Happy Mother's Day to Me.

I know it's early, by a couple of hours, really, but I'm determined to have a good day. I have been so down and irritable lately, I NEED to get my ass in gear. Tomorrow will be a productive day, and I WILL spend it with my children, all three of my incredibly wonderful children.

If you don't already know, I have three daughters.

Lily Anna was born 12/26/05 at 11:52 PM, eight days after her due date, after 17 hours in the hospital, and an emergency cesarean because she entangled herself in her cord. She was 21 in.; 7 lbs., 11 oz. and had so much hair, I could put bows in it the day she was born. She is currently 5-and-a-half-years-old and is amazingly brilliant. She self-taught herself how to eat with a spoon, potty-training, and tying her shoes. Her favorite colors are green and pink. She loves to sing to the radio, pray, and pretend she is a princess. She is incredibly tall, at 3.5 feet, scrawny at 42 lbs., but wearing 6/7 sized clothing and a whopping size 13 shoe. She likes to read her Magic School Bus books to her little sisters and is a big help around the house. Her current favorite hobby is loom-knitting. She is my sensitive child in the sense that she is constantly seeking approval. She is my social butterfly and seems dependent on what others think about her.

Iris Marie was born 10/26/07 at 8:37pm, five days after her due date, after 26 hours of labor in the hospital, via cesarean for lack of progress. She was 20 in; 7 lbs, 9 oz, and also had a good head of hair, just not as thick as her older sister's. She is currently 3-and-a-half-years-old, , and even though she has surprised us multiple times with how bright she is, she doesn't have a care in the world. If the world were on fire around her, she'd be the one sitting in a corner entertaining herself while everything around her was in chaos. She is incredibly quiet, being shy and speaking softly. She seems to naturally chose 'speak softly and carry a big stick' as a personal motto. Her favorite colors are purple and brown. She loves music, dirt, picking flowers, and wishes she was a boy. She is 36 lbs, and exactly 3' tall, with her dainty size 8 shoe. She is my emotional child. Though not really sensitive in the sense of dependency, her emotions range on the extreme. When she is happy, she is very happy; when sad, she is very sad. She is my little drama queen.

Rose was born 07/31/09 at 7:31 am, two weeks after her due date, via cesarean since I was already at 42 weeks and she wasn't budging. She was 21 in; 7 lbs, 15oz and had as much hair as her eldest sister, but twice as curly. She is currently over a year-and-a-half, reaching 2 in just two or so months, and crazy. Did I mention she is crazy? Her favorite pasttimes include screaming, fighting, and hitting things with other things. She seems to be the most bilingual of all my children, being able to recognize certain phrases in Spanish quicker than her sisters. Though she refuses to talk much (her sisters keep talking for her) she is very smart and refuses to be bossed around by anyone -- complete disregard for authority.

These are my three daughters, children I named after flowers; my garden. But the fact that I carried them for 9+ months and had them ripped out of my womb isn't what makes me a mom to them. Any woman can do that. The times I stayed up all night because of fevers or teething or both is a reason. The times I was 8 or so months pregnant and Lily had an accident while Iris had a nightmare all at the same time and everyone was crying and my husband slept through the entire thing is a reason. The tantrums, the pinching, the pushing, the headlocks, the fish-hooking, the fighting I had to break-up so many times I can no longer keep count are reasons. The recitals I attended, the lessons I taught, the heart-to-hearts, the hugs and kisses, the trips to the park to play, to the library to learn, to the store to browse and observe, and the nights they slept snuggled against my chest, those are the reasons that make me a mom.

I'm not a perfect mom. Not even close. To this day, almost six years after having my first child, I still have a lot to learn and a lot to change for the better. I regret choices I made in the past, and will probably continue to do so after all is said and done, but know that at that present time I did what I thought was the right thing to do. I've had mistakes, I've had triumphs, and I've had downright failures, but the fact that my children still come to me when they need me lets me know that they love me and accept me. The fact that if I fall down in tears from a stressful day and all of them come to hug me, I know I've done something right.

So here's to all imperfect mothers and their beautiful and perfect children, even the ones they raised that someone else gave birth to. Have a wonderful and blessed mother's day. Enjoy today spending it with the ones who helped you become the great mother that you are. <3