Thankful. Grateful.

What Leo is thankful for, November 2011.

My cup these days, runneth over. WAY over.

I'm aggravated and exhausted and impatient and spread thin as a fine crepe. But amidst the laundry that never ends, the dishwasher that's always full and the claustrophobic house (two of everything baby-related, do you realize how much stuff that is?) oh, do I know how good things are. This is where I need to be right now. There is no other place.

Even when I'm so sleepy I can hardly see (did you know this is possible? I'm learning that it is), I'm truly grateful. I am.

I'm thankful that the number of times per day that I think to myself I Cannot Do This, This is Too Hard, seems to be decreasing.

Grateful for Erin, who has an uncanny ability to sense just when I'm about ready to walk out that front door and not tell anyone where I'm going--this is when she wisely somehow finds a way to make the early train. Sometimes she even brings me pastries. She works incredibly hard and so far, professes to love me no matter what kind of mood I'm in (and believe me, there have been some moods lately).

Grateful for a little boy who tells me "I love you Mommy." Thankful for that little boy who, when he falls down, shoots his thumb up in the air and exclaims, "I'm OK!"

Grateful for a little girl who asks "Am I doing a good job Mommy?" and perhaps my personal favorite, "Can I just have a snuggle?"

Collectively, they often make me want to beat my head against the wall, but they also make me laugh every day (thank goodness!). To wit: yesterday Ellie, wearing her most earnest expression asked me if I knew that "milk comes from cows bottoms?" (I did not.)


And although a year ago the prospect both terrified and bewildered me, today I'm grateful for our "bonus baby," that we went for #3 and got #4 too. Just don't ask me which one the bonus is, because I can't imagine life without either one.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!