Thanksgiving

I fully intended to take pictures of Rebecca's first Thanksgiving...but, it didn't happen.  First I was going to take this really cute picture of her with the Turkey, but then she was sleeping.  After that, I just sort of got caught up in everything and didn't take any pictures.  Oh well.

Before the holiday completely passes, however, I do want to take a moment and chronicle some of the things I have to be thankful for.

I am grateful for Mike.  He is a great husband and is a wonderful father.  I love watching him interact with Rebecca.  He talks to her, plays silly games with her and makes funny faces.  He cares for her as a father does.  He changes diapers, feeds her and holds her when she's fussy.  Most of all though, he loves her.  We have often said that we feel too old to begin parenthood.  Our bodies are already full of aches and pains, it's not as easy as it once was to get down on the floor and get back up!  I know that makes it sound as if we're 85 or something, but you know what I mean.  Anyway, I told Mike once before Rebecca was born that it didn't matter if we could roll around on the floor and play with her a lot or run up and down hills quickly - it only mattered if we loved her and cared for her and encouraged her and all of those things parents do.  He is already doing all of those things.  I am proud of him.  I love him very much and am so grateful he came into my life almost 5 years ago and now that he is my husband and Rebecca's daddy!

I am grateful for Rebecca, of course!  I still have a hard time believing I'm this little girl's mother!  I feel like it took forever to get to this point.  I had to wait a long, long time to find Mike and then we were lucky to be able to have Rebecca relatively quickly after we got married.  She is such a sweet blessing in my life.  As I've said before, motherhood is so much harder and so much more confusing than I thought it would be, but it is also so much more beautiful and so much more gratifying than I thought it would be.  She is such a good girl.  Her smiles melt my heart.  When she wakes up in the early daylight hours and I am exhausted and wishing she had just slept a little longer - I go in to her room to get her and she gives me a big smile and all I want to do is scoop her up and snuggle her and be glad she woke up so I can see her smile!  I love her so much.  I often look at her in awe and think about the miracle that she is.  I'm so grateful to be her mother.

I am grateful for my parents.  I was blessed with two wonderful parents.  They continue to be a great source of strength and support and wisdom for me and for Mike.  When my nephew was born, 11 years ago (crazy), I remember how sweet it was to get to see them become grandparents.  And now, I love getting to see them be grandparents to my own little girl.  They are awesome at it!!  They are awesome at being good parents to me too - even if I am a grown woman with a family of my own, I sometimes feel like I still need my mommy and daddy - and they are there for me.  I love them, and am thankful for them.

I am grateful for a wonderful extended family.  There are too many names to list, but I have a brother and sister-in-law, a niece and nephew, aunts and cousins, a great-grandmother in-law, etc. who are wonderful infulences on me and Mike and now Rebecca. 

I am grateful for amazing friends.  I have been extremely lucky in the friend department.  I have several women who I have known and been friends with for more than 20 years.  And my friend Laurie goes all the way back to 8th grade!!  One thing I love about my friends is how much crazy fun I have with them.  It doesn't happen as often as I wish sometimes, but I laugh SO hard with these girls!  I know I can count on them.  I know I can lean on them.  I know I will get words of encouragement when I am down, and words of praise when I accomplish something.  I know I can call any of them if I need help, and they will drop everything as soon as they can.  I hope Rebecca will be able to find lifelong friends like that someday.

This list is certainly not a complete list of everything I'm grateful for.  I mean, I haven't even mentioned chocolate yet!  It would take too long to make that list and it IS 3:00 in the morning right now.  I just want to make sure that it is documented how grateful I am for my blessings.  I worry that the sleep deprivation and frustration and exhaustion of the past few months have somehow made it seem like I am not happy or grateful, but I am!  My life is wonderful, and I am so happy to have so many beautiful people in it to share it with me - my new little family with Mike and Rebecca at the top of the list.