Tag Archives: Thankfulness

30 Days of Thankfulness; Day 9


November 9, 2012

I am thankful for a long hot shower and hot tea.

This morning, while I was cooking pancakes for the kids, my husband told me I looked like shit.  He didn’t mean that in a mean way.  He was letting me know he could tell I was feeling pretty sick.  This cough that I’ve had for a few days is now a head cold.  My ears hurt.  My head has so much pressure built up, it feels like my eyes will pop the next time I sneeze.  And if I cough or try to talk, it felt and sounded like a frog crawled in my throat and died.  All I wanted was a nice long hot shower by myself.

If you don’t have children, then you don’t understand how rare those are.  They are truly a luxury for us stay at home moms.  Unless I get my butt out of bed before the kids wake up for a quick in and out rinse, it is rare that I get any time to myself in the bathroom.  If I choose staying in bed rather than showering, I either have to sneak away during Jack’s morning nap or have a little party in the shower with both toddlers at my feet.  So, after I finished making those pancakes, I decided to take advantage of having hubby home in the morning, and take myself a nice LONG HOT shower, alone.

Sadly, it didn’t last long enough.  Those showersnever do.  But the nice trade off for getting out before I was ready was the smell of breakfast sausages and potatoes calling to me.  The smell would usually be accompanied by my favorite smell in the morning, a fresh pot of coffee, but this morning I passed on the coffee.  This morning, and all day, I had what Marley likes to call, “Honey Tea.”  Honey Tea is Chamomile Tea with lots of honey.  The honey is supposed to help get rid of the cough.  Yes, I’m one of those weirdos that doesn’t take medicine unless I’m so sick I can’t get out of bed.

And now as I’m sitting here writing, I have with me a hot cup of Honey Tea accompanied my my favorite drink at night, a glass of red wine.  But I think I’ll save being thankful for wine for another night. 😉

30 Days of Thankfulness; Day 6

November 6, 2012

I am thankful for the angels disguised as nurses this day three years ago in the Labor and Delivery Unit of Summerlin Hospital.

At my 39 week prenatal appointment I was informed by my nurse that I could schedule an induction date if I wanted to.  So of course, being the schedule freak that I am, I jumped right at the chance.  My biggest fear about going into labor was that it would happen while the hubby was fighting a fire and I wouldn’t be able to get a hold of him.

It was a Thursday.  Jokingly I asked my doctor, “How about tonight?”  He scanned his calendar and replied, “OK come in at 8:00pm.”  My husband and I exchanged nervous glances in realization that he wasn’t kidding.  As we left the office, I called my mom in Northern California to tell her to start heading to the airport.  In the next few hours, we managed to clean the condo, go out for pho, drop our dog off at a friend’s house, and pick my mom up from the airport.  I checked into Summerlin Hospital’s L & D unit just before 8:00pm with no clue what the next seventeen hours would be like.

It all started off so calm and relaxing.  The room smelled of lavender from the air freshener I’d brought.  Soft smooth melodies from our birthing playlist floated in the background from the iPod.  Friends came and went.  We didn’t know the sex, but there were two names scribbled  on the dry erase board, Marley James for a boy, and Marley Jane for a girl.  Then some time in the middle of the night it all changed.  The contractions became unbearable.  My body must not have handled thpain meds or the epidural very well.  I got so cold that my teeth were chattering and my knees were rattling.  No amount of fuzzy socks or blankets could warm me up.  My blood pressure dropped to 60/20 and I had to spend the rest of my time in labor wearing an oxygen mask.

Then at 1:12pm on Friday November 6, 2009, after an hour of pushing, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.  But something was wrong.  She wasn’t crying.  I had about thirty seconds of skin to skin while the doctor cut the umbilical cord.  I was so out of it all I remember was my husband kissing my forhead and telling me, “Great job Mama.  It’s a girl.”  Somewhere in the room, angels disguised as nurses were with my baby.  They were saying, “Come on Marley, breathe baby, breathe.”  I couldn’t let myself panic.  Weak from labor, I just let the tears roll down my cheeks as I listened for what seemed like an eternity until the sweetest most delicate cry broke free as my daughter grasped for her first breath of air.

I don’t remember those Angels names, but I am forever thankful to them for being there to help my baby girl breathe her first breaths that day.

30 Days of Thankfulness; Day 5

November 5, 2012

This 30 day challenge is getting tougher than I thought.  It’s really hard to sit down and blog every single day, and still come up with something witty or heart touching.  Today, I will take a much lighter and funner approach.  Today, I am thankful for jeggings.

No that isn’t a typo.  I really meant to type jeggings.  These are leggings that look like jeans.  I have come to terms that I will not fit into my old pre-pregnancy jeans this winter.  So, instead of buying a bigger size, I bought two more pairs of jeggings.  They are perfect for every occasion.  Pair them with a long sweater and boots on chilly days, or pair them with sandals and a flowy tank on warmer days.   Dressed up or down, I’ll be seen sporting jeggings from play dates at the park to night’s out with the ladies.

I promise my post tomorrow will be a lot better.  I even promise to bring tears to a few readers eyes.  I already have tears in mine thinking of tomorrow.

30 Days of Thankfulness; Day 4

November 4, 2012

I am thankful for coffee.

I have know idea how I would have survived a princess birthday party this  afternoon, if it weren’t for the three cups of strong black coffee I had this morning.

While most Americans were gaining an extra hour of sleep, thanks to Daylight Savings.  My kids had other plans in mind for me when they went to sleep last night.  It’s probably all my doing since we ran them all over yesterday, and by the time we got home, it was straight to bed from the car.

Last night consisted of both kids crying for, “Mamaaaaaaaa,” just about every half hour.

My husband and I still don’t see eye to eye on how, or whether or not to respond to the nighttime tantrums.  He’s all for letting them cry it out.  I on the other hand, just can’t lay in bed knowing there could be something I could do.  Needless to say, no one in the house got very much sleep either way.  It finally culminated to a midnight throw up in bed session by my dear daughter and a pee through his diaper session by my dear son.  After all vomit, sheets, and diapers were cleaned, we managed to finish the last two hours of the night with little Missy wedged between us in our bed.

And of course, once morning came, Father Time forgot to let the kids know about Daylight Savings.  So while the rest of the country slept in their cozy beds for an extra hour, I finished a load of laundry, organized the kid’s play room, and scrubbed the bathtub and toilet in the kid’s bathroom; all thanks to three very strong, very tasty cups of coffee.

30 Days of Thankfulness; Day 3

November 3, 2012

Today’s blog post is going to be short.  It’s been a long day.  Neither one of the kids got their afternoon nap.  We just got home from running errands.  We had a late lunch and ended up grabbing In and Out for dinner.  The kids are both asleep, and Aaron and I are both feeling weird from the sangria from lunch, not quite hungover but definitely very very sleepy.

But I just wanted to sit down and say that I am especially thankful for the Honda Pilot in our garage.  I’ve always said that if I could drive, I would drive a Honda Pilot.  It’s the perfect family car.  It seats eight, but with the back row folded down, it has plenty of room for the double stroller, our dog, and lots of luggage.  It has a built in DVD player, also great for long road trips.  And it is the first car we’ve owned to have leather interior, very great for young children and spills.

So that’s that.  I hope everyone has a safe and slumberful night.

30 Days of Thankfulness; Day 2

November 2, 2012

I am thankful for my friends I’ve made since moving to Las Vegas

It is not always easy when you are a blind mom in the burbs of Las Vegas.  This isn’t the most pedestrian friendly city.  Between the hot tripple digit summers, the wind storms, the freezing winters, I can’t exactly walk everywhere with my little ones in their double stroller.  There have been many times I’ve called friends to pick up milk, diapers, or even just to come over and read me the dosage directions to a new box of medicine.

When the word got out about the wreck, concerns and support came pouring in.  Everyone wanted to know if there was anything they could do.

The stress of my hubby’s accident kept me in a sour mood for days.  Once my friends found this out, they all made it their goal to put some sweetness back into my mood.

I don’t have any family in town, so knowing there are friends who I can call at any time of day or night for any particular reason helps to make Las Vegas feel like we live in a small close knit community.  We take turns watching each others’ kids.  We borrow each other’s clothes and jewelry, We share recipes.  We go out for drinks.  We gossip over coffee.  We throw each other birhtday shindigs and showers.  We hand down our children’s clothing.  We understand that sometimes things come up.  We don’t judge or criticize, but rather offer comfort  and hugs.

I wish all of my friends could live in the same city as me, but then there’d be no reason for me to visit SF, Austin, Tampa, Seattle, Virginia, Hawaii, China, Sweden and everywhere else in the world.

30 Days of Thankfulness; Day 1

As I scrolled down my Facebook newsfeed today, I came across lots of my friends starting on their thirty days of thankfulness of November.  So, I decided to jump on the band wagon and do it too.  For the entire month of November I will make sure that I write down something that I am thankful for.

Day 1; November 1, 2012

I am thankful for my husband.  He is my best friend.  He is the most patient person I have ever met.  He never makes me feel unimportant or unwanted.  He makes me strong, and helps me be a better person.  He always makes me feel beautiful, loved, and appreciated.  He is just a little OCD.  He answers to Daddy, enjoys yoga, reading, cooking, landscaping, organizing his garage, wrestling with our kids and our dog, and most of all sharing his love and positive energy with everyone he encounters.  He will do anything for his family.  And I could have so easily lost him in an auto accident 12 days ago, when a truck ran a red light and slammed into his car on his way home from work.  I couldn’t be more thankful to have him still here with me to watch our children grow.