Theme Thursday: Mom

I'm joining Cari at Clan Donaldson for Theme Thursday this week.  Because, in spite of copious evidence to the contrary, I still blog here.  Just look at the ten half-finished posts in my drafts folder.

This week's theme is "Mom," and it turns out I have quite a few pictures here on the old hard drive that fit the bill.  I'm no great shakes photographer, but I figure I have the wherewithal to post some maternal pictures.  You know, as an early Mother's Day shout out and all.

First, the beautiful classics.  The role models. These ladies are unsurpassed in my life.

My grandmother with her first baby, my mother.  I love the way she is nuzzling
my mother's cheek.  Mothers and babies never change.
This is our first mother's day without my grandmother. I miss her.

My pretty, pretty mother, in high school.
Don't be jealous of her awesome hair and naturally thick
eyelashes.
I still think my mother has the prettiest green eyes
I've ever seen. 

Who wears short shorts?  My mom.
Seriously, why can't I look like that after I have my babies?
Genetics only gets me so far, I guess.
(That's one of my mom's best friends, Aunt D, holding me)

My mother, rocking the fashions of late '76.  I actually love her coat and
brown boots, but she was so dainty that I would never fit into her clothes.
And I mightily wish we still had the coat that I was wearing.
My parents called it my "Joseph Coat."

My fantastic mother-in-law and Baby.  They share the same name, first and last.
Very cool.  I'm so blessed to have a mother-in-law who dotes on my children.
Some can't or don't or won't for whatever reason, you know.  Not mine.

And now, me. Mother of 7.  When in the heck did that all happen?!  It is the biggest privilege and blessing of my life to have these people call me "mom."

This is my Mopsy belly.  
Yes, I have children the size of 2 month olds.
Also? I really miss the good hair hormones of pregnancy.

Riiight before they cranked up the pitocin with Mopsy.
If this had been taken 10 minutes later, you would have seen me trying to knock
myself out with a hammer.  I'm sure it would have been less painful.

Not too shabby for having an unmedicated, pitocin-fueled labor.

And this is my Baby belly.
Yes, she was even bigger than Mopsy.
Still miss those awesome pregnancy hair hormones.

What you can't see is not-quite 1 year old Mopsy sitting on
my huge belly housing her baby sister.  That's what happens when
you have babies less than 14 months apart.  Instant baby shelf.

Another induced labor, this time for Sally.
Why am I always looking so jazzed to get induced?
It's really not that great.
Except for the baby at the end, of course.

My Sally-girl.  The calmest, sweetest baby ever.

Mr. Bun gettin' his Catholic on, baptism-style.

Francie and me, then. Not so long ago.
See?  Nuzzling never changes.

Francie and me, now.
(courtesy of a photo booth in NYC)

Happy Mother's Day, my friends!

(BTW, I think this post officially contains the most pictures of myself I've amassed in one place. Ever.  Makes me feel weird. It will most likely never happen again. But it does make me realize I have no picture of me with the Magnificent Seven.  I need to fix that.)