Happy Mother's Day to me.

I'd just like to take a moment to reflect on all that I've sacrificed in the nearly 3 years of being a mother. (Yes, I know Summer is not yet 2, but I gave up many thing long before she was actually born.) These are not sacrifices of being a parent (that list would be hefty), but specifically being a mother. Before I get chastised for writing this list, I would like to make it known that I have two of the most perfectly beautiful children in the world and I would do nothing to change anything at all.... I just want to make a hard copy of sacrifices from 2008 to 2011 in case I need it for anything in the future:

- I sacrificed all alcohol while pregnant two times, most of the time nursing with Summer, and certainly when I was nursing I never had more than a single drink. (Reason: Duh?)

- While pregnant with Summer I went out of my way to eat spicy and flavorful foods so that my daughter would appreciate flavors. Now she only eats plain chicken, rice, oatmeal, yogurt, cheese, and noodles. She said the other day that Italian seasoning was too spicy.

- While pregnant I gave up raw cheeses, fish, etc. and did not eat lunchmeat and hard boiled eggs. (Reason: Listeria.)

- I stopped drinking coffee altogether while pregnant and nursing, but drank only decaf while pregnant with Summer. (Reason: Miscarriage/fussiness.)

- All artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, and anything artificial. (Reason: Cancer?)

- I stopped eating all of the following while nursing: all dairy products and all spicy food, including ALL OF THE ABOVE. (Reason: because everything I eat it somehow the culprit to another problem with the nursed child.)

... and now that we've eliminated all food items....

- I took absolutely no medications while pregnant or nursing. I dealt with colds, flus, the stomach virus, sciatica, and other illnesses with not a stitch of even Tylenol used. Why? Because many medications are not allowed while pregnant/nursing, but others are (but I didn't want to find out after the fact that they were bad.)

- Zayan's food source when I was pregnant with him was so large and plentiful (aka. placenta) that it put both of our lives at risk and I was on bed rest for over 2 months, not being allowed to work, play with my daughter, clean my own house, hug my husband,... or really even go to the damn bathroom when I wanted to. I was grounded, but he was healthy (thank goodness).

- Summer had acid reflux and we didn't know it for the first 2 months of her life. As a result, I ended up breastfeeding her AT LEAST once an hour every waking hour of the day for 2 months. I ended up producing massive amounts of milk that was saved for when she needed to start taking the bottle.... which she never did. She always refused the bottle.

- Zayan wakes up at least every 2 hours wanting to eat. My amazing husband has insisted on feeding him a bottle in the middle of the night, but what's the point when I have to hear the crying while he's waiting for a bottle, have to get up to pump mid-way through the feeding, and then clean and store the pumping items? I feed him instead and try my hardest to remember to put him back in the co-sleeper.

- My hormones were out of control when I was pregnant with Summer to a very uncomfortable point. I would try to release pent up hormones by crying about somewhat relevant things to cry about, but would instead finding myself crying while listening to just about every song on the radio and when making tough decisions like which kind of black beans to purchase.

- I breastfed Summer for 14 months, and was bitten many, many times by her as she had very tiny teeth for 10 of those 14 months. The final month, I was bitten the most. I suppose both of us were done with it, no? Zayan turns out to have those same biting tendencies, but fortunately he has no teeth yet.

- Childbirth, all natural with absolutely zero medications.... and they were both very large babies. Enough said.