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Celebrating Moms

Sunday on May 9 is when we hit the pause button on our busy lives and take a moment to appreciate our mothers and motherhood. Mothers have a profound value in our lives and in many ways have the most challenging, greatest and toughest job in the world. They give us an abundance of unconditional love, support and acceptance. Mothers are our tireless cheerleader for every milestone we experience. Check out these new books celebrating the joys and challenges of motherhood. 

Easy Mom's Day Craft for All Ages and Abilities

Plastic Spoon Flowers
  • 3 plastic spoons – I used purple for one flower and yellow spoons for another
  • floral tape
  • green pipe cleaner cut into thirds
  • yellow pipe cleaner cut into halves
  • 1 clear 9oz. cup
  • crinkle cut brown paper shavings
  • A low temp. glue gun and glue sticks or an alternative to the glue gun

Face all 3 spoons inward, forming a triangle with the handles. Start wrapping the middle with floral tape and go all the way down (this first part is just to get a good hold with the floral tape, so the spoons are held together). Wrap the spoons again, going all the way up to the end of the handle. Now insert your green pipe cleaner into some spaces on the tape. Insert the yellow pipe cleaner down the center of the spoons so some of the yellow is sticking out of the top. Glue the spoon bouquet to the bottom of the cup and fill with brown paper. 

(For more fun crafting ideas, go to KidFriendlyThingsToDo.com)

Meredith Masony founded That's Inappropriate in 2014 as an innocent and humorous way to chronicle her chaotic days as a working mom, child wrangler, and busy wife. It soon evolved into a massive, dynamic community of parents--now nearly three million strong--brought together by their shared belief that parenthood and marriage don't have to be perfect. Now, in Ask Me What's for Dinner One More Time, Meredith shares her collection of witty essays on the universal frustrations of being a mom in today's world, presenting her laugh-out-loud perspective on sex, aging, anxiety, friendship, and much more. Perfect for fans of Jenny Lawson, Laura Clery, and Jen Mann, these essays provide laughter, relief, validation, and "a metaphorical hug for all of those moments you spend crying on your bathroom floor, thinking that you are failing at the hardest job on the planet."

Everyone knows how babies are made, but scientists are only just beginning to understand the making of a mother. Mom Genes reveals the hard science behind our tenderest maternal impulses, tackling questions such as whether a new mom's brain ever really bounces back, why mothers are destined to mimic their own moms (or not), and how maternal aggression makes females the world's most formidable creatures. Part scientific odyssey, part memoir, Mom Genes weaves the latest research with Abigail Tucker's personal experiences to create a delightful, surprising, and poignant portrait of motherhood. It's vital reading for anyone who has ever wondered what rocks the hand that rocks the cradle.

With This Is Motherhood, the cofounders and contributors of the Motherly online community present a collection of essays and practices to celebrate motherhood in all its complexity. Here you'll find reflections on each phase of "the wild ride of motherhood," including the soaring highs of meeting your new baby, the ground-shaking lows that make you doubt everything you've ever known, and all the beauty and pain in between. Each chapter closes with practices from Motherly's team of wellness experts to help you define, clarify, process, and celebrate your journey.

Slow down and take time for yourself--because a better you is a better mom! The second book in the Hot Mess to Mindful Mom series, Get the Most out of Motherhood will help moms create balance, peace, and well-being in their homes, leaving behind their old ways of being constantly stressed-out and frantic. In the first book, Ali focused on internal issues and taught women that by caring for themselves first, they can better care for their families and loved ones. This book is the natural next step for moms who now understand that a better you equals a better mom! She will guide women on how to embrace their best selves while parenting so they can strengthen relationships with their children, create systems in their homes that work, and actually enjoy doing it.

The first collection of poetry from Bunmi Laditan, bestselling author of Confessions of a Domestic Failure and creator of The Honest Toddler, capturing the honesty, rawness, sheer joy and total madness of motherhood. With the compassion and wit that have made her a social media sensation among mothers around the world, Bunmi Laditan puts into evocative and relatable words what so many of us feel but can't quite express. For mothers who love their children with a fiery fierceness but know what it is to feel crushed at the end of those long days, Dear Mother is like a warm hug that says, "I get it."

As an undergraduate, Michele Filgate started writing an essay about being abused by her stepfather. It took her more than a decade to realize what she was actually trying to write: how this affected her relationship with her mother. When it was finally published, the essay went viral, shared on social media. The outpouring of responses gave Filgate an idea, and the resulting anthology offers a candid look at our relationships with our mothers. While some of the writers in this book are estranged from their mothers, others are extremely close. Acknowledging what we couldn't say for so long is one way to heal our relationships with others and, perhaps most important, with ourselves.

Celebrity doula, pregnancy, women's wellness and empowerment coach Lori Bregman brings a holistic guide to being a more balanced, authentic, and joyful mother. Introducing the "five expressions of motherhood"--Action Mama, Flow Mama, Rebel Mama, Vulnerable Mama, and Free Mama--Lori offers supportive advice, exercises, meditations, and yoga practices to cultivate a healthy balanced life and stronger bonds. Accessible and encouraging, Mamaste provides foundational tools for parenting, relatable examples, and exercises to build self-awareness and mindfulness. 

#Imomsohard by Kristin Hensley

Has it been months since you've read a book with actual adult words that had nothing to do with farm animals or superheroes or going potty? Well then, it's time to take a break. Pour yourself some wine. Put on your comfy pants. All good? Ok, welcome to the party. Kristin Hensley and Jen Smedley, the creators of #IMOMSOHARD, know that you probably didn't get to shower today and that the last thing you need is more advice on how to be a better parent. Instead, they invite you to join their laugh-out-loud, best friend banter on the eighty bajillion ways moms give their all every day.