My heart bursts! My little girl turned 1 today. An ode to the MOMs out there.

Making a person has messed with my heart strings so hard. Today was her first birthday and I'm all the feels for sure.
Moms - remember your baby's first bday? Of course you do. I'll bet you put more into your party than you've ever put into your own. I'll bet you did more pinterest-ing than you did for your wedding.

(I went a little overboard. I made soap cakes, and cupcakes - only 3 people tried to eat them! haha)

Truth be told, I didn't think I wanted kids for the longest time. Most of my life in fact. It wasn't so much a selfishness thing, it was completely based in fear, and misunderstanding. I didn't properly respect what it meant to be a mom, and I didn't think that I'd find a partner that I would trust enough to tie myself to, in such a permanent way. My husband is such a fantastic dad, I've swung a 180. I'd do it all over again, and probably will sometime! Baby E needs Baby O. My husband's name just happens to start with a V. Then our family of LOVE is complete. (see what I did with my steemit name? ya. we're overly cute like that.)

The other thing was I did NOT get moms at all. I don't have the easiest relationship with my own mom in all honesty. I feel guilty now that I didn't appreciate her enough growing up to see all she did for us. Moms bust ass.

Regardless of my joking, having a baby girl has peeled the burlap off my feelings. Having one year of being a mom under my belt, I'm in total awe. I love my sweet little girl with all my heart and deep down I always feel like I should be somehow doing more. Giving her more. More experiences, more toys, more songs, more books, more attention, more broccoli. More everything. I live in a state of constant mom envy. I know some seriously incredible moms. They find unbelieveable ways to do little things every day, that go unseen, but form the foundations of the family unit.

This post doesn't have any advice - I promise I'll share tips on things I feel I have good experience in... its coming! But this post is a universal thank you for the little things that moms do that only other moms would see that you do. Here goes.

Please use this as a reminder to thank the moms in your life. Thank you's are mom-fuel, they're better than coffee.

Thank you moms for:

• Always making sure there is TP in the bathroom, and wipes at the ready.

• Always having a snack in your purse, a juice box in the glove compartment, and a secret cookie stash.

• Always knowing the favourite toy, the 15 part sleep sequence and just the right touch to soothe every member of the family when sleep evades.

• Always following patient zero with the sniffles with cleaning spray to keep the rest of the family healthy, yet somehow, every still gets sick - but mom. Guess who then makes the soup and loses even more sleep.

• Somehow having enough energy to keep the calendar, buy the birthday presents, send out the cards and doing something thoughtful for the numerous friends and family in your vast circle.

• Never forgetting each family member's food preferences, and cooking the meals just the way everyone likes it.

• Accepting the constant deafening noise, and having the spidey sense to save the vase that was about to go over...

• Epic mom saves. Oh the tears that would have ensued if she weren't a ninja.

• Always making sure noses are wiped and ears are cleaned teeth are brushed, nails are clipped and appointments are up to date.

What I'm seeing about being a mom is it's the biggest job description of little things that I never imagined before being one myself. In isolation, each of these things might seem simple, but together it's an impossibly tangled to do list that only grows as your family grows.

And that's only the little stuff, then there's all the BIG stuff. Like the pain, and sacrifice and the constant putting herself after everyone else. Then compound that with the social pressure to lose all the baby weight and keep up her appearance, and somehow make it look easy. I know moms with many kids, some who navigate tricky parenting dynamics and kids with challenges like autism. That's a whole other level unto itself.

I don't know how moms do it all, because then they somehow find the time and energy to do even more. So many moms I know work full time, on top of bringing the kids to each of their favorite sports and activities, then hosting friends after school and feeding half the neighbourhood.

I can hardly believe their super powers.

I'm still in training, but lucky for me I have the support of some really great moms around me, including my incredible ma-in-law. Yep that's right. I'm lucky enough to have the world's best in laws. I couldn't manage without all this support. I have so much growing to do. What a year it's been, and what a funny sweet little person our girl is becoming. It's like I took the most tender part of my soul, that I now wear on the outside... and I can't even get it to wear socks.

I debated over and over putting her picture up here, I'm now on the fence about posting pictures (no matter how cute) of a person who can't yet decide the way they want to be a part of social media.

We didn't have Facebook growing up, our baby pictures were reserved for the few who sat down in our house with a well kept photobook. Hers would be immortalized on the internet. I never put anything up with her in the tub for example, but even so, I'm finding myself questioning how to handle. I'm looking for feedback here - can you let me know what you think?

And please upvote if you like, but please remember to thank a mom in your life. I'm willing to bet she's freaking awesome and would love that caffeine shot to her soul that thank you would give her.

Love, the LOVEa family <3