For Which I Give Thanks

On this morning of Thanksgiving I find myself with a rare moment alone, I am savoring it as I know the rushing will soon begin.  I try to be reflective and thankful all year-round, but, Thanksgiving seems to be the time we talk about it.  This has been a pretty amazing year so I don't think I have enough words to describe the depth of gratitude that I feel.  But, I'll try.  So here is what I am thankful for on this Thanksgiving morning.
1. Exersaucers.   They are wonderful, I put the baby in, she entertains herself, is safe, and is building muscle strength.  Triple score!  Plus she loves it, it was the scene of her very first laugh. 

2.  My favorite pair of pajama pants.  They are the perfect kind of soft.  In fact, I plan to wear them on my days off because I know I get to wear them longer!
3.  Coffee
4.  Sweet, sleepy, baby smiles

5.  Baby hats.  Who knows how much longer she'll tolerate them?!

6.  My Job.  I am a special kind of lucky to have a job that is fulfilling, challenging, and rewarding, coupled with amazing co-workers who have become like family. 
7.  My day-care provider.  She takes such good care of my sweet baby girl that I know I can go to work and not have to constantly worry about her.  There are definitely not enough words to profess my gratitude for this!
8.  Successful breastfeeding.  As I've said before, being able to exclusively breastfeed was very important to me.  Well, we fought hard in the beginning but now it's just second nature and part of life.  Pumping while I'm at work does have its challenges and I can see why some women quit at this time.  But, for me, it's a labor of love, knowing that I am nourishing my daughter in the best possible way.  Now that she is getting a little older our nursing sessions are taking on a bit of a humourous quality.  She is more distractiable and will stop nursing to pull my hair/shirt/skin or look away at something that has caught her attention.

Look, Mom, phalanges!

So, when she doesn't latch back on after a bit I put things away and try to burp her.  She then proceeds to fuss or get super antsy and attempt to latch on to my nose/chin/cheek.  Needless to say, it is quite humorous.  I am trying to not reinforce this, but her little face just cracks me up!
9.  Dark chocolate covered pretzel crisps.  Have you seen the regular flat pretzel crisps?  They are delicious on their own, but now they have created a new kind of evil by dipping them in dark chocolate.  I ate a SAMs club bag by myself in a week.  I haven't purchased a second bag, but I am super grateful for that first bag, it was delicious.  Thank goodness for those extra breastfeeding calories!
10.  My in-laws.  I love every single one of them and feel pretty lucky to have them in my life as well as the super great family Annalise gets to have.
11.  My new identity as a Mom.  It takes awhile to adjust, and we will continue to adjust and grow as parents.  You have to make room in your perceived view of yourself for this ginormous new role as Mom.  It's pretty overwhelming at first, but now I often get a catch in my throat looking at that sweet face and think "How did I get so lucky to be your Mommy?".  It's pretty amazing, that's for sure.

12. My amazing family, although spread coast to coast we manage to make it work.  I can't wait to squeeze my nephews when we finally get a visit in a few months.  Thanks for being awesome. 
13.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  My awesome husband and partner.  Thanks for being so hard-working, loving, dependable, and such a fantastic Dad.  I love you, thank you for filling my life with music and loving me without end. 

Well, I could go on, and on but, alas, my quiet moment has ended.  I now must dive in to the Thanksgiving preparations between playing with my sweet girl.  I hope your life is filled with love and gratitude on this Day of Thanksgiving. 

Lots of Catch Up

What a busy couple of months!  Sorry for the lack of posts, but, well, you know, baby, work, etc., etc.  So lets start with the busy month of September.  The whole month we had a string of visitors, it was really quite a lovely way to wrap up my maternity leave.  We started with a visit from my Grandpa Frank.  He brought lots of books to read and gave lots of snuggles and kisses.

Another generation to love Scuppers

Then the rain started.  It started to deluge on our airport drop off and didn't stop for what seemed like a month.  It was called a 100-year flood and caused devastation to our community and beloved mountain towns such as Estes Park.  At one point, ALL the roads seemed like they were closed.  And of course this happened on the same day I was to pick up our next visitor, our dear friend, Ashleigh.  With some miraculous timing and expert navigation from my husband over the phone, I managed to slip by some back roads about 30min before they flooded and took "the long way" managing to get there on time.  Once I had obtained her we kind of did a head scratch of "now what do we do"? Since, literally, every way back north was closed.  So, we got dinner and then, as everything else had gone miraculously that day for us, it seemed fit that the interstate then, too, opened once we were ready to hit the road again.  Since we couldn't' get up to the mountains for any touristy things we just stuck around town and enjoyed catching up.  It was truly delightful to have her here. 

Next up in our visitor line-up were Eric's Dad and step-mom.  We had a great visit.  Now that we are homeowners, it is really very handy to have fathers that are comfortale with home-improvement projects.  We seem to get something new fixed with each visit, even if we didn't realize we needed it!  This time it was some new light fixtures in the kitchen.  Good-bye ugly fluorescent light!

Hello energy-efficient, much more attractive light!

Dad's are also great for reminding us to check smoke-detectors, furnace filters, and dryer vents.  Thanks guys!  It has also  been so wonderful to watch our parents fall in love with Annalise, she is such a lucky little girl to have so many amazing people in her life to love her unconditionally (as are we!)

As September drew to a close, so did my maternity leave.  I had mixed emotions about returning to work.  I knew that I really did miss my job but, as any working mother knows, it is REALLY HARD to leave your child.  Luckily my Mom anticipated this and came back out to help with the transition.  It was SO WONDERFUL, and I can't thank her enough.  We had such a great time with her and I knew that Annalise would now be fine spending my work days in the care of someone other than myself.

In between work days we found some time for fun as well.  Eric and I spent our first night away for the Great American Beer Festival.  Eric re-took a portion of the Level 2 Certified Cicerone exam that afternoon then we celebrated appropriately knowing that he did well.  We got the official word that he passed last week!

I just love the fall and was really looking forward to starting the holiday season with a trip to the pumpkin patch.  It was a beautiful day.

Annalise also celebrated 3 months while Mom was here

As mom's visit drew to a close it was time to start at the babysitters.  The first half day was a little rough, which gave me some anxiety, but I knew that is HAD to work.  Luckily my sweet girl transitioned beautifully after that.  I am just so very thankful that it is working out so well.  She eats, naps, and plays, without any difficulty and her sitter is just wonderful.

Next up, Annalise's first holiday!  Well, besides the day she was born of course.  I really love all the fall/winter holidays but now my love of this time of year has been even more escalated by sharing them with my daughter. 

It was so much fun to be in a family neighborhood on Halloween, we went through 2 giant bags of candy, Annalise has so much fun in store for her! 

And now the 4-month picture

At her check-up she was 13lbs 1.5ozs and 24.5 inches, following the 50th percentile  curve perfectly.  She is perfect all around!  She babbles, laughs (the most beautiful sound in the world, second to her first cries), even shrieks, has discovered how to roll over and now refuses to stay on her back (much to my dismay at bedtime), is starting to put everything in her mouth, and improves her coordination daily.

In this month of giving thanks I must say that my heart is just so very full of love and gratitude.  I have a perfect daughter that makes my heart swell every day, a lovely home that I can't believe is ours, a hard-working and loving husband who is just an amazing dad, a job I love, and an extended family that round out my life to make it the richest imaginable.  There really aren't words to describe how very blessed I feel.  I am definitely thankful.