Quite honestly, this was a birthday I had been dreading since over a year before when I realized I would have to share her special day with Mother's Day. Mother's Day has never been the same since losing her, it is almost excruciating to hear the words "Happy Mother's Day" by someone other than my own children. I do not know why, there are a million reasons why I have considered in my head but I'm too tired to analyze myself right now!
I will tell you, just like with all of the milestones, the buildup to the day is actually the most difficult for me. The day turned out wonderful. I really wanted to just focus on our girls, even though Mother's Day is painful for me, for them it's awesome. One thing I never wanted to do was have any part of Olivia's life or death to take away joy from my other girls.
I had planned ahead to skip church and just run away with the family for the day. When Sunday rolled around, I decided I wanted to go to church first. It was not painful like I had expected and we left immediately after 1st service to head to Terre Haute to the children's museum there. A friend had told me about how clean and nice it was there so we decided to give it a go. Claire and I both got in free, Claire because she was under 2 and me because it was free to mom's on Mother's Day...score! It was so clean and nice, we got there shortly after they opened and it was practically empty until the last half hour. There was a craft area to make a Mother's Day gift so now I have 2 wind chimes!
After the museum we went to the mall for some shopping. I am actively teaching my big girls how to shop sales/clearance. They can have nice things but with 4 girls at home, they are going to have to know how to budget shop! They love it and are learning it now.
After the mall we decided to go look at the puppies at the pet store. We explained that we were NOT buying a dog that day. We didn't buy a dog but we all fell in love with the cutest little dog and there were some big tears when we left empty handed. Lesson learned! No pet stores unless we are for sure buying a dog!
Before heading home we went to Garfield's for dinner. All 3 girls loved getting to color on the table "cloth" while waiting for food. They really wanted ice cream so I made a deal to stop on the way home for that so they could let there dinner settle. I did not want 3 girls puking (or 1 for that matter!) on the car ride home!
We made it home from our fantastic family day and walked into a house filled with gas (another blog for another day!) Someone anonymous and wonderful had left a gift on our door. Unfortunately with our gas emergency, I dropped the gift inside and did not open it for over a week! When I finally got my life back in order (or as much as I ever will, haha!) I opened a wonderful card and gift. It was a note and a willow tree figurine. I had actually looked at the willow tree stuff at the mall but did not go in and buy one! I have it put up in our room for now since I have an almost 2 year old that enjoys throwing...everything! I want to let whoever brought us the gift to know how much it was appreciated, even a week later when life was not so chaotic...and filled with gas :)
