A Year of Gratitude: Day 224 (who knows?)

I think I may have messed up on the numbering of how many days late I was/am.  This post was meant for today, so here it is.

Today I am grateful to get caught up on these gratitude posts.  They are meant to be an enriching experience not a chore, and when I fall behind they end up feeling more like the latter than they should.  Hopefully I'll do a better job of keeping up with these and taking careful note of all the good things in my life, for there are so many of them.

Have a wonderful night.

A Year of Gratitude: Day 223 (two days late)

Today I am grateful for the cheerful melon colored shirt I wore today.  It is extremely comfortable and made me feel a little more confident than usual, for whatever reason.  And hey, couldn't we all use a little more confidence every now and then?

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 222 (three days late)

Today I am grateful that I was able to pull together a reasonably healthy dinner together in a short amount of time.  After our friends stopped by, I had very little time to make something and it was nice to know I had a batch of low-sodium taco meat ready in the freezer.  Yay for thinking ahead!  I don't do it often, but it sure is nice when I do.

Have a wonderful night!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 221 (back to four days late)

Yikes.  Four days late.  Not good, Nicole, not good.

I digress.

Today I am grateful for a surprise visit from some of our closest friends.  They were on this side of town for a doctor's visit, and they had time to stop by and play/visit for a while.  The kids got to run around with the girls, and my friend and I got to visit and make funny faces at her baby boy.  Motherhood can be a bit isolating at times, and it was nice to see them even for just a short time.

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 220 (three days late)

Today I am grateful that our new dishwasher was finally installed on Wednesday.  It is a modern luxury without which I will apparently fall apart.  The house became a mess of epic proportions in its absence, and I'm only now just coming to terms with it.  Apparently doing dishes can take up all the available time I have if I have to do all the dishes, so getting a mechanical helper for this issue is just fantastic.  (This is not to say, however, that the house looks immaculate when we have a working dishwasher around here.  I am not, I repeat NOT, a champion house keeper and have been embarrassed by my own shortcomings on many occasion.  It's just that what I do manage to do seems to fall apart without the dishwasher.)  Here's hoping I can get it together and get the house back in shape this coming week ... it's starting to feel a little "hoarders" in here.

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 219 (four days late ... *sigh*)

I'm not quite sure how I got so far behind, but clearly it happened.  The days were going by really slowly, as it often happens when you don't have a regular thing to get the kids going for (like school).  And then we got something more regular: we are ramping Baylor up for all-day, every day kindergarten by doing double the amount of playgroups with his specialist this summer.  And, genius that I am, I said it was okay if we started the groups as early as 8:30 a.m.  I didn't exactly realize they'd be held so far away from our house (they used to be 5 minutes away max, and now they're 20 to 25 minutes away), but I do like getting up and not wasting a minute of the day and I guess it's good practice for the fall when school will start at a crisp 8:15 a.m., so ... can you tell I'm trying hard to make the best of it?  The kids are not exactly morning people, and the fact that the friggin' sun doesn't actually set until well after "bedtime" makes getting them to bed at an appropriate time really difficult.  Yeah, it's been rough, and we've only been at it for one week.  I'm hoping it'll get easier from here.

With all that said, today I am grateful that we have enough money to do this for Baylor in the first place.  He needs help with his social skills, and I'm glad we're able to provide him the help he needs to improve on these skills and hopefully make school a more positive - and less stressful - experience.  I was never a huge fan of school, and I don't want either of my kids to feel that way; we spend so many of our younger years in school that it seems like a waste to spend all of that time just absolutely hating it.  So, if I can do something about it now, I want to make school something my kiddos can look forward to.  Baylor loves the learning part already and enjoys people his own age ... he just doesn't really get how to be around them and play with them yet.  Hopefully after this summer he'll have a better idea.

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 218

Today I am grateful that Baylor made it through the night dry.  The other night we ran out of overnight diapers for him, so I decided that that was that; no more wearing overnight diapers for the little man.  We now wake him up and take him to the bathroom twice during the night: once whenever we go to bed, and then again at 2:00 a.m.  The previous two nights he had accidents, though only at one waking, but last night he was dry for both wakings and then again in the morning.  I am so proud of him!  (And so thrilled I didn't have to wash his blanky again today!)

Here's hoping for more dry nights!

Have a wonderful night!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 217

Today I am grateful that a couple of, for lack of a better term, chew toys arrived in the mail for Baylor.  He has a bit of an oral fixation, putting toys, his fingers, anything in his mouth when he's lost in thought.  I found some great options on a website recommended to me by the mom of Baylor's playgroup friend.  And, as a bonus, it has a lot of other great tools I might just have to get to help Baylor in some of his weaker areas (e.g., his social skills).

Anyhow, I'm grateful there are resources out there for kids like Baylor who need safe relief from their issues.

Have a wonderful night!




And really, TherapyShoppe.com is a wonderful resource for teachers, specialists, and parents alike who need special resources for special children.

A Year of Gratitude: Day 216 (a day late)

Today I am grateful for the first swim of the summer in my parents' pool.  Even though it was pretty cold, both the air and the water, and the sun had disappeared momentarily, we had a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed showing off their new swimming skills.  We're so looking forward to more swims this summer (hopefully warmer ones).

Have a wonderful night!

That's What They Said: Blaspheming with Baylor

This one can stand on its own for its pure awesomeness.



(While sitting at the counter doing Legos ...)
Baylor:  Christ!
Me:  Baylor, don't say that.
Baylor:  What?
Me:  (calmly) What did you just say?
Baylor:  Christ.
Me:  Yes, I know.  Please don't say that.
Baylor:  Why?
Me:  (not really wanting to get into it)  Because we just don't.
Baylor:  But I was talking to Jesus on the phone.  That's what I call him.