Some Thoughts on Motherhood

Since we don't yet have kids, I didn't wake up this morning to a dubious breakfast in bed - weird food pairings and hand-drawn cards. It's okay. I made myself a lovely cup of coffee and am enjoying the quietness of the morning.

While I'm not yet a mother in any real sense of the word, I have lots of thoughts on the subject. My qualifications are as follows: I have a mother, I have a MIL (hi, Shirley!), I have a Kim, I have a couple of mother-figures, and I have lots of friends who are mothers. Also, did I mention I have piles of opinions?

First of all, this is my mom:

Her name is Mama and as you can tell, these days she's very smiley and quite gorgeous. She is also strong, adventurous and quite possibly my biggest cheerleader.

Through our adoption process, we've had numerous hours of interviews where we've had to talk about our past, every questionable decision we've ever made, and our own parents/childhood. It's been a treat. Hours, people.

Here are some things I said I love about both my parents:

- They are extraordinarily generous, like crazy giving.

- They are the hardest working people I know. (My sister comes in at #3.)

- They taught us good manners when we were younger (to brag, apparently we were well-behaved kids?)

- They handed us a well-thought-out moral compass.

I'm soooo grateful for these things and hope to instill and pass them along to our own youngsters one day.

In our younger years (pre age 10), my mom took us to see our grandmothers consistently, was our Girl Scout leader, took us to the library weekly, brought snacks to our school and generally made life extra lively. Honestly, that's only a fraction of what she (or my dad) did.

They also kept me alive, which actually probably wasn't that hard considering I spent most days with my nose stuck in a book.

Still, I'm thankful.

As to mothers in a broader sense, here are some things I've observed about motherhood:

- It requires superhuman patience. Sometimes I walk across the street to have coffee with my friend Tam, and within the space of a few hours, she (in a nice voice) corrects the kids as they hit/shove/throw things/rip stuff/whine approximately 37 times. (They are amazing kids, I'm making them sound like terrors. They're not! They're just 1 and 3, learning how to do life.)

- It requires superhuman sacrifice. Who has time for their own stuff once they have kids? ME and MY take a back seat as time and the majority of one's attention is given to parenting.

Wow.

- It requires superhuman grace. For yourself, for your husband, for the days when the laundry is piled high, someone just spilled a giant vat of jam over the couch, and every single person in the room is crying.

From the outside, it looks extraordinarily daunting.

So here's to a day recognizing the incredible gifts our mothers have given us - life, time, love, patience, lessons, strength. I'm amazed at all you do!

Thanks to my mom specifically. I love you, Ma. x.

Because Saturdays are for Baking

I'm not going to lie, I've been a little obsessed with nesting these days and all the hours working on our home has somehow lead to me craving homemade bread. Or did the craving for homemade bread come first?

Hmmmm.

I love baking, and I can always tell if I have a good work/life balance because it means I'm baking.

So due to said cravings, recently it's been bread.

I love bread. I've always loved bread. I will always love bread.

(I took this basic bread recipe and added a layer of cinnamon and sugar to have the dough, because let's be honest, I love me some cinnamon sugar.)

I got the following recipe from Taste of Home:

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 20 min. + rising Bake: 30 min. + cooling (4 hours)

Ingredients:

• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 2-1/4 cups warm water (110° to 115°)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons canola oil (I use olive oil)
• 6-1/4 to 6-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to form a soft dough.
2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours.
3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide dough in half. Shape each into a loaf. Place in two greased 9x5-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30-45 minutes.
4. Bake at 375° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.Yield: 2 loaves (16 slices each).