Celebrating Motherhood with Mandi of Tidbits From The Tremaynes

Happy Mother’s Day moms of the world!!!


Over the past few weeks I have shared with you interviews with some amazing moms from around the blogosphere who wrote about their perspectives on being mothered and mothering themselves. To complete this series I am so happy to have Mandi of the blog Tidbits From The Tremaynes here today to share a little story with you. Oh how I love this girl, carpenter extraordinaire who has inspired me with the incredible house projects she takes on herself and humorously writes about, all the while raising four little ones. Even more than her renovations that blow me away,  I adore how genuine Mandi is. Read on.

Lemme tell you about my Mother’s Day, last year.

It was a doozy. 

Picture it: Sicily, 1942. 

I got up, like any other day. Got my yelling 1 year old out of the crib and changed a diaper, and then took breakfast requests (the final vote was scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon, and pancakes). Served my kids, poured syrup, cut up pancakes into bite-sized pieces.

Hubs slept in. 

Cleaned up breakfast, cleaned up my kids. Started prepping food for dinner. Dressed my kids for church. 

Hubs slept in. 

Thought, as I dressed myself, “Man, will everyone be embarrassed when they realize it’s Mother’s Day.” 

It was a little after that (and about this time the hubs decided to roll on out of bed), that I made some offhand comment about the kids singing in church, to which the hubs says, 

“Oh. You mean for Mother’s Day?” 

Eeeeeeeeeee-rrrrrrrrrrrr. (Record comes screeching to a halt sound.) 

Hold up. 

Back that thang up. 

Do you mean to tell me– that you knew it was Mother’s Day, and you treated me like *beep* ??

Right now you might think I’m being a baby. But there’s somethings you should know:

1. I’m being a baby
2. I’m being a baby
3. I was already feeling extremely unloved, and despite my attempts to be the best mother/wife I could be, had already expressed my feelings unloved-ness just earlier in the week. So, basically, this was the final straw. The cherry on top.

THE MASSIVE, 50 POUND CHERRY ON TOP.

4. You also need to know that I don’t expect presents. My birthday? Typically completely forgotten. Anniversary? Nada. I don’t want presents. I wanted a little love and affection thrown my way. Perhaps a “Happy Mother’s Day!” with a genuine hug thrown in there.

So you know what this felt like?

Kinda like an indian burn on each arm. Maybe a cow-bite to the leg. Ever been on a seesaw and had a friend surprise you by jumping on the other side, thus smacking you all up in the junk?

Yeah. It was like a seesaw to the junk.

I am not ashamed to say that I sobbed about this. 

I might be ashamed to say that I kinda let my husband have it. “I don’t expect a present (sob) but I do expect a little love thrown my way. . . (sob). . . “

To be honest, it still kinda hurts my feelings, even a year later. (big baby). 

What have I learned from this experience? Besides that my family is a big bunch of ungrateful jerks? (I kidd. Mostly kidd. Mostly.)

Well, I’m gonna speak up about my expectations. I certainly don’t expect a lot, so my 4 kids and my one man-child can make an effort to throw some love in my direction. Birthday or Mother’s Day. Good grief. 

I appreciate me. So I got myself a Mother’s Day present this year. I’m thinking this is a new tradition. Judge me.

And finally, on the flipside of all this,

last week I woke up in the middle of the night with a massive headache. Like, can’t lay down, wonder if I’m having a brain aneurysm type of headache. Bonging. Bad. I couldn’t sleep– I could only moan and go throw up every so often. 

So when the sun rose, and I looked massively wasted, laying on the couch in pain, my boys took charge. Got the littlest out of bed, laid a blanket over me, made their own breakfasts–

basically managed the house. And when I finally felt well enough to stumble around?

 

I found this, on a tray for me. By the time I got to it, it was full-out mush. 

Maybe the best breakfast I’ve ever been served, though.

It’s the little things.

*     *     *     *     *     *


Mandi, for all the moms who have been there before, thanks for keeping it real – and sharing a moment from your motherhood that makes it all worth it!

Check out Tidbits From The Tremaynes and the projects that Mandi whips out like this awesome pantry:

built-in spice shelves

and kid’s dream come true built in bed

I hope every mom reading this knows what a difference you make in the lives of your kids and feels loved and cherished – even if your family forgets to heap adoration all over you today!


Chillax and take the day off….laundry, gardening, emptying the dishwasher – they can all wait until tomorrow! Enjoy your family and tell the moms you love how amazing they are!


Thank you to Mandi and to all the fabulous women who joined me for the Celebrating Motherhood series! I admire each of you for dedication to your family and your positive attitudes, sense of humor, and gratitude about motherhood.