Thankful Thanksgiving

Last year on this day I was in the hospital, praying that Kace would wait until it was time for him to arrive. Looking back on this year, especially this time in particular, that I missed last year, I have so much to be thankful for. Every day that goes by, I think "I spent this day in the hospital last year." It was so stressful on our family...and even our friends. I continue to be overwhelmed with love for my family and friends, for the simple things in life, for the daily pleasures, and the daily nuisances that I longed for while in the hospital.

On this day, I had been in the hospital for about 50 days and still had almost a month to go. I was in the downhill stretch, but it still seemed so far away. The good news every day was that Kace was still developing in utero instead of in NICU.

(Here is last year's post. I didn't read it until after I wrote this. So many similarities!)
I could write a novel about the things I'm thankful for right now--from the grand to the miniscule. I'll begin this novel now....stay with me! :-)

1. God and the blessings he has bestowed upon our family. Even the things we think are not blessings are. Staying in the hospital was NOT a blessing to me, but we actually enjoyed our time there with our nurses, doctors, and made new lifelong friends who went through their version of the same ordeal as we did.

We are also thankful to have finally found a church that we love. We plan to join soon and look forward to going to church on Sunday mornings. I'm so glad to finally have this missing piece back into my life. I never thought I'd find a church that I connected to as much as the last church I attended, but I have. What a blessing!

2. My family. Wow, I could not be more blessed to have a wonderful family. My family has always supported me, taken care of me...and my very own little family. I married into a wonderful family too--fabulous in-laws, two sisters and friends, and wonderful nieces and nephews that I call my own. The family that Russ and I have created is my life. These boys mean the world to me and I'm thankful that we have two boys to make our lives filled with amazement (in good ways and not so good ways)! We are blessed beyond measure to have our boys and I am one lucky girl to have all 3 of them in my life.

3. Friends. Friends are amazing. New friends, old friends, all of them. I hope they know who they are because they make the world go 'round. Martin Jr. High friends, neighbor friends, work friends, Bunco friends, family friends, and friends I don't get to see every day--but wish I did. They're there when you need them and I couldn't have asked for a better bunch.

4-12: Some Little Things

4. Making my own plate on Thanksgiving. WITH cranberry sauce.


5. Coffee.

6. Reading books with my boys. And snuggling. Do they know that it's purely selfish for me to do this? To make them love books, learn to read, and spend quality snuggle time? Shhhh--don't tell.

7. Cooking. Oh, how I love to cook, read recipes, collect recipes, try out new recipes. And oh, how I hate to clean the dang kitchen.

8. My job. I do love going to work every day. I love my students and I love the amazing people that I work with. I'm so thankful to have a supportive team and administrators!

9. Big Bang Theory.

10. Time with family.

11. Alone time.

12. Time with The Girls








(Yes, that is a big ol' mosquito bite right between Kace's eyes. He got it while we were taking family photos the day before.)

Off the List

In September, what seems like another lifetime ago, some very special girls and I went on a cruise together. No husbands, no children, just the girls. The trip was never blogged about, but just in case you're wondering, we had an amazing time. Truth be told, I can have an amazing time with these girls ANYWHERE. But, we had a wonderful getaway together, thanks to our husbands, children, mothers, and mothers-in-law for making it happen for us.

While we were in Cozumel, we went on a little dolphin adventure. Something I've always wanted to do...and it was as fantastic as I expected it to be. Our trainer was great, the day was beautiful, and we even met two new friends that were on our ship. Bless their hearts for being in a group with us, but they held their own and I was so glad we got to know them.

Here we all are using our newfound trainer skills:





And holding my new friend:



Rubbing bellies...his, not mine:



Kisses:


And an awkward one:



And we danced:








The good times didn't end (or begin) there. Some other highlights include: swimming pools, karaoke, salty dogs, karaoke, hair products, karaoke, bartenders, karaoke, and some very special nametags.

Hot Date

Lately, I've been feeling a little guilty about not spending enough relaxed, quality time with Riley. Not driving to school in a rush, not hanging out at home, talking while I make dinner, and not laying in bed reading books together. I felt like I needed to do something out of the ordinary, but simple. As I was heading to pick him up from school, I decided that it was a cool, sunny, beautiful day and we should go to Starbucks and have a hot chocolate date.

Today was the perfect day for it. Sunny and cool, but not too cool to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air AND some hot chocolate with whipped cream!






It was exactly what we needed, a little warm, chocolatey together time!

Dr. Day

I took a day off this week and attempted to knock out some doctor appointments for Kace all in one day. We needed to see our pediatric orthopedist and our pediatrician for an overdue 9 month well check. The 9 month well check was delayed because right at Kace's 9 month well check time, he was circumcised.

Monday was our day. Sub plans written, appointments scheduled, and my stylist went above and beyond to come in on her Monday off to cut and color my hair...it was LONG overdue. I was so grateful to her for doing that--I even tried to talk her out of it!

The pediatric orthopedist we've only seen a few times, just to check in on Kace's turned-in ankles. I've always liked his laid back demeanor. The first time we saw him, he gave Kace a kiss on the top of his head! Last appointment he looked good, but asked to come in in 6 months for a follow up. Dr. said everything looked great and he didn't think we needed to see him anymore unless something came up and I felt like we needed to visit. What a relief!



Then we had lunch with Daddy at Phil's. A wonderful place, but Kace is too little to play and it was a pretty damp and chilly day. The burger was great...and the sweet potato fries were awesome as usual.


We headed to the pediatrician's office for our well check (after travelling to the central office last weekend to find out Kace had a double ear infection) and all was well there too. He's meeting all developmental milestones right now, but he isn't pulling up to a stand. He's crawling, making baby babble, eating his fruits and veggies, waving, etc.

I think the biggest shocker to us was that his little growth spurt. He went from being 25th percentile in height to 75th percentile!! The doctor even measured him again because she didn't think the nurse measured accurately! A tall baby?? Could it be?

I continue to be reminded of my blessings, today and everyday, through this season. I'm so thankful for my healthy, happy baby boy. The pediatrician even said, "You would never know this little guy was a preemie...usually baby's don't reach 20 pounds until their first birthday!"

Then I took Kace to Mimi's so she could babysit while I had my "alone" time and had my hair done. It was a treat. I was thrilled to get all of those things accomplished and not have to worry about leaving work early, who is picking up Riley, my mom or mother in law meeting me at the doctor's office and being on time. But in the back of mind I had a list of about 13 other things I was hoping to accomplish while I was out and about. Needless to say, none of them happened, but I am excited to have those things crossed of THE LIST!

Now off to have his 12 month well check in a little over a month!!