to all the moms I've loved...

This post is dedicated to my favorite moms out there.  I have so many wonderful moms in my life.  I want to take this post to spotlight a few of the women/moms who have and continue to inspire, motivate, encourage, laugh and cry with me, share their knowledge and love.

to Nancy for showing me how to make a beautiful meal and home
to Cynde for having a heart that bursts with love
to Vicki for encouraging creativity in all of the children you come across (remember the big tub of art supplies you gave me?? best gift ever!)
to Jeannie for making us all laugh so hard we sometimes wet our pants
to Melissa for encouraging and nurturing me during my pregnancy and beyond (not to mention owning an amazing business while mothering a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old set of twins-all EBF!)
to Meredith for showing how strong and dedicated a single mother can be
to Kate for making sure I knew where to go and what to do with Margaret and for inspiring me with her continued strength and love of Christ
to Kristin for encouraging me and telling me I am a great mom and for her determination to breast feed even though she was recovering from a c-section and had barely any BF support
to KJ for her strength in managing a baby who didn't sleep and was colicky.  For showing me that I was not crazy and I was definitely not alone!
to Alima for being my nursing buddy and being my nutritional/parenting style advice line :)
to Brooke for always making sure Margaret and I have something to do and being the most creative and energetic mom I know!
to SK for encouraging and inspiring me
to Cristy for helping bring our sweet baby girl into this world in the most loving and peaceful way (not to mention homeschooling her 6, yes 6 children)
to Aimee for fighting for the health of her daughter and other children with heart conditions
to my friend CH who is fighting right now to have her precious daughter returned to her.
to my beautiful friend who wants nothing more than to be a mommy but for some reason God is having her wait.  I'm praying for you.

to my sweet mother in law who managed to raise 5 beautiful, God-fearing children with enough class and grace to fill the world up!  And for always treating me as one of her own.

To my beautiful mother who made being a mom her only ambition.  Who built us forts out of blankets, signed us up for every art, dance, music class available, let us spend the whole day in our PJ's if we wanted and basically just loved the snot out of us.

And to so many more moms that I couldn't fit on this list.  To the moms who gave me a pat on the back and said way to go for breast feeding, to the moms who have come forward and shared their own struggles with post-partum depression/anxiety.  To the moms who smile and give me that "I've been there" look when Margaret is throwing a fit in the grocery store and I don't know what to do.  To an old high school friend who I reconnected with on facebook that gave me nursing advice, to my birth class instructor who took my tear-filled call at 10:30pm despite having children and a job of her own.  Really, I could go on and on about how wonderful you moms are!

I hope all of you have a beautiful Mother's day that is free from doubting your abilities, comparing yourself to other moms and truly just filled with love and gratitude for all that you do.