All About MEme: My Thankful Four

with MommyBrain and SupahMommy

 

an idea inspired by a kid's project

Family OF Friends - I haven't lived in my hometown  (in IL) since college.  In the years since then, CPV and I have lived in three different places - FL, VA, and now WA.  No matter where we've gone, I've found great, caring people to form my support network, my sanity-savers, my holiday-sharers ... my Family OF Friends.  And really, they are the next best thing to "blood" relatives ... in some ways, they're better ;)  This year I am especially thankful for my Family OF Friends ... neighbors, parents of former students, and fellow mommas from my moms' group.  They have all taken such good care of me with once-a-week meals, childcare offers, holiday invitations, optimism boosts, and an amazing SURPRISE baby shower!

My Baby Daddy (aka my husband, my best friend, my CPV) - How he puts up with me, especially while  I've been pregnant and exhausted and feeling crummy and hormonal and overwhelmed ... is beyond me.  But he does.  He even manages to like me most days.  CPV has infinite patience, like more than is humanly possible.  Which comes in really handy when he walks in the door after working 10-hours and jumps right into his role as daddy.  I am so thankful to have a partner who puts his girls first.  He takes such good care of us.  I was definitely thankful to sleep in both days this weekend and to be reminded to rest ... knowing that Natalie was in such good (and goofy) hands.  Despite all the crap I've given him for the duration of this home improvement projects, I am so thankful to have a husband who is willing to spend the time and effort to do a good job with such impressive results.

Being a Mom (and a stay-at-home-mom) - While there have been some aspects of my pregnancy I haven't exactly enjoyed, I am so thankful for the ability to conceive and for the beautiful experience of growing a baby inside me.  The experience of being a mom is an absolute wonder!

What a privilege and an honor ... to get to spend my days with my beautiful, smart, and funny two year old.  To be able to manage financially.  To be able to recognize my role - most days - as important and fulfilling.  To spend leisurely mornings of cartoons and snuggles. To read tens of picture books every day.  To bask in the glow of her new learning.  To attend play dates and library story times.  As a SAHM, I have much to be thankful for. 

Reminders of What Matters Most - Through personal relationships and ones on the blog, I've experienced the stories of families who are struggling with medical hardships, especially those involving young kiddos.  Those stories are woven into my understanding of What Matters Most.  My best friend from high school has a little guy with a heart condition - thankfully a very treatable heart condition - who will undergo three open-heart surgeries in the first three years of his life.  And there's Jaden's story; a young family dealing with the ramifications of cancer plaguing the mother and tiny two-year old son. I have experienced  firsthand - the heart-breaking scene inside a Children's Hospital, and I'll never be the same.  Having a healthy baby/child is something that simply cannot be taken for granted.  This year, more than any other, I am thankful for the reminders of What Matters Most, and I am hopeful that in the coming year a foundation with that same name will begin to help those families who need it most - I am working with three of my friends to make that happen.



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• Put together a post that remotely resembles an answer to the prompt.
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