Top Ten Ways to Celebrate Yourself on Mother’s Day

When Momma's Happy - Everybody's Happy

So get happy. Mother's Day is a perfect time to practice! Here's to all the mothers out there who need a little reminder every now and then that it's not up to everybody else to make mommies happy! Take this Mother's Day back and enjoy it. Here's my short list for the best ways to treat yourself on Mother's Day.

10. Sleep In - Okay, this should be a no-brainer, but if you have little ones at home you'll need to do some advance planning. It's not as difficult as it sounds. All you have to do is ask for help. I know - the horror. But just try it and I promise you'll be pleasantly surprised that there is at least one person in your life who wants to help you sleep in on Mother's Day.

9. Read for Fun - Grab all those magazines that have been stacking up for weeks, or a romance, or the newspaper, or even War and Peace if that's your thing. The point is to prepare your reading material in advance. Read anything you want as long it has nothing to do with cooking, cleaning, or improving yourself in any way. Unless that's what you've been dying to read, in which case - go for it!

8. Go Out For Breakfast - No offense to those cute little people you brought onto the planet, but the whole breakfast in bed thing is way overrated. Those of you who've had to change crumby sheets and clean up a grease-covered-Daddy-helped-us-make-bacon kitchen can attest to this. Do yourself a favor and hit the IHOP.

7. Splurge on Coffee - Especially if you've been watching your calories in anticipation of you-know-what season, go all out on your coffee today. Hit your favorite spot and don't leave until you've ordered a double-triple-creamy-extra-shot-syrup concoction that would account for an entire days calorie allotment. Today is special - remember?

6. Take a Walk - How often do you leisurely hang out with your kids? Walking is a great way in our busy society to feel like we're accomplishing something, but we're really just relaxing and slowing down. It's why people get dogs and play golf. So take your kids for a trot around the block or nearby park and see what comes up.

5. Breathe - What I'm talking about here is taking a moment to give your kids one of those really deep hugs where you breathe in their hair and squeeze them until they say stop. Take that big breath of kid in the morning and then take it into the rest of your day. Then do it again. And again.

4. Practice Yoga - Or any other time-consuming thing you love that serves no one other than yourself. Because remember what we said? When Momma's Happy Everybody's Happy? So by doing something completely selfish you are serving the world! Ha!

3. Journal Your Blessings - You don't have to be a writer to pen a few thoughts about all the things you're grateful for. Try doing an ABC list of what's great about motherhood. Or even what stinks. It's all about you so you make the rules. A is for Asthma - I could write about the scary time Baby Boy was a year old and wheezing. What a lovely initiation to the world of the ER. B is for Broccoli - are my kids crazy? They love the stuff. Or am I just the Best Mom Ever? Hmm... You get the idea.

2. Reminisce - There is nothing my kids love better than to sit around a big ole scrapbook and listen to me tell them all about when they were little. The fact that they are still little is lost on them, but the truth is they're getting bigger every day and soon they'll be too cool to care. For a while anyway.

1. Say Your Thank-You Prayers - Mothers know there is no bigger blessing than kids, but in the day to day uck of it all, sometimes we forget to be grateful. And really, aren't your kids about the coolest people you have ever met in your life? Make sure on Mother's Day you give thanks for being a mother!