A Year of Gratitude: Day 90

Today I am grateful that I was able to go get my hair done.  It was the first haircut I'd had in a year (no joke), and I was so happy to be able to get out and have a little fun "me" time.  I got to see my regular hair stylist Aja at Hotel Venus here in town, and, as usual, she did an awesome job.  (The lady knows how to encourage curls and waves like none other!)

Thanks again, Aja, for the great cut!  And thanks, Mom, for watching the kids so I could get my new 'do!

Have a wonderful night!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 89 (a day late)

Today I am grateful that Baylor tried some new activities within play.  We played school, and when I suggested we sing and move to "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" he went along with it, and even smiled along the way!  Later on, again during "school time", I read them Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr. Seuss.  Baylor usually avoids participation of any kind, but he copied every last sound I made right when I asked him.  It was great!  I am so proud of him for giving it a try and putting himself out there.  Hopefully this will translate to school sometime in the near future.

Regardless, these little interactions gave me hope that all this PLAY therapy we've been doing is working.

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 88

Today I am grateful that Baylor got up and out of his bed while resting and went to the potty when he needed to instead of dropping a deuce on the floor or in his bed.  This is the first time he's been proactive about going potty during nap/rest time, and I'm so proud of him for doing it when I couldn't come to help.  (Mollie was trying to convince me that she only needed to rest for 20 minutes.  She lost that battle.)

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 87

Today I am grateful that I got to laugh with my sister until tears ran down our faces.  I had said something rather silly, and for whatever reason it struck our funny bones.  It felt good to laugh so hard, feel so much.  In the midst of sadness in the world, both near and far from home, it feels good to have your heart swell with cheer.  It's moments like that that make you really feel alive, you know?

Have a wonderful night!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 86 (a day late)

Today I am grateful for a reminder my body gave me last night.  I overindulged on salty foods yesterday, and my body reminded me that I need to be vigilant about taking care of myself, which for me means watching my sodium - as well as getting exercise, sleep, and good food.  I am a little low on will power when it comes to certain foods, and I know that I need to be better about being good to my body.  It's the only one I've got and I want it to last me a very long time, you know?  Plus, taking care of myself means I will be able to take care of those around me even better.

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 85

Today I am grateful for a confidence boost.  I brought some of the cookie bars I recently made over to my parents' house to share them, and my mom and sister - two of the best bakers I know - said they like them.  While it may seem small, that meant the world to me.  I am a bit insecure when it comes to my cooking/baking, and to know that two people I love and respect so much like them gives me a little more confidence.

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 84

Today I'm grateful for all the hugs and snuggles the kids gave me.  It seemed like more than usual, and since I know these days of doting on me are numbered I am soaking them in as much as possible.

I hope you have a wonderful night!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 83

Today I'm grateful for a mini breakthrough with Baylor.  Ever since we bought Mollie the dollhouse, Baylor has only played with the brother doll.  It is the most like him, so it is all he will play with.  Today, though, I decided to switch things up; I told him I wanted to be the brother.  He got really upset at the thought, so I made a deal with him: if he'd be the brother AND the dad, I'd let him be the brother.  And he did it!  It was really tough for him at first, but he did it and I am so proud of him!

Have a wonderful day!

P.S. On a side note (and much less important in the grand scheme of things), I am grateful that our cable held out until New Girl was finished.  Bad weather was rolling in and threatening to make it all grainy and awful, and every commercial break was like that.  But the television gods must be smiling on me because the entirety of New Girl was clear.  (And it was AWESOME, by the way!)  The show after that?  Couldn't even watch it it was so broken up from the weather.

A Year of Gratitude: Day 82 (a day late)

I am grateful that the kids and I had a surprisingly good (and productive) day yesterday.  It was Baylor's first snow day this year - his first "real" snow day, though he had one last year too - but I wasn't really prepared for it and had all these other ideas of how the day would go in my mind.  It included a trip to my parents' house, which we do most Mondays because Bryson has night school, but my dad came down with influenza the night before so I knew that was out.

Anyhow, we had a good day.  We got out to the grocery store, finding the roads to be much less treacherous than the school cancellation would have suggested, we made cookie bars, I made a very sorry-looking loaf of honey wheat bread (something might be wrong with the yeast I was using), we ate a lovely little dinner together, and we had fun.  In my mind, it's what I would shoot for most days, though we did watch a bit more television than I'm okay with.

Best of all, there were lots of hugs and kisses and tickles and smiles, all those warm things that make a day really shine.  Was I exhausted at the end of it?  Most definitely.  But it was great to be with them and to have made something out of the unexpectedness.

Have a wonderful day!

A Year of Gratitude: Day 81

Okay, today's is a little weird, but I had a rough day and this was one thing I was oddly grateful for in the mess.

Today I am grateful to have one of my irrational fears squashed.  Every time I run the garbage disposal I have this flash of fear that something (e.g., a knife) will have fallen in it without my knowing and that it will come flying out at me when the disposal is turned on.  (This is clearly a product of having watched too many horror movies as a teenager.)

Anyhow, one of our nice Wusthof knives, the little weird paring one, inadvertently slipped - handle down - into the garbage disposal while I was doing the dishes after lunch.  I didn't notice it until a few seconds after I'd turned the disposal on; the horrible grinding noise was a give-away.  When the bubbles cleared and I could see what was stuck in there, I was a little ill that such a nice knife had the handle chewed up a bit (though it would have been much worse had it been blade down), but I was oddly grateful to know that the knife-flying-at-my-face-from-the-garbage-disposal fear was so clearly dispelled.

Have a wonderful, safe night!