I grew up with the age old saying if you have nothing nice to say. So I have again been silent on this poor blog of mine, but enough is enough because it is officially my favorite time of year. :-) November is the month of thanks and since I already have a couple of weeks to make up, here we go.
November 1 - I am thankful for Joe's friends. He has developed quite a group of transplanted Indiana friends out here in Colorado and we are fortunate enough to meet up with them often.
November 2 - I am thankful for the opportunity to call Pepper our kitty for 9 years. On this afternoon I was outside with the dogs and kids and found her after apparently being hit by a car, hopefully she didn't suffer much and didn't need us in the end. She managed to teach the whole family (dogs and kids included) so much respect for animals. While she may have been the smallest resident in our house, weighing in at only 8 pounds she was definitely our fiercest.
November 3 - As always election day is a big deal to me, as I dive deeper into politics I realize how much my vote does count and I am truly thankful that I am able to cast it.
November 4 - Today made me thankful for modern medicine. I will always stand by my statement that having a baby is terrifying...nothing about being pregnant with baby number four is different from the sheer terror that you can experience while pregnant. I would have thought I would have been better at this whole gig, but alas I am not. They found a hematoma (fancy word for bruise) today while doing the 20 week ultrasound. While most of the time these are no big deal, they only raise concerns when you are in the second trimester and/or over 35...not sure if you could see my hand raised for both of those questions. So now we wait and see, will it shrink as it should and disappear...or will it cause a miscarriage? Only time will tell. The doctor smiled when I brought up the concern and when I made it home and looked up potential treatments I understood the smile. Bed rest. Which is completely out of the question for the next 4 to 5 months. At least with the ability to view our little baby girl we know for the time being that she seems happy and healthy.
November 5 - Random trips to see Joe at the shop. With Joe's recent employee changes he has been working a lot more so on occasion the kids and I drive in after I pick them up at school and bring a coffee or something to say Hi. The kids love seeing him and I am sure it helps his day go by quicker if it is broken up by little kid stories.
November 6 - Today I am thankful for Pay Day. I might still be the only full grown adult with an actual career that has a reminder on my calendar about pay day. I love the ding that my phone gives me, like hey I know you have been working "hard" these two weeks - here's your payment. And while my money is set to pay bills and transfer around to all different kinds of accounts automatically, it still feels good to get paid.
November 7 - Trips to Grandma's house. We had a dog show this weekend so rather than drag the kids by myself on Saturday while Joe worked I sent them off to spend the day at Grandma's house. The girls used to go there all the time while we went snowboarding but since I was pregnant last season and I am pregnant this season poor little Jackson has never been there for the day.
November 8 - Finishing Kuma. Kuma is officially a champion...he's title name is now CH Moonlight's Fudo. And still just as sweet as the day we picked him up. Just look what two years and hundreds of dollars in dog food can do.
We had just brought home Hiro at two months old and here's Kuma at 5 months old.
November 9 - Today I am thankful for my patience. We have homework every night to get done, and while I am sure the girls are tired of sitting still and paying attention they have another 60-90 minutes of it when they get home. It takes everything in me to not be angry at the situation and then the kids in the process. Sometimes I sit back in the playroom (our room of choice so Jackson can crawl about unharmed) and watch the three little people and their personalities and get the biggest smile. Of course the smile is wiped off my face when I repeatedly have to say "please sit down and pay attention, this is your homework not mine".
November 10 - Today I am thankful for Chipotle. While it seems like an odd thing to be thankful for, we are back into the winter swing of things which means that we don't have the sporting events so I am responsible for cooking 7 nights a week. During the summer I can always just throw meat on the grill and prepare a salad or some veggies but in the winter I have to really come up with meals and sometimes it is just exhausting. On this particular day, Chipotle teamed up with the girls school to run a fundraiser so Joe picked it up on his way home...check mark, dinner is done. :-)
November 11 - Snow. We had our first snow, and while it was only an inch or so...it was still magical for the kiddos. I can't wait for the big dumps now that the girls are so much bigger and love playing in it. Something about this year is proving to be even harder to be pregnant during the winter, perhaps it's because I won't be due until the end of the season which means that I have a zero percent chance of snowboarding this year whereas last year at least I got in one trip. But at least seeing how excited the kids are to play in the snow warms my heart.
November 12 - Non-alcoholic beer. Again it may seem like an odd thing to be thankful for, but last night when Joe got home and mixed up a drink and we sat down to talk about the stresses of the day, it sure feels nice to crack open a "beer" (even if it's a fake one).
November 13 - Lunch dates. I have been dragging the kids to lunch dates with my friends and family since they were first born, today since my boss is off on Fridays which makes my work day a lot quieter I will be meeting Kelley for lunch. I consider it a learning event, look at the server when ordering, answering completely while enunciating and sit still until the meal is done.
