Thankful

I know, I was supposed to be thankful yesterday, but better late than never, eh?

Yesterday was quite the whirlwind of activity and then a nice afternoon of digesting.  Due to a little hiccup in planning, James and I got a crash course in Thanksgiving Feast Preparation.  The turkey was in the oven, and Mom and I went over to Winco for some last minute items (on Thanksgiving morning, with a 2 1/2 year-old . . . and we survived it!) while James started preparing what he already had on hand.  We had a simple menu: turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted root vegetables (but if you want parsnips, you gotta make it to the store before the morning of the event, *sigh*), caesar salad, cranberry sauce (canned - don't judge me), gluten-free stuffing, gluten-full rolls, apple juice, pumpkin pie and/or custard (depending on whether you want the gluten-y crust).  I later picked Jared up, who surprised us with roasted, stuffed butternut squash, cranberry sauce from scratch, and some fabulous sauteed squash (he told me the name of the squash about 12 times, but it's not one I'm familiar with, so I forgot) in a citrous-butter sauce.  Feasting was supposed to start at noon, but we felt rather proud of ourselves to have the whole spread ready by 1:15 or so.  And it was good.  And we have leftovers for when the baby comes and we really don't feel like cooking.

So, I'm thankful for my wonderful husband, who totally rose to the occasion and did about 85% of the feast all by himself, with mostly good graces (there was a period of panic at first), and even missed parts of the Greenbay-Detroit blowout playing in the next room.

I'm thankful for my mom, who will work herself into an early grave to maintain family harmony and deflect sibling rivalry.  I hope she doesn't have to, though, because she's one of my best friends and I need her around.  (I'm selfish like that.)

I'm thankful for my papa, even though he got to watch the game that James missed.  :)  I'm grateful that he watches out for my mom and tries to keep her from over-straining herself.

I'm thankful for my brother, Jared, who continually surprises me over how much he's grown as a person since we were younger.  I keep having to mentally shift from the surly, punk teenager I once knew to the kind, thoughtful man I saw yesterday.

I'm thankful for my sister, Diana, who is weathering her own personal storms with a boot-straps resolve I never thought I'd see in the Little Girl who would streak through the house after her bath.

I'm thankful for my sister Aubrey, her husband Nic, and their two kiddos.  As I'm fretting over whether I need a bottle warmer or a fancy tummy-time mat, they're teaching me that all these objects are merely props, and that the true nature of parenting is in the consistency and love you give your chill'uns.

I'm thankful for my house.  In spite of all we've been through, I have yet to regret the decision we made to buy it and move here.  I hope I never do regret it.  I love the space in all the right places - big kitchen, spare bedroom, big master bathroom, garage.  I'm thankful that we were able to have my family over for a day of gratitude and closeness, and I'm oh so especially grateful that they did the dishes afterwards!!

Waiting for Gwendolyn

A thousand apologies to my loyal fans (Hello?...Hello?...*echo, echo*) for the extreme lapse in posting during what is quite possibly the most eventful year of my life to date.  Since January, James and I have gotten pregnant (mainly me, but he helped), gone to Brazil (second time, but still eventful), bought a house, flooded it (mainly him, but that's all water under the bridge, or over the dam, or most accurately, all over our new house), survived the 2 1/2 month construction zone of the aftermath, packed up all of our belongings (at the apartment), unpacked (HA! about 1/3847th done there), had three baby showers, loved my job, hated my job (well, not the actual job part, just all the HR BS that comes with it), nested, mowed my own yard, raked my own yard, had Fun with Composting, been to a Blazers game and a Pearl Jam concert, been through the wringer with a chiropractor (both effective and less effective), fallen in love with our new ward, and had a baby.  

Oh wait.  No baby yet.  She's "due" in 9 days.  We're trying to convince her to make an early appearance.  James tried luring her out with the promise of cake, but she's too smart.  She knows that after she stops sharing my digestive nutrients, the next time she'll get refined sugar is probably at her first birthday.  (Who am I kidding??  Nana's totally gonna spike her bottles with straight-up sugar the minute I'm not looking.  Hear that, Gwen?  Come out and Nana will give you sugar...)

At least now I have lots of free time to update my blog, right?  Yeah, that's what I'll do.

No, seriously, I'm going to make a Concerted Effort to write at least a brief post on every topic listed above, and extensive posts on some topics.  But not right now.  I have to get ready to visit my orthodontist and hopefully get my braces taken off today.  

I'll blog about it.  I promise.