Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I could give a whole listing of the things that I'm thankful for. This has been an amazing year for our family, and although I have been wallowing in self-pity a lot recently, my lot in life is much much better than 90% of the world population. Okay, probably better than 98%. I'm not real good at math...but that's an approximate number ;)

The things I'm the most thankful for? 2 healthy children. What a gift! Sleepless nights are nothing...I don't have to worry about my children's lives (except when Andrew shoves 5 grapes in his mouth at a time...or when Andrew decides to dance with Lily to the song "Shake It Baby" which he sings as "Shake THE Baby".) A husband who is also healthy and happens to love me to pieces...even when I'm a grumpy, self-pitying mess. 2 sets of parents who regularly give us the shirts off their backs to help us out. And on and on and on the list could go.

But I won't bore you with the details. I just wanted to let you know that although this blog does not reflect it...I do truely appreciate all the gifts in my life. My biggest problem is my husband is successful at his job and has gotten promoted to a place that is a mere 8 hours away from family and friends. Boo hoo me.

I also wanted to share my epiphany of last night. I think it was well known that I wanted another boy this time around. I had visions of bunk beds, boy-themed family vacations, brotherly joking/wrestling for the rest of our lives. Since I don't come from a family with mixed gender siblings, I couldn't really imagine it, so I wanted a brother for Andrew. Plus, as I have stated in earlier posts, I am not very "girly" and thought I'd be doing a disservice to a little girl by being her mother. Now, having found out in May that a little girl was emminent, I certainly got used to the idea. Even excited about it. So by the time Lily made her entrance last month, I was on board with having a girl.

But I don't think it really hit me until last night. See, I was making my family's traditional French stuffing. Don't be fooled by the name. It is not stuffing. It is not stuffed anywhere. It is actually a pork/potato/Saltine cracker/poultry seasoning dream. We don't even have mashed potatoes because it is so good (I can hear the collective gasp of my readers). Anyway, I was mixing together this delectable family tradition and Lily was swinging away in her swing in the kitchen. And suddenly it hit me. I now have someone to teach the family recipes to. Someone to call me in future Thanksgivings to ask for my recipes...which came from my mommy.

I pulled that little girl out of her swing and kissed her all over. Oh the joys of having a daughter!

***no pressure to Lily, of course. she can cook or not cook whatever she wants in future Thanksgivings. But the possibilites are there!