end up disappointed.  I want everything to work and for others to feel special and it rarely happens.  My over-active imagination creates these visions in my mind of what those days should be like and how happy everyone would be.  I find this in all aspects of my life- my relationship with hubby, my daughter, my house, my blog, my writing.

My writing!  Could I pick a worse profession to want to be successful in?  There are thousands of blogs, millions of posts, tonnes of articles submitted every day.  To get noticed is difficult.  Rejection is inevitable.  I should have a tougher skin.  But I don’t.  I take it personally and feel like I’ve failed.  I see others around me achieving success and I wonder why not me?  Perhaps it’s hormonal…maybe I’m just subject to days where I feel a bit inadequate.  Today must be one of those days.

Do I need to LOWER MY EXPECTATIONS?  Do I need to stop worrying about what other people think?  Do I need to just do what I can and be happy with the result?  Do I need to stop waiting for others to live up to my hopes and dreams?  Maybe I wouldn’t be disappointed.  Maybe I would just be happy with whatever comes.

This post is written in support of Josie’s Sleep is for the Weak Writing Workshop for writing prompts #2 and #4- what eagerly anticipated experience turned out to be a complete & utter let down and share a time when you felt a deep sense of rejection.

Mothers Day or Just Sunday?

Posted by cafebebemama on Mar 14, 2010 in American Mum Me, Motherhood | 9 comments

Happy Mother's Day Mummy!

In England, it’s Mother’s Day today (Sunday 14 March).  I learned, whilst studying for the Life in the UK Citizenship test (yes, I had to take it…I passed) that Mother’s Day, or Mothering Sunday, is always the 3rd Sunday before Easter in the UK.  In the US, Mother’s Day is always the first Sunday in May.  You can learn more about the historical signficance of Mother’s Day in the UK at Bringing Up Charlie.

This is my second-ever Mother’s Day.  I was allowed a wee lie-in this morning before Little Miss and Hubby came trundling up the stairs with a cup of tea, a lovely card from Little Miss and a small bottle of Bailey’s from Hubby.  We had a nice few hours this morning before the “terrible two” who’s recently taken up residence in my 21 month old daughter took hold.  Being overtired and overemotional didn’t help her mood or mine.  Thus ended the fun of Mother’s Day.  Temper tantrums and “no-Mummy” ensued and Mummy didn’t feel so very special today.  I’ve found that on the weekend, Little Miss becomes a total Daddy’s girl.  I’m happy for him as she’s been quite the Mummy’s girl until recently.  However, it sure makes me feel worthless and helpless!  And on Mother’s Day as well.

Perhaps that’s my problem, though.  I have always tried to make holidays, whether “card company holidays” or not, special and fun.  My dad taught me how to do that.  Has it now made me expect far too much from special days?  Should I just let them pass, virtually unnoticed?  Should I lower Little Miss’ expectations so much that she’s never disappointed?  I don’t think so.  How do you spend your Mother’s Day or Father’s Day or St. David’s Day?  Does your other half consider it important or not?  And if you’re opposed in your wishes, how do you work it out?  Is today just another Sunday for you and your family?  As this is only my second Mother’s Day, I would love to know what everyone else thinks.  Happy Mother’s Day to you all, while I’m at it!