Perhaps it was expecting too much!

Okay, so less than a week into writing my thankful thoughts for the day each day on my blog I am giving up. Not because I am not grateful, in fact I have a list in my head of all the things that I give thanks for and I think that I don't want to spend my blog time writing them down one at a time. I will post them all together soon when I have a moment, but the kids and life are going by so fast that I would rather record moments about them, and I only have so much time I can spend on the computer!

So, my final thankful thoughts for this previous idea are:
I am thankful for my mom for her strength and ability to think things all the way through, and the way she makes me laugh. I am thankful for my husband, who is very thoughtful and loving (sometimes even in front of people!) and whom I miss while I am visiting in Arizona. And I am thankful for my family at large, from my best friend of a sister to my in-laws to my little nephews who can't even walk yet. Life is good and I love and appreciate all of the blessings that God has given me.

Wednesday and Thursday thanks

I was travelling to Arizona for a quick visit on Wednesday so I am behind on my internet activities! On Wednesday I was thankful for nice and helpful people at the airport, and well-behaved children on the flight.

Today I am thankful for my dad and his un-ending supply of patience with my children. He continues to amaze me with what an outstanding Grandpa he is; even in the midst of a screaming, temper-tantrum throwing, hungry and over-tired 18 month old he still kissed him and said "I love you Nathan!"

November 10 - Thankful thought for the day

Today I am thankful for nice and helpful people at the doctor's offices and pharmacy we use in Oklahoma. People here are so willing to help and friendly, it makes it so much easier to sacrifice naptime to take care of phone calls!

Things for which I am Thankful...

One of my facebook friends posted something challenging us to each think of one thing to give thanks for every day between now and Thanksgiving. I accept the challenge and embrace it gladly, although I will post my thoughts in my blog instead of on facebook just to be different! (And so I can look back through them later!)

So, today I am thankful for my thoughtful, terrific, generous family members. I feel so blessed that I have parents and in-laws who take care of me when I am down for the count, and who shower us with their love and support every day!

Knee update and the honesty of 5 year olds...

Things have been busy around here as I try to recover from knee surgery. My dad is out and helping tremendously with the kids, I don't know how I would have managed without him. 6 days after surgery I still can't walk across the room without significant pain unless I use the crutches. My knee is still really swollen, and I am not up and around as quickly as I hoped I would be. They did quite bit more than they thought they would, but Istarted physical therapy today so now I have a plan to get mobile! One of the major downfalls of having me out of commission is that the house is far below it's normal standard of clean. Matt and my dad are doing their best to keep things picked up and the kids happy, but the deep cleaning I normally do each week has been neglected for almost a month now, and it's driving me crazy!


On Monday I couldn't handle it any more so I pushed myself to come out of my room and start a whirlwind cleaning mission. I picked up the playroom, threw out trash from all over, then headed into Meredith's room, unprepared for the disaster I would find in there. Stuff was strewn about EVERYWHERE, junk under the bed, cracker wrappers and old cups lying around. I lost it and started piling everything together and sorting through it. After about 10 minutes of frantic cleaning, Mere came in and I started handing her things to throw away, put back in the playroom etc. She sighed and said "Actually, I just came in here to watch you clean, not to help." Gotta love the brutal honesty of a 5 year old! I got the house back into liveable conditions, my dad and Matt helped clean the counters and table etc. and I hope I can get back into my regular routine again soon.


Meredith's parent teacher conference was yesterday afternoon and Mrs. Gregg said that she is doing very well. She is at the more advanced end of the class, and is very sweet and a good friend to everyone. Apparently she is the little mother of the class. She worries about everyone in the class having what they need, and won't start her project until everyone has glue, crayons etc. She is always willing to help Mrs. Gregg and reminds her what is going on during the day. I can totally see this, and I was happy to hear that she is helpful and respectful, not pushy and bossy, which we sometimes see at home. She is friends with everyone and the only problem she has is completing assignments on time. Sometimes Mrs. Gregg will let her choose to spend an additional 5 minutes completing a project instead of starting centers when everyone else does, and most of the time the perfectionist in Meredith chooses to finish, even though her work is already far more detailed than most of her classmates. It was nice to hear what she has been doing in class, and I think Matt was surprised to hear that Meredith is perfect at school and not a challenge at all.

Happy Halloween 2009!

Halloween was not quite as eventful as it would have been if I had not been recovering from knee surgery. Matt chose to go to the OSU/Texas game on Halloween instead of helping the kids celebrate, and I am still not able to move after surgery, so once again my wonderful Daddy swooped in to the rescue. He helped me get the kids dressed and I drove them to Mike and JoAnn's neighborhood, where they hit a couple of blocks.

Nathan wasn't sure what to think at first, he was very upset that I stayed in the car and Grandpa took him up to the door. When he realized they were giving out candy, he was super cute about holding his bag out, knocking on doors with Meredith and then helping people shut the door after they gave him candy.

When we got home I had to get straight to bed and ice my knee because I pushed it too much yesterday. The kids hung out in our bed with me and ate some of their candy and snuggled, and it was the highlight of my week. Mere kept saying "Thank you for letting us eat so much candy. Thank you for taking us trick or treating. You are the best mommy in the universe!" it was so sweet. Nathan went nuts over the suckers, he couldn't even wait until the wrapper was off before he was eating them! It was fun to watch their excitement, and their costumes were a hit with the nieghbors. I am so grateful to my dad for helping to make Halloween a success.

Nathan at almost 18 months

Nathan is 17 1/2 months right now, and I can tell that his little brain is in overdrive as he figures things out and starts talking, pretending, exploring etc. I am so impressed with what kids can do at this age, they just floor me! It is my favorite age group to teach at Gymboree, and I am making a point to try and capture as much of Nathan at this age as I can, since we are not planning to have any more children.

Nathan is a happy little soul, and I am pretty sure that he just walks around thinking "Life is GREAT! Life is GREAT!" He loves Mere and Toby (our dog) with total abandonment, and the highlight of his day is when "meh meh" gets home from school. He runs to her, shouting her name and hugs her as hard as his little arms can! He is all about being Mommy's helper, he loves to be involved in anything I do, from fixing dinner to changing Coop's diaper. He will even hand me one of his diapers and the wipes, then lay down on the floor with his legs in the air! (Usually right after I have changed him, occaisionally when he is dirty, and he still runs laughing in the other direction when I try to change him unless it was his idea.)

It's not always stuff that should be funny or cute. Yesterday Nathan made a bee-line for the street while I was getting the kids out the door to run Meredith to school. I ran after him (with my injured knee, which made it horrible for the rest of the day.) and scooped him up and told him in my most serious and scary Mommy voice "That is bad! We don't run to the street, it is dangerous. You could get hurt." He flashed me a big, cheesy, tooth-baring grin. When I didn't smile back, he looked serious for a second, then grinned again. He did this several times all the way up the driveway, and he started laughing as he flashed these goofy grins. I didn't laugh, but man I wanted to!

Here are a few of the things that he is up to these days. I am still so smitten with my little boy I can't believe it!

Playing peekaboo through the cabinets with Meredith.