Tiffany's Life with Olivia

Have you ever met someone you thought immediately could be your hero?  I have met such a woman.  Her name is Tiffany.  And while she would completely deny the necessity of making her a hero, she is. 


Her life is anything but easy.  She is a Work At Home Mom with three children ages, 11, 10, and 7.  On top of everything, her daughter was born with  Cri du Chat syndrome.  Which has changed her life forever.  And yet, she's still a mama just like the rest of us mamas. 


You can visit Tiffany at Elastamom to peek into her life.  It really is something to admire and be inspired by.

Isn't she beautiful?

Olivia, being your Mom is not what I thought it would be.
 Not at all.
It's so much better.

This morning I went in to wake you up, like I do every morning, and I saw your mess of tangled chocolate-brown curls and smelled your morning breath and saw your hint of a smile and I just melted. Who is this tween girl of mine and how did I get so lucky? I don't know why but I could never picture you sleeping in a regular bed, wearing a regular nightgown, waking up like any other sweet pre-teen girl. 

But there you are.

I watch you select "a friend" from your pile of stuffed animals and walk down the hall in your Aeropostale sweatshirt and skinny jeans and think about how I was so wrong. You are so much more independent and "normal" and beautiful that I ever dreamed. I don't know why but I could never picture you heading down to breakfast all by yourself in the morning. 

But there you are.

On the weekends, you love to come in and put make-up on while I'm getting ready. "Where's the blush, Mama?" and "I need mascara!" and "Ooh! Purple eyeshadow!" you say while you stand in front of the sink next to me looking in the mirror. After we've finished putting on our faces, you open the closet door and take in your beauty in the full length mirror. You look up at me with a full-wattage smile and head back to your room. I don't know why but I could never imagine us doing our make-up together. 

But there we are

.

You get home from school with your Pottery Barn girlie backpack on and your Twinkle Toes shoes and your adorable glasses all smiles. You leap off the bus into my arms, give me a huge kiss on the cheek and say "Hi Baby Girl!" because you know that's what I'm about to say. We chat a little about your day, take off your glasses and get into your pjs if you can. "I need to watch a show!" you say and we pull out your extensive collection of DVDs so you can choose which one fits your fancy that day. You say "Is it locked?" because you like to have control of the DVD player but I don't like you messing with it. I love how you know it's locked. I don't know why I never pictured our after-school scenario, but I couldn't. 

But there you are.

You crack up at jokes in all the right places. You make jokes yourself. You're truly one of the funniest people I've ever met. You jump on the trampoline, you run around with your brothers, you play on your ipad. You're just so...normal. I don't know why I never pictured all this normalcy, but I didn't. 

But there you are.

There are moments every single day when I just can't believe my luck. What started out feeling like a disaster now feels like the best thing that ever happened to me. There is a moment every single day where I feel like the luckiest mom in the world because I have you. I sometimes wish that I didn't have to change diapers, that you could be like all the other girls and then I stop myself. Because if all of those things came true, then I wouldn't have you. And I don't want to imagine that life. There's too much that is wonderful in this one.

Definitely not what I thought.

It's better.

Thanks, Tiffany for sharing with us the joy you find in Olivia!  May we all find that joy in each of our children.