Today I'm thankful for...

1. Clean surfaces. I finally cleaned up the clutter piles that were on the counter, the microwave and the table. Just looking at them now makes me breathe easier! Aah!

2. "Cindy and Eye-ick". Sydney has a friend down the street named Isaac. He came over for a little while today. They sat next to each other at the "little table" and ate goldfish crackers and pretzels. Isaac said, "I sit next to Cindy because I like her!" Sydney beamed and said, "Eye-ick my fwend!!" Aw, it must be Valentine's Day because young love is in the air! :)

3. No Philly Ortho meeting tonight. That meant Bobby got home at 6pm rather than 9pm and he helped wash dishes (which was no easy task) and get girls to bed (which involved bringing Sydney to the bathroom four times, two of which she actually 'went'). It saved my sanity. And it's nice to see the bottom of my sink again. It's been a few days (er, weeks?) since that's happened.

4. The beautiful red and white roses that Bobby brought home. Granted, they're still wrapped in plastic and sitting in the vase that he plopped them into when he got home because dinner was on the table and it was time to eat. But I'm sure he'll arrange them into a beautiful bouquet some time between now and tomorrow. :)

Today I'm thankful for...

1. The dimples in Liam's chubby little hands.

You can't see the dimples in this picture, but you can see the little fat roll on his wrist- just as cute!!

2. Mini marshmallows in hot chocolate.

3. Bobby taking out the trash and scraping the snow and ice off the van at 5:30 on Thursday morning before he left. It was a nice surprise, especially since we were running really late that morning!

4. Playtime with tunnels.


5. A clear mind. It's hard to think straight when anxiety and depression start to settle in. I had to battle it this week, and I'm so grateful that the past couple of days have been a lot better.

6. Bobby's prayers. Bobby always says a prayer with me before he leaves in the morning. It's usually at the crack of dawn (or before) and I'm only half-conscious in bed. Some days I don't remember it at all! Lately, though, he has said some really nice things to help me overcome this nasty round of anxiety and depression. His prayers are so heart-felt and sincere and I know they help me get through the day.

7. Lillian's birthday card and giraffe family. Lillian made a birthday card for a preschool friend who had a party today. We made it together while Sydney and Liam were snoozing during their afternoon naps. She wrote "Happy Birthday" on the front by herself- she almost remembered how to spell "happy" on her own, and she did most of "birthday" too! On the inside she drew an entire family of giraffes (I have no idea why she chose giraffes) and I labeled who was who, from Mommy Giraffe to Grandpa Giraffe to Aunt and Uncle Giraffe! They were the cutest looking giraffes I've ever seen and by far better than anything I could have produced. I'm so amazed at her drawing abilities and I love her creativity!

The little artist is hard at work.

Proud artist!

"Giraffe Family" by Lillian D., washable marker on white printer paper.

She fell asleep on the way to the party!! Creativity is exhausting.

Today I'm thankful for...

1. Big, fat, white, fluffy snowflakes.

2. Bobby being home for dinner.

3. Tweezers. They keep my eyebrows from taking over my face.

4. The "get well" card that Lillian made for Liam and hung over his crib so he could see it.

5. Our pediatrician. I brought Liam in yesterday because he had a fever. We ended up talking for nearly an hour about some other non-related questions and concerns that I had- some of them about breastfeeding and anti-depressants. I'm so thankful that she had the time to talk yesterday and that she cared enough to stick around for so long while I yacked her ear off.

Today I'm thankful for...

1. La luna. It was big and visible low in the sky late this afternoon. Now it is shining bright way up high. Whenever Lillian or Sydney see the moon they point to it and say, "la luna!!"

2. York Peppermint Patties. These are my favorite. They're especially good when they are frozen, so I like to keep one stashed away in the freezer. On particularly difficult days when I need a chocolatey pick-me-up I pull it out and take a few satisfying bites- or sometimes I just devour the whole thing. Yesterday was an eat-the-whole-patty kind of day. :)

3. Sisters. I'm so glad I have a sister, and I'm especially lucky to live so close to her! She's an amazing person who is doing amazing things with her life. She's smart and nice, and I'm just so happy to have her in my life. I'm also thankful that Lillian and Sydney are sisters. Last night they insisted on sitting next to each other during dinner. The whole time during dinner they kept goofing off with each other and laughing hysterically. It made eating a bit of a challenge, but it was fun to watch them. Sister certainly share a special relationship.

4. Old MacDonald Had a Farm...Ee-i-ee-i-OH! Sydney has requested that we sing this song on the way to Lilly's preschool every morning for the past week. It's become a fun tradition. She's getting better at picking farm animals like cows and pigs instead of wild safari animals like giraffes and zebras, whose sounds are very challenging to reproduce.

5. Friends who I can relate to. Depression has been rearing its ugly head in my life over the past few weeks and it isn't go away like I hoped it would. I'm so grateful for my friends and family who can relate to me on this issue and those I can comfortably talk to about it. I'm still debating the possibility of going back on medication and weighing the risks of breastfeeding while being on an anti-depressant. I'm ready to stop if I need to, but it's been so easy this time around that I'll be sad to put it to an end. We'll see how things go...

6. Bobby's enthusiasm for ortho. Even though there are plenty of days that he comes home needing to vent about things that happened at the hospital, there are lots of other times he gets excited about "the cool thing" he did or saw during surgery. I'm glad he likes what he does. I don't know how anyone could survive med school or residency without loving what they do. It takes a lot of passion to get through such a tough experience.

Ooh, they're so cute!

Today I'm thankful for...

1. Naps. Enough said.

2. Bobby's phone calls. He's on call [again], but he manages to call us whenever he gets a chance, even if he only has literally 3 seconds to talk. Tonight he called us on video chat while he was walking down the hallway between patients' rooms. The girls got to say hi/bye/good night and blow kisses to their daddy, who gave some in return. He just called me again to see how my night was going, to see if the kids are asleep (they're in bed, but not asleep yet). As soon as I answered I heard his pager go off twice in a row. We couldn't talk long, but it was nice to hear his voice. Knowing that he's thinking of me at work makes me smile. :)

3. Training underwear. I bought some for Sydney and she's so excited about it. She says, "I have underwear like Lilly?!?!?!" She wore them for the first time today. She managed to keep them dry for about 2 hours before she confessed, "I go tinkle in my underwear. Wash my bum bum?" We'll keep working on it.

4. Feeling better. I started feeling so nauseous on Wednesday night that I went to bed at 7:30 and could hardly get out of bed until 1:30 on Thursday afternoon. I can't remember the last time I felt that awful- 3 pregnancies never even got that bad. If I had to get sick I chose a good time to do it. Bobby just happened to get home early on Wednesday so he was able to finish dinner and get the girls to bed. Then my mom was able to help me all day on Thursday before she and my dad left town for the weekend. I don't know how I would've survived without her. I'm also glad Lillian is feeling better, too. Her cough was pretty bad yesterday, and by the afternoon (just as I was starting to feel better) she developed a fever and threw up. It only lasted a few hours though and she was fine last night and well enough today to go back to school for her class's bear party- they just ended a 2 week unit all about bears.

5. Liam's bright blue eyes. I just love it when he looks at me and smiles. Makes my heart melt, I'm so in love with him!

Liam's Baby Blessing





I just can't get enough of his little white suit and that adorable smile!!