My Mother

I have the most amazing mother. No seriously, I do. I know a lot of you are thinking that you have the most amazing mother too, but you don't unless you are my sister.

Not only is my mom super smart (she was salutatorian of her graduating class), but she is beautiful (and looks like she's 35!), and she is talented (she cooks, bakes, paints, sews, creates). Any of those things would make someone special, but the most special thing about my mother isn't any of those qualities; the most special thing about my mother is that she is selfless.

I didn't realize how much my mother did for me until I was a mother myself. When I was growing up, my mother (and father) worked herself to the bone to be able to put us in tap, ballet, jazz, and gymnastics. She was the adviser/sponsor of my little league cheer team so we would have someone to coach us. When I was in high school, my mother would take her lunch break during 7th period so she could come to ALL our pep rallys and watch us cheer. She spent her weekends all over the state of Alabama braiding the hair of my softball team at various tournaments and keeping the book for our team. She sat in snow and sleet and even extreme heat just to watch me, even if I was only riding the bench.

When I was a senior in high school I was accepted to the only school I wanted to go to, Auburn. A few months later I was accepted and received a full scholarship to the local university. I told my parents I'd go to the local school because it was free. My mom knew I didn't want to go there, and if it hadn't been for her and the many conversations she had with me about it, I never would have gone to Auburn. If I had not gone to Auburn, I would not be the person I am today and I would have never met my husband.

The summer after I graduated high school, my mother and sister spent the summer finding things to stock my apartment. My mother even searched high and low to find me the exact same bedding that I had in my room at home so I'd feel more comfortable. My parents moved me in and then my mother stocked my fridge and cabinets. When finals came around my first semester, my mother took off work and came and stayed with me to cook me good meals and clean my apartment so I could spend my time studying. When I started dating Anthony, she immediately took him in as if he was her own. My sophomore year of college I started having some health issues and she got me in with various doctors and then even came to stay with me when I was having some tests done. When I got engaged, she helped me plan an amazing wedding all while planning my sister's amazing (and completely different) wedding. She even made Anthony a cake shaped like Jordan-Hare Stadium.

When I told her I wanted to have a baby, she took me to Walmart and bought pregnancy tests and ovulation kits for me. When we moved, she came and helped me set up my first house. When I went into labor a month early with Ansleigh, she killed herself to get here and then stayed with me for a little over two weeks to help me recover and to cook and clean for me and learn how to be a mother. She even missed spending Christmas with my dad and sister and all the rest of our family because I needed her.

All of Ansleigh's life she has loved on her more than I thought any person possibly could. She makes sure she has the best of everything. She has been here for her for all the major things in her life and made sure she had the cutest clothes on while those things happened.

When I was pregnant with Addisyn, my mom came and helped me throw Ansleigh an amazing birthday party. Then, when I was put on bedrest, she called and checked on me everyday. She made my dad drive her down here one weekend to turn a guest room into a nursery for the baby. When Addisyn was born, she jumped in the car and got here as soon as she could and then took care of Ansleigh while I was in the hospital. When we came home from the hospital, she stayed with me for a week, cooking, cleaning, and entertaining Ansleigh while I recovered and spent time with my new baby. She even repaired one of Ansleigh's stuffed animals.

My mom does anything and everything for me and never tells me no and never ever tells Ansleigh no.

In fact, my mom overnighted a box of clothes to Ansleigh and Addisyn for us to take on our Disney trip.

No one has a mom as amazing as my mom. I didn't appreciate her when I was a teenager, but she means the world to me now and if I could live next door to her, I totally would. If I can be even 1/4 the mother she was/is to my girls, they will be blessed beyond measure. I hope I can be that kind of a mother to my girls and that they will grow up knowing just how much they are loved, the way I always have.