Top Ten Tuesday--Things for Which I'm Thankful

Thanksgiving has come and gone...

... but every single day should be a day of thanks.  So today, I'm joining Katie at Sluiter Nation for one of her famous Top Ten Tuesdays.  Today, Things for Which I'm Thankful.
1. I am thankful for my husband and three beautiful, healthy, brilliant kids.  In my eyes, they are perfect.  I love their quirkiness, I love their wisdom, and, yes, I even love their moods (we'll see if I stand by that later).  Brandon came along and allowed me to love someone completely for the first time, and when I gave life to my children, they gave me life, as well.

You knew the sappy stuff was gonna be there.  I pretty much gush over these people constantly, and that's the way it should be.  You knew I was thankful before I even said it, huh?

2.  I am thankful for the rest of my crazy family.  I am surrounded by a group of creative, neurotic, outspoken family members.  They are spectacular.  My kids couldn't ask for better grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  Do they spoil my kids?  Yes.  Do I get frustrated with them more often than I should?  Probably.  But do they know how much I love them and appreciate them?  Absolutely.

3.  I am thankful that I get to be a stay-at-home mom.  I probably don't say that one enough.  Honestly, we are a paycheck-to-paycheck family so that I can have the luxury of staying home and being with my kids every second of every day...and so they can have the luxury of me being here, I suppose.  I am pretty much always covered in spit-up or spilled juice or markers or thrown food.  I yearn for conversation that does not involve Disney Princesses or Dora.  But I would never, NEVER want another job.

4.  I am thankful for coffee.  I wouldn't make it through the day if it weren't for my daily cup of caffeine and creamer.  I love the way it smells and the way it warms my throat and belly.  I love it on ice during the warm months.  I love ice cream flavored with it and don't mind the stinky breath at all.

Brandon might mind that.

But I don't care, because I loved it before I loved him, and I'm not giving up my Joe!

5.  I am thankful for my childhood.  Now, this might shock some of you.  I admit that I did not like my mom and biological father being divorced and schlepping over to his house every other weekend and two weeks in the summer.  To this day, I still complain about that.  But my step-dad, my DAD, more than made up for that whole debacle.  He's the dad I remember, since I was only three when he married my mom and we moved over to his farm.  I'm thankful for that farm, too.  Growing up in the middle of nowhere, with the mountains and animals and quiet...well, that pretty much formed my personality.  And now, my kids love visiting this place that shaped my life and they love the people that shaped it, too.

I wanted for nothing.  I was given love and never harmed.  I had a mom, a dad, a brother, and several steps.  I was able to be involved in just about every extracurricular activity, though that didn't always turn out so well (hello, softball, basketball...any kind of sport).  Hopefully my kids will get the same warm-fuzzies I get when thinking back on childhood.

6.  I am thankful for my boobs (talk about your warm-fuzzies!).  As a teenager, this is something I would have never said.  I always complained about their size (or lack of size, rather) and thought I'd hate them forever.
And then they fed my first child, and I watched her get chubby and be healthy and glowing.
And then they fed my second child, and I watched as she grew quickly and never got sick and loved to eat.
And now they are feeding my son, and I'm watching him turning into a cute, chunky, strong little boy.
I've looked at these radiant, thriving, fat roll-covered babies and thought, I DID THAT.  On milk they got from only me, they gained all that wonderful weight and were satisfied.  They fell asleep in that amazing milk-drunk stupor that I've cherished since the first time I witnessed it.  They got immunities they wouldn't have otherwise had.
Not bad for a chest that used to embarrass me.  Now I think of them as my best feature.

7.  I am thankful for Disney World.  Those of you who know me knew that was coming.  It really is the most magical place on earth.  We already have amazing family memories from this place (I'm sure you'll be hearing more about that as our next trip approaches), and I can't wait to make more.  I actually LIKE the commercialism of this place.  Go figure.  The Mouse knew what he was doing.  Every day is happier with a little Disney in it.
And my kids are really happy I think so.

8.  I am thankful for bathtubs.  
Oh, Heavens. 
I do love me a long soak.
My husband knows that if he ever wants me to relax (ahem.), he should just buy me some bath salts and send me upstairs with no kids and a book.
My kids have inherited this from me; we all stay in the water until we're pruny, and we love it.

9.   I am thankful for books.  I have loved to read since I was three years old.  I own more books than should be allowed, but I will NEVER give any away.  I love each of them as individuals.  I smell them, I thumb through them, I highlight passages.  I am getting all weepy just thinking about it.  Books were my friends when I didn't have any human friends.  My childhood books have been passed down to my own children, and Julia started reading at age 3, too.  Hopefully, my love of books passes on to them (so far, so good). 
Here's some trivia for those of you who don't know me, or those who don't know me well.  Brynn's middle name (Elizabeth) is after Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.  Sawyer is named for Tom Sawyer, and his middle name is Bennett (from that same Pride and Prejudice family, but with an added 't'...my husband insisted, for some reason).
Poor Julia.  She's named after a Beatles song.

10.  I am thankful for my friends.  That means all of you.  You know who you are.
Honestly, I don't have that many friends IRL (in real life).  Trust issues?  Maybe.  If you're reading here, chances are that I do consider you a friend, online or IRL.  When I'm feeling down, you lift me up, and I hope to do the same for you.

So, there's my first Top Ten, and I could honestly go on and on.  You probably know me a little better now, and as you can see, I am one blessed lady.

Let's Get Together...Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

Let me start out by saying that I realize I haven't posted in over a year.  And I also realize that I only had one post to begin with.  That kind of makes me want to bury my head in the sand, but instead I'll just promise that I'll be more diligent in my post-writing.  Since the last time, we've added a new addition to our crew.  He's 4 months old now, and his name is Sawyer.  Julia is 4 (5 in January...YIKES!) and Brynn is now 2.5 years old.  Our family is growing in size, as well as growing up.  And that's all of us, not just the kids!

I decided to start up this whole blog thing because of my friend Miranda, who is the genius behind Not Super...Just Mom.  I will not pretend that my blog will be half as interesting as hers; in fact, I can guarantee that it might be pretty dull in comparison.  However, I realized today in talking with her that if I've got anything at all, I've got stories about my kids.  And these stories need to be documented...maybe not for lots of people to read, but so that I'll have them in the future.  I mean, just tonight I looked at my one (for shame, Jennifer!) post from over a year ago and was so happy to read it.  I remember that day!  My kids were tiny, and fewer in number!  I forgot about that video of Julia reading!  And, yes, I got a little weepy.

It's been nearly five years since I became a mom, and reading a post of Miranda's the other day, it dawned on me that I have had almost no "me time" since then.  It's not because I couldn't have it...I definitely could, as I have an extremely supportive husband.  But I'm just that sort of obsessive parent who hates to leave her kids, even if it's for the benefit of my sanity.  And writing that down makes me realize what a stupid thing that is.  Miranda offered up a coffee meeting, and I jumped on the offer.

Today we met at a Starbucks.  It was me, Miranda, and my nursling son.  No, not total mommy-alone time, but with only 1/3 of my normal distractions.  Brandon was keeping the girls--Brynn was (supposed to be) napping, Julia was playing Legos-- and Sawyer thankfully fell asleep on the drive.  I was thanking the Heavens that I *might* just get a peaceful meeting, but before I even got there I realized it might not be.  Let's all keep in mind that it's rare that I have much adult interaction, especially away from my kids.  I kind of started feeling like I was going on a first date...Would I say something stupid?  Do I look okay?  Will she like me?  Guys, you also have to realize that I've known her for a long time.  Like over ten years.  Safe to assume she thinks I'm okay.  But I am so out of practice, and I was shaking without even having the caffeine yet.

Coffee and cake ordered, we sat down to talk.  I kind of felt like I was missing an appendage without the girls climbing all over me and with Sawyer napping peacefully.  We talked about, what else, our kids.  I started feeling a tiny bit embarrassed because I realized that this is pretty much all I know.  I don't have a job.  My brain doesn't function like it used to.  I'm sort of boring like that.  But she gets it. 

Sawyer woke up and decided to be his cute self and drool all over the place.  He cooed and gooed on me, and he cooed and gooed on her.  After an hour and a half (gasp!  Where did that time go??), I took him to the bathroom to change his diaper.  Okay, Starbucks.  Big fail on your part--there's no changing table.  There was a little table I can only assume housed cleaning products or tampons or something.  And Sawyer was pissed that I had the audacity to change him on that tiny thing.  I dropped his cloth diaper on the floor, then realized I had no wet bag for it, so I just stuffed it in the diaper bag in a plastic bag and hoped for the best.  Then I looked in the mirror and realized that I had completely sweated through my shirt.  I had no time to be embarrassed...okay, I was a little bit embarrassed...but you know what?  I was out of the house.  So I didn't much care.  But I just have to give a big shout-out to my post-pregnancy, currently-breastfeeding, whacked-out hormones for making me all out of sorts, cause doesn't everyone like to look gross on their first date of adult interaction in quite some time??  So the human heater baby may have contributed to the fact that I was burning up, or maybe it was the nerves, or the caffeine, or the fact that it's nearly 80 degrees in November, but I'll do as I usually do and just blame hormones.

We packed up our things (Sawyer's gazillion toys.  And Sawyer.)  and headed to our respective vehicles, and I knew that the ride home couldn't possibly go as smoothly as the one down.  It just never happens that way.  I made it about two minutes down the road before Sawyer was crying.

He was hungry.  And so was I, but babies can't wait, so I pulled into a Chevron to feed him.  I pulled up my shirt, only to realize that I had never even buckled back my nursing bra after feeding him the last time.  Which means I sat through the entire coffee chat with Miranda sans-support.  Just some flaps hanging wide open.  Again, I didn't get too embarrassed, cause I was still not only out of the house, but hyped up on caffeine!

I got Sawyer buckled up again and we were on our way.  Less than a minute later, he was crying.  He had just been changed and fed after waking from a nap, so all that was left was that he wanted to see a human face.  I don't know about you, but I HATE my babies to be crying at all, especially that helpless cry when they feel abandoned in the back seat.  Luckily, Sawyer usually sees his sisters back there, but this time they weren't there, and I felt awful.  I turned on lights for him.  I sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," which is usually my go-to song for him.  I did The Reach.

You know The Reach, yes?  When you are driving with one arm while reaching behind you to try to bounce the car seat the less-than-a-centimeter it will budge in hopes of calming the baby?  I was doing The Reach (which wasn't working, by the way) when I realized that I couldn't be the best driver that way.  And luckily about that time I realized that I was already at the red light in front of my house.  I kept up with the singing, and he stopped, of course, as we turned into the neighborhood.

And so I returned home to two girls who acted like I was gone for ages (I love that.), still hot and sweaty and still with my nursing bra flaps open (yeah, so it turns out I'm not great at remembering to fasten those...).  I made some dinner, and I felt relaxed for a few minutes.

I realize that "me time" can be extremely beneficial to the psyche, and even though this was kind of a first attempt at it, I enjoyed it without much guilt of leaving the girls, which is progress.  Once I can fully learn that moms are better when they're refreshed and fulfilled, I think I'll be all set.  And then maybe I'll learn to start fastening my bra.