Mother’s Day weekend is kind of our Super Bowl weekend. (National Adoption Month is our Christmas.) Motherhood is woven into the fiber of what we do.

For Mother’s Day, I asked our social media followers and staff to send us the pictures the most typified motherhood to them.

We received the most fantastic pictures. There were pictures of tearful first hellos, candid moments of laughter and snuggles, generational pictures, with moms, grandmas, kids and grandkids, and there were also honest pictures of messes and boo boos.

There were pictures that were taken after finalization hearings or the first day after placement. There were also wonderful pictures of the birth moms that made motherhood a reality for our adoptive moms.

I sent in a picture of my kiddo’s lovey. It holds unique sentimentality because it was by her side through so many hospital visits and long nights.

This is the other picture I wanted to use for two reasons. First, because it is an impossibly cute picture of my little girl from years ago (I might be impartial but, come on really.) And second, because we are sitting on the ground and I identify motherhood with that pose.

So much of motherhood happens on the floor, whether it’s cleaning up a mess, building a block tower, or trying to coax out those first steps. There are hours sorting on the floor: laundry, toys, and sometimes princesses by order of importance.

Then there are other hours on the floor. The time you sat on the floor outside of your little one’s room, glued to the baby monitor, because you were sleep training. The night you spent on the floor in their room so you could be there to keep checking their temperature to make sure their fever didn’t spike, or to be near if they threw up, again.

We kneel on the floor to band aid their knee. We lie on the floor pretending to be a sleeping tickle monster.

We get down on their level and every time we do we’re diving into their world. We’re saying we’re here and present, and that they are loved and safe.

As I remember all the pictures and stories I have heard about motherhood this past week, I feel like it boils down to one word. Sacrifice. Here is a piece of my life; here is a piece of my world, here is all of my heart.

We see this in the eyes of our adoptive mom’s when they first meet their little ones. We see it in the tears of our birth mom’s as they make the most courageous choice. We see it in ourselves in those nights we spend, as I did last night, on the floor next to my kiddo in a light sleep listening for the next coughing fit.

Motherhood is crazy, wonderful, hard work, and we take it all lying down.