Eh… 25 Days of Thankfulness turned into 14

Yup, that’s right I am stopping right there at Day 14 of Thankfulness…. Its not that I am not Thankful for more… its that I found it to be a stressful chore, and that doesn’t work for me.

So this is my blog and I am changing it up.

That said I will continue in a different way… since I did like the opportunity that the 14 days of Thankfulness gave me, in that it forced me to sit and think of all I have…which also reminded me of all things I have not to be thankful for which on some days really made me feel blah! I don’t need anymore blah.

I also find it hard to write each and EVERY day… It’s difficult to always find the time and the words to write daily.

I have been thinking about how I can still take that moment to reflect on the good, because regardless of how hard life is sometimes. There is usually not a day that can pass that I can’t find something to be happy for.

So I will be doing a Friday Recap… of the things I am Happy for. I don’t know what I will call it. Maybe just TGIF Happiness?! What do you think?! I would even be willing to do it on Sundays. If you think of a better name that fits with Sunday.

Do you have a better name?! For my Happy Blog Challenge?! Which I might open up and maybe you might like to participate in.

Because I am in a giving mood… ( it is the season of giving) Leave a comment with your idea of what I can call this Happy Thoughts recap… think Tasty Tuesday…Wordless Wed, Not Me Monday, you get the idea,

If I choose your title I will send you a little Holiday goodness… not sure what it is yet, since I literally just decided to do this. But, I promise it will bring you some Holiday Cheer.

I would like to do this next week… SO I will take entries until next Thursday December 2nd…did I just say that December is NEXT WEEK! WOAH!

Happy Thanksgiving

I know that my Giving Thanks posts were a bit of a bust. But, we did have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Actually we had two wonderful Thanksgivings. Thursday we spent the day at my dad’s for dinner, then we headed to Auntie Krissie’s for dessert and some turkey sandwiches.

(Who needs pumpkin pie, when your Papa has a cotton candy machine.)

Sunday we hosted our own Thanksgiving dinner with some of Mike’s family and my mom.

Both days were lovely, and Mike and I are very blessed to be surrounded by family and friends that love us and our babes.

As we went around our table on Thanksgiving Take Two it swelled my heart and my eyes to hear almost everyone mention our girl Kate and her special heart as things they were thankful for. I know that our family was remembered and prayed for at many tables this Thanksgiving and for that I am very thankful.

Gobble Gobble Gobble

In preparation for Turkey Day, Katy, Patrick Mike and I sat down for some fun turkey crafts. I wish I could say it was my idea, but it wasn’t. I saw Kelle Hampton's and I had to recreate them for our own Thanksgiving table.

I was surprised at how stressful one little craft with two little ones was. I seem to remember crafting multiple times a day 5X a week with 10X the kids. I guess I am out of practice since we had glue, feathers and goggle eyes EVERYWHERE! But, we had A LOT of fun. Especially Katy, she really liked both the process and the end result. Patrick on the other hand was all about the glue.

Thankful Day 14

Today I am thankful for Krissie. Kris is my second mom. She has seen me and my family through many many ups and downs. She loves me as if I were her own daughter. She loves my kids as if they were her own. She is there for me ALL. THE. TIME. She is never judgmental and can usually bring me back from the edge.

She has been a rock to me since I was young girl. She is one of the most kind, caring, generous person I know. She has a great sense of humor and is just the kind of person you can sit chat and drink coffee for 8 hours with.

She always goes out of her way to make the ordinary, extraordinary. She has usually has great advise and if she doesn’t she is a always a great listener.

We are blessed to have her in our life. It’s nice to know that we have someone who will always be there for us no matter what!

We love you Kris!! Thanks for loving me and my family!

Thankful Day 13

Today I am thankful for sleep. I love to sleep. I require a minimum of 8 hours, ideally 10 is best! I know… Mike on the other hand gets by on a measly 4-6 hour block. I’ll never know how he does that. I am thankful that my children sleep. I don’t share that often, as I am afraid I will run the risk of not having any friends. Kathryn and Patrick have always been great sleepers.

Kathryn slept through the night from day one. We would have to WAKE her up to feed every 3 hours. I attributed this to her being a preemie. I think Kathryn’s first 6 months of life… I got the least amount of sleep in my entire life. At the time I was nursing/pumping/supplementing. Feeding her was a good 2 hour cycle. You do the math!

Once we got over that hump. I went back to a semi normal sleep schedule I would nurse Katy head to bed…Mike would take the 3AM feeding and she was good until 8.

Then came Patrick. Another great sleeper…who also loved to eat! Patrick was exclusively nursed for 10 months. So in the beginning he ate every 2-3 hours AROUND the clock. Again, nursing exclusively so Mike could no longer take that 3AM feeding.

Now both kids go down by 7:30 and get up sometimes as late as 9AM!

For that I am thankful.

Thankful Day 12

Today I am thankful for my dad. AKA Papa! Its amazing to me how our relationship has changed and evolved over the years. More specifically during the past 2-3 years. We don’t always agree… but for the most part we have agreed to disagree. I really feel that he shows me unconditional love, although sometimes in the moment it has seemed to be conditional. I now can look back and know he always acted out of love.

Our family has had some BIG changes these past three years some good (birth of Katy and Patrick) some not so good ( Katy’s heart condition and my parents unexpected (to me anyway) divorce.

I love how much my dad ADORES my kids, and how much K & P adore him right back. Its fun to watch their relationship form and blossom.

I am thankful that I know no matter what my dad would be there for all 4 of us and it’s a comfort to me.

Thankful Day 11

On Day 11 I am was thankful for modern medicine for a multitude of reasons. As many of you know I struggled with infertility for nearly 7 years. I honestly believe that if it were not for IVF (In vitro fertilization) I would not be a mom.

30 years ago…which really isn’t that long ago you know? A baby with Kathryn’s heart condition would not live, if it even survived pregnancy and childbirth.

As you all know Katy is alive and living a very full, active life as a 2 year old I mean almost 3 YEAR OLD! The reason for that is the 6 medications she takes multiple times a day and her follow up care at one of if not the best Children’s Hospital in the world.

Thankfully we live in a part of the country with new medical technology and her heart defect ( I really dislike that word…trust me there is nothing defective about my little girl) was detected at 18 weeks…AMAZING! We received phenomenal prenatal care, and a team was in place to take the best possible care of our miracle.

So today, day 11 and EVERYDAY I am thankful for modern medicine.

She is still just my girly girl…

Katy loves to be pampered. She loves to have a massage after her bath. She loves to have her nails and toes painted. Her hair brushed and this time we went all out we even put rollers in. You know the foam rollers that your mom used to put in your hair and you would sleep in them, be oh so careful every time you rolled over as to not disturb your curlers. Well at least that’s what I did.

I didn’t think Katy would be successful in sleeping with them, I really thought she would demand that I take them out before she went into her crib, but she didn’t and she managed to keep them in all night.

Finding it hard to be Thankful

I went to blog yesterday… and I saw that I was already behind by 6 days on my Daily Thankful post. I was frustrated, annoyed, and sad and couldn’t think of one thing to be thankful for. I mean I covered all the things that I truly was thankful for and I just didn’t have it in me to make up some fluff posts just to make my daily quota. So I closed Live Writer and went to bed annoyed. Annoyed that I made this commitment to my blog and couldn’t keep to it. Annoyed that I was so frustrated and angry at this life that I couldn’t think of one lousy thing to be thankful for. Annoyed that I couldn’t blog which is such a huge stress relief for me.

So today I gave myself permission to give up and just tell you my readers that “Hey, my life sucks right now and I am finding it hard to be thankful”

Then I got to thinking and it was amazing that if I really thought about it I did have many things to be thankful for.

So I am going to continue…. I am going to catch up. Because, although this life is difficult right now… there are oh, so many wonderful things going on each and everyday. I owe to myself and to my family to remember just how lucky I am.

Thankful Day 15

Today I am thankful for pictures…more specifically pictures from my past, Mike’s past, our heritage. I am so very lucky to have a large collection of my childhood photos. I was the 1st born, so maybe that has something to do with why I have so many.

In addition to my own pictures I am thankful for pictures of my parents as children and even my grandparents. We have a gorgeous picture of Mike’s dad from the Korean war. We also have an amazing photograph of Nana Murphy on her wedding day with Mike’s grandfather Mr. Michael F. Murphy… Mike’s namesake.

I love knowing that I have these pictures and some have stories to tell on the back. My poppy was great at labeling pictures so it has made the sorting process that much easier. But, for every labeled picture there are 10 that are not, so it is a daunting task. Slowly but, surely I am getting them all scanned and some are even in frames!

Thankful Day 14

Today I am thankful for Facebook. I know lame. Like everything else in this world Facebook can be really awesome or really craptastic.

Since I am thankful for it… I will be focusing on the awesome aspects. I reconnected with so many people. I have stayed in touch with close family and friends! It’s a great time suck for long sleepless nights.

I love sharing pictures of my family and seeing all my friends kids and hearing what they are up to. Yup… I do care what you are having for dinner, I do care that your child has the puke bug, I do care that you think your husband is the best thing since sliced bread.

What I can’t stand is the Facebook complainers or naysayers… I am not talking about the people who complain in their status updates… because to me that keeps it real. I am talking about the ones who complain about said Facebook status’. It’s what Facebook is, accept it or walk away. Don’t leave a whiney Facebook status about it.

Did I mention that I love that it gives me the ability to be snarky and then walk away or GASP! delete my snarkiness!

Thankful Day 10

Today I am thankful for Children’s Hospital Boston, and Katy’s fabulous team of doctors. I always say that I wish I never had to know how wonderful Children’s is, but thankful it’s in my back yard. It’s really that whole love to hate, hate to love thing going on.

I’m thankful that it is 20 minutes away. I am thankful that the doctors are the best of the best. I am confident that Katy is getting the best care possible. That for the most part everyone works together as a team, and we all have Katy’s best interest in heart. I love that I feel that they are vested in Katy and her life as well as Mike, Patrick and I .

I love that even though Katy is poked and prodded she loves going and loves her Dr., B.

Thankful Day 9

Today I am thankful for my mom! I am thankful that she is available to watch my kids usually with just a moments notice. I am thankful that she doesn’t judge me. She thinks I am a great wife and mother and that’s important. She respects my decisions and follows through on how we do things here.

I am no where near as good a housekeeper as she was, and she doesn’t judge me…she just does my dishes and washes my floors

Our relationship has had some ups and downs ( doesn’t everyone) and we have both disappointed each other at times. We have learned to navigate our relationship and have really become friends. We have fun shopping or enjoying a glass of wine!

I am thankful that my mom and Mike have a good relationship as well!

I love you mom! Thank you for all you do for us!

Thankful Day 8

Today I am thankful for my mama friends. I have connected and in some cases reconnected with a great group of mamas, that are non judgmental, kind, understanding, fun and just good people you want to spend time with.

Today I had the pleasure of meeting one of these ladies, for coffee (WITHOUT KIDS) a rare treat!

We sat and talked at Panera for over 2 hours.

It was good for my soul.

Thankful Day 7

I am thankful that we are finally getting settled in our new home. The boxes are disappearing, I would say we are 75% unpacked. I finally feel settled, after being unsettled for the last 4 months or so.

I am thankful that Mike is very handy and can fix and put together things rather easily. I come to take that for granted, since my dad was the same way. But, I have realized that there are some husbands that are not Mr. Fix It and have to call someone to do even the simplest of tasks.

Thankful Day 6

Today I am Thankful that Mike and I had the opportunity to have a date night, and do the kids Christmas Shopping. I am very pleased with all we have for them and am thankful that we have the means to provide a nice Christmas for K & P.

I was a bit worried about completing this task, since we never know what our schedule will be. I needed to know that they were all set for Christmas Morning.

Give Thanks… Daily

I am stealing this idea from another blogger (actually multiple bloggers are doing this and some on Facebook) The idea is to blog DAILY (not an easy task, for me anyway) about something you are Thankful for everyday during the month of November.

In an effort to give Thanksgiving the recognition, I think it deserves. In hopes that it doesn’t get lost between Halloween and Christmas. Ever notice how that happens?

I also think it will be good for my morale… sometimes during this life I lead I forget to see all the good and tend to only focus on the not so good. It’s not purposeful, it’s just that I only have so much energy and lets face it the bad stuff always seems so much more noticeable.

But, once a day for the month of November I am going to find something to be thankful for. Some of them will be easy, and I am sure some days it will not be so easy.

Since it is November 5th… I am already behind… So I am going to list 5 things I am Thankful for… I’ll get the easy and obvious ones out of the way.

Thankful Day 1

The more I think about it, the more I see that I really do have so much to be thankful for. I also see that the common denominator for much of my happiness is surrounded by one person/thing.

I am thankful for my husband. I can’t imagine living my life, this life especially without him by my side. I know as long as I have him in my corner I can conquer the world. Mike you are amazing and truly my better half, I am a better wife, mother, friend and person because of you.

Thankful Day 2

I am thankful for my daughter Kathryn Marie “Katy” She is the sunshine in my days, and my miracle baby. She has taught me to live each and every second of the day, and have fun. She has reminded me to dance in the rain and splash in the tub. She made me a mama… (almost 3 years ago) She has taught me that miracles do happen, and to take it one day at a time.

Thankful Day 3

I am thankful that everyone was right and that boys love their mamas! I am thankful for my adorable, hilarious happy go lucky little man. Patrick has been such a blessing to our family. No matter how difficult the day…he makes me smile, he makes me laugh, he reminds me to take time to sit and read a book or have a tickle fest until we are both laughing so hard we can’t catch our breath.

Thankful Day 4

I am thankful for C.O.F.F.E.E. I can’t imagine my days without it.

Thankful Day 5

I am thankful for my camera. I am thankful that we finally invested in an expensive camera ( Mother’s Day 2009 Gift) that allows me to capture the memories of our daily life. I LOVE MY CAMERA!