Thankful Thursday

It's been a long (long) time since I've written a Thankful Thursday post. I've missed it. I have so much to be thankful for each and every day, and having this space to write down those things help me focus on them. Recalling the good things in life help make the not-so-good things more manageable. So this week I'm thankful for:

~My healthy babies. My heart broke for blogger Diana Stone when I read that her two week old son didn't pull through. If you aren't familiar with her story, the very short version is that she lost her twins early in her pregnancy last year. (Maybe 20ish weeks.) Her water broke, but she managed to keep them in longer than anyone expected. Eventually she gave birth to them, and lost them. When she got pregnant again with her son, I was thrilled for her. Then he was born, and they discovered he had a heart condition. I sobbed reading the news that he wasn't going to make it. It made me hug my own little ones extra tight.

~Our house. With Dan in the middle of extensive training, we haven't seen him much at all. When I start to get irritated about not seeing him, and the kids are cranky and whiny, and I have to do everything alone, I remind myself that it's all for a good cause. His job is the reason we have our house at all. And the alternative would be living back on the college campus, something I definitely wouldn't want to go back to.

~My 3 week nannying stint. My friend Julie asked me earlier this year to watch her 3 year old daughter for the last three weeks of the summer. I watched her for a year back when our girls were babies, and it was nice to get the opportunity to do it again. It's been a good distraction for the kids, to have something each day to look forward to and to keep busy. It takes their mind off the fact that they haven't seen their Daddy for more than a few hours over the course of two weeks.

~Our very, very limited budget. Ok this one is a stretch. Trying to spin this into a positive isn't easy. But since buying our house we've had to cut many non-essentials. I'm living on a shoe-string, and there are days when I get frustrated because the kids need fall wardrobes, our fridge is bare, and there's no money left in the monthly budget. But, I remind myself that things will get better, and this is a good lesson in being frugal. It's teaching me the difference between wants and needs, something I thought I already knew. But it turns out that a lot of our needs aren't really so necessary and it's amazing the things you can cut out and still lead a happy life.

I hope you all have a happy weekend, and remember to look for the good when times are tough. It's not always easy, but there's usually a silver lining if you look hard enough. What are you thankful for this week?

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Solo Parenting Exhausts Me!

Dan flew to Ohio early Friday morning for a wedding, and isn't returning until Monday. In order to prepare myself for a weekend of solo parenting, we had a grown-ups only day on Thursday. After I did my glucose test (yes, I finally did it!), we headed out to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, saw a late matinee screening of Pirates of the Caribbean 4, and then checked into a hotel for the night. (It was right across from the airport, enabling him to take the shuttle over, which eliminated the need for us all to get up super early and drive him there.) It was so nice to have all that alone time with my husband. Especially with another little one on the way, I know those times are limited and rare, and we wanted to make the most of it. It was very relaxing, and felt like such a luxury. Even more luxurious was the fact that I then went to Target and Gymboree Friday morning ALL BY MYSELF! No toddler yelling and crying and fussing because she didn't want to be in her stroller. Amazing!

I picked Stephanie up from my mom's around noon on Friday, and brought her home for a nap. She woke up cranky, and proceeded to be cranky all afternoon. After dinner (frozen pizza, because why would I spend all that time cooking just for the two of us?), we went outside to try and eliminate the crankys. I blew bubbles for her, and she spent 20 minutes chasing them all over the front yard. It was that time of day where the sun is setting, and the humidity has worn off a little, and she just had the best time. I felt relaxed and happy too. Well, until it was time to come inside for a bath, which started a full-on screaming temper tantrum. But then she went right to bed, and I felt like, ok, I can handle this!

Then Saturday morning happened. She must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed, because from the minute she woke up she screamed and cried. She followed me around, and no amount of cajoling, comforting, feeding, etc, would get her to calm down. Finally I resorted to Baby Einstein, which afforded me a half hour of calm. (Also let me know that nothing was really wrong with her, since she was able to settle down to watch it.) But then the crying started up again. I think that she just knows something isn't normal, she's missing her Daddy, and we've been running here there and everywhere. She's a routine girl, and to disrupt her routine is just asking for trouble.

We ended up video chatting with Dan on the computer for an hour and a half, which made her happy. Then we ran some errands, came home for a nap, and spent the evening at the beach with my family. Today I had a coffee date with some friends, so my mom stayed with her for a few hours. (It's been amazing to have all this help, and i'm so grateful to my family for being there to pull some babysittting duty. I don't think I would have made it this far without them!) Now she's napping, and I'm exhausted so I might put off the cleaning that needs to get done and take a little rest myself. This parenting solo thing is hard, especially being seven months pregnant. I really admire the people who have to do it all the time, and am so grateful that, for the most part, my husband is around in the mornings and evenings to help out with the care of our little one.

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