This is the first picture I have with my daughter, mere moments after she was born. I had been a mother for 9 months, but finally we got to meet face to face. It wasn’t the birth I had planned, nothing went like I had wanted… but when I finally saw her, none of that mattered because I was looking at the most perfect child I had ever seen. This is the moment motherhood kicked into gear… The stakes got higher. Nothing would ever be the same.

I’ve never liked this picture of me, 13 hours of labor and an emergency C-Section later, but it’s our first family picture- when two became three that eventually became five. And if you can see past the groggy- medicine induced stupor, you will see a very proud, very terrified, very excited, very happy new mommy!

So Happy Mothers Day to all you mamas out there. Motherhood is one pretty tough, amazing, and rewarding job- and one I wouldn’t trade for anything!