Well, I've had a lovely Mother's Day. Joey made me a crown that says Queen Mommy and I wore it all morning. I love it. Ed made me some incredibly delicious French toast and yummy bacon for breakfast. It was delicious! He and Joey gave me a new toaster (which I had been wanting--it's on my cooks.com wish list) and a pasta machine. Yay! He picked up on those hints I was dropping. :-) I can't wait to make some pasta--I'm all set to make lasagna with my own pasta and left over bolognese sauce that I froze from 2 weeks ago.

I feel sorta guilty because I haven't been thinking of my mom today. It's Mother's Day--she should be on my mind, but she really isn't for some reason. I think it's because of years of infertility that turned Mother's Day around for me. Instead of focusing on my mom, I spent years focusing on the fact that *I* wasn't a mom and then once I was, I was always so elated that I got to celebrate it myself and it has turned into a holiday about me. I'm just too self-centered, I guess.

At church today, my friend was there with her 3 year old granddaughter. I found out that she and her husband now have guardianship of this little girl because the mom is in jail. For the second time. This little girl was born while her mom was in jail the first time for participating in an armed robbery. The baby stayed with Grandma for the first 6 months waiting for mom to get out of prison. Then mom seemed to be getting her life in order and things looked good for a few years, but in the last year, baby's dad has come back into the picture (he was part of the armed robbery) and they've been into drugs. They were in Reno--with the baby--and got in a car accident. When the police came to help, they were arrested for possession of drugs.

The little girl was taken into protective custody for 24 hours until Grandma could get there and take her. All of the little girl's stuff was impounded with the car and they literally got her with the clothes on her back and one diaper. I went through Joey's stuff and got out all the 4T stuff we had and got all her old baby books and some Duplos and some videos and some other stuff. Joey picked out a very nice little stuffed cow dressed in a red gingham pinafore and hat for the little girl. "I think she'd like to have something to cuddle mom," she said.

We left the 3 stuffed full shopping bags on their doorstep this evening because they weren't home but I just talked to my friend a few minutes ago and she was delighted to get the goodies. One of the things she was most wanting to get for the little girl was books and I gave her about 30 books. I'm just so glad that I was able to help. Another woman at church is throwing a Grandma and Little Miss shower for my friend this week. I'm planning to get a gift certificate to Target for her so she can get whatever she needs--diapers, clothes, shoes, whatever. That seems like the most practical thing.

My friend will be quitting her job and becoming a SAHM for the second time. She says she's too old for this but she's only about 45. Lots of women don't even have their first baby until their 40s so I think she's fine. She has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and help and the witholding of judgment. We're all just delighted that this little girl will be in a stable home for a long time.

I didn't get a chance to call my grandma today. I don't know the phone number of where she's staying and I've been rather involved all day in my own little self. I'm a bad granddaughter.

I have a test in A&P tomorrow on the renal system, metabolism and electrolytes. Tough stuff. I've been studying all day and even took my notes to church to study on the sly. I spent a while on the phone with an Asian woman who has trouble with the language and needed some help understanding some of the stuff. we went over about half of the practice test together which was a good review for me. My friend just left--we spent about an hour going over electrolytes--normal values and the hypo/hyper states. Now I just need to hammer metabolism and I'll feel pretty good. Unfortunately, metabolism is a big chapter so I'd better get cracking.

But first, a snack.

Later...

--L