I'm thankful for...
1. Beautiful weather on Saturday and going to the Baltimore Zoo with my kids and husband. FYI- the zoo in Baltimore has half-off admission during January and February. If you have a membership to the Philadelphia Zoo (or most any other zoo), you receive half off admission any time. It was only $35 for our family of five. We spent three hours there and saw elephants, lions, giraffes, polar bears, chimpanzees (lots of 'em), native Maryland wildlife, otters (from a cool underwater tunnel), bats, a hellbender salamander, arctic foxes, cheetah, leopard, and the official mascots of the Ravens football team- two HUGE ravens named Rise and Conquer. Apparently, the Baltimore Zoo is the only zoo to house and care for an NFL mascot. The birds attend every Ravens home game. How's that for your zoo/NFL trivia?
2. Scooters. Sydney and Liam wanted to ride scooters today. 30 degrees and windy made it way too cold to do it outside, so I rolled back the carpets in the living room so they could roll across the floor. Liam doesn't have much scooter experience but he did a pretty good job. In the afternoon, Sydney bundled up and rode her scooter all the way to Lilly's bus stop. Her little scooter wheels flashed and blinked the whole way as she scooched and scootered her way up the hill. We can't wait for spring.
3. Post call. Bobby was on call yesterday/last night. He got a total of 5 hours of interrupted sleep...more than most call nights....and he finished rounding earlier than expected in the morning. Feeling well rested (and homesick) he decided to come home for the rest of the day. His visit will be less than 24 hours, but it's always nice to have him around. He surprised the kids and we had a nice afternoon and evening together. He leaves again very early tomorrow morning. We'll see him Friday night when he is able to come home for the weekend.
4. Lillian's self-motivation. I've begun to recognize how little I need to prompt, urge, prod, or nag Lillian to do her homework. She usually comes home talking about it and she'll jump right into it at the slightest suggestion or reminder. She gets a weekly packet of a few pages of reading/writing homework and occasionally a page of math homework. With the packet homework, she'll sit down and do all the pages at once instead of one a night like the teacher suggests. Her reading and writing abilities have really taken off and she impresses me more every time I hear her read or read what she's written. I'm so proud of her and how well she is learning, but most importantly, how she seems to enjoy learning.
5. Short puking episodes. I'm never thankful for puking kids. But when they have to puke, it's always best when it happens fast and they recover quickly. Thankfully, that's how we experienced it over the weekend. Liam woke up on Thursday night and threw up three times. But in the morning he was totally fine and throughout the day you never would've known he was sick the night before. On Saturday evening while we were driving down to Baltimore to visit Bobby, Sydney started complaining that her tummy hurt. I tossed her a plastic bag and told her to puke in it if she had to. Five minutes later she threw up, and thankfully it all landed in the plastic bag. After a quick pull-over and damage assessment everything seemed fine and Sydney was feeling much better. So we continued on our way and had a great weekend! I don't know if it was some weird strand of a quick GI bug or if it was something they ate, but either way I'm glad it's over and they are feeling better.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Snow, Snow, Go Away
Today I'm thankful for...
1. Temps above freezing and the sound of snow melting. For a few hours this afternoon the sun was warm enough to melt the snow off the roofs, sidewalks, streets, and everywhere else. It was music to my ears to hear the drip, drip, drip of melting snow! I saw the wood floor of my balcony out back for the first time in over a week. On our way to the bus stop to get Lillian after school I noticed that the snow pile on the edge of the sidewalk is taller than Liam! Temps are supposed to hit 60 later this week. Hopefully that will do a doozy on the snow. It's pretty and all when it's freshly fallen and there's a magical white blanket coating everything with a sparkly shimmer.....but in my opinion there is nothing magical about this much snow. Nothing.
2. Play dates. Sydney spent ALL DAY at a friend's house across the street. For nearly six hours, her friend's mom said they played so well together and had a great time. I missed her, but I was able to get so much done while Liam napped in the afternoon! I'm so glad we have awesome neighbors who are friends with my kids.
3. My clean desk. All the clutter and paper piles have been removed (or relocated). I am now ready to tackle our 2013 taxes. Hooray for me.
4. The 2 hour school delay this morning. We got more snow last night. I was not so excited about that, but it was nice to have more time to get up and going before Lillian had to be out the door for school. I stayed up WAY too late last night watching the Olympics, then I got sucked into watching Jimmy Fallon's first night as host of The Tonight Show. I'll admit that is was more U2 than Fallon that kept me watching, and it was mostly worth it, but I wouldn't be able to sustain and nightly ritual of watching The Tonight Show...do people really stay up that late every night?? Ha, listen to me...I'm looking at the clock and it's midnight. Time for me to get my beauty rest.
1. Temps above freezing and the sound of snow melting. For a few hours this afternoon the sun was warm enough to melt the snow off the roofs, sidewalks, streets, and everywhere else. It was music to my ears to hear the drip, drip, drip of melting snow! I saw the wood floor of my balcony out back for the first time in over a week. On our way to the bus stop to get Lillian after school I noticed that the snow pile on the edge of the sidewalk is taller than Liam! Temps are supposed to hit 60 later this week. Hopefully that will do a doozy on the snow. It's pretty and all when it's freshly fallen and there's a magical white blanket coating everything with a sparkly shimmer.....but in my opinion there is nothing magical about this much snow. Nothing.
2. Play dates. Sydney spent ALL DAY at a friend's house across the street. For nearly six hours, her friend's mom said they played so well together and had a great time. I missed her, but I was able to get so much done while Liam napped in the afternoon! I'm so glad we have awesome neighbors who are friends with my kids.
3. My clean desk. All the clutter and paper piles have been removed (or relocated). I am now ready to tackle our 2013 taxes. Hooray for me.
4. The 2 hour school delay this morning. We got more snow last night. I was not so excited about that, but it was nice to have more time to get up and going before Lillian had to be out the door for school. I stayed up WAY too late last night watching the Olympics, then I got sucked into watching Jimmy Fallon's first night as host of The Tonight Show. I'll admit that is was more U2 than Fallon that kept me watching, and it was mostly worth it, but I wouldn't be able to sustain and nightly ritual of watching The Tonight Show...do people really stay up that late every night?? Ha, listen to me...I'm looking at the clock and it's midnight. Time for me to get my beauty rest.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Grateful Despite the Snow
Today I'm thankful for...
1. The Olympics. They are so fun to watch! And it gives me something to do while I fold laundry at night. :)
2. Cousins! My mother-in-law and sister-in-law came to visit with her five kids this afternoon. It was fun to watch all the kids play together. I'm grateful that we live close enough to family for frequent visits and that our family takes time out of their busy schedules to spend time with us. Can't wait til we live even closer to them.
3. Calls from Bobby. He called four times today- every time he had a break between cases or was getting into his car to go somewhere. I know he's thinking about us during the day and I'm glad he takes the time to check in and see how we're doing. He's been away for the past six weeks and we only get to see him on weekends. It's hard for everybody, but he's helping to keep us connected across the distance.
4. My children's smiles. It warms my heart every time to see their faces light up with a great big grin. I never get tired of it.
1. The Olympics. They are so fun to watch! And it gives me something to do while I fold laundry at night. :)
2. Cousins! My mother-in-law and sister-in-law came to visit with her five kids this afternoon. It was fun to watch all the kids play together. I'm grateful that we live close enough to family for frequent visits and that our family takes time out of their busy schedules to spend time with us. Can't wait til we live even closer to them.
3. Calls from Bobby. He called four times today- every time he had a break between cases or was getting into his car to go somewhere. I know he's thinking about us during the day and I'm glad he takes the time to check in and see how we're doing. He's been away for the past six weeks and we only get to see him on weekends. It's hard for everybody, but he's helping to keep us connected across the distance.
4. My children's smiles. It warms my heart every time to see their faces light up with a great big grin. I never get tired of it.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Thankful Thursday
Today I'm thankful for . . .
1. The opportunity to pay it forward. Last night a friend of mine did me a huge favor by coming over after the kids were asleep so I could go grocery shopping. Bobby has been working nights, I babysit 2 little girls during the day, and everyone got sick over the past week. It's been hard to get out and do the essentials- like buy milk and bread. It was so helpful to be able to get out for 45 minutes on my own. I was very grateful for her time and service.
Today I had the opportunity to help out another neighbor. She has two kids, a 5-year old girl S and a 2 year-old little boy E. Our kids are friends. She is currently in school for Occupational Therapy and she's in the middle of finals week. She texted me in a panic this morning because her babysitter fell through at the last minute and she needed to study for a practical exam in the afternoon. Could I watch her 2 year-old for a couple of hours so she could study, she asked. I had been planning on running a few errands in the morning, but after I had been helped in my time of need last night, I didn't feel right saying, "I wish I could help, but I'm busy. Sorry." I told her to bring E over for as long as she needed. I can't describe the look of relief on her face when she dropped him off. It reminded me of my own grad school experience and how stressful it was, especially during finals. There were times when all I could think about was studying, eating, or sleeping. It was hard enough, and that was before we had any kids. I can't imagine being in school now with little people who need my time and attention. I commend my friend for her efforts; she is doing a very hard thing.
I decided to take it a step further and I doubled the recipe for chili and cornbread that I was making for dinner. Bobby dropped off the extra batch for her and her family, and she later texted me, "Oh my gosh Amanda, thank you so much!! You probably felt that I'm not cooking anymore lately!! Thank you, this is so much, thank you!" I'm glad I was able to lift that burden for her. Service is good medicine.
2. My guardian angel. I definitely had one watching over me tonight. Our schedule got kind of crazy around 5 pm. The girls had a birthday party to go to and a rehearsal at church for the Christmas pageant tomorrow night. I was running way behind for everything, and when I was parking on the street for the birthday party I nearly took out the rear headlight on a sign post. I didn't even see it behind me until it was right next to me- literally centimeters from the side of the van. I don't know how I missed it, but I'm glad I did.
Later, when we were running [late] to get to the church, Sydney started complaining that she was hungry. I explained to her that was because she refused to eat anything at the birthday party and I hadn't packed any snacks so I couldn't do anything about it to help her. Then, in a moment of compassion, I realized that we would be driving right by the house in order to pick up 2 youth on the way to church. I told Sydney that I would run into the house to grab something for her to eat. As soon as I opened the door and stepped inside I smelled gas. I ran into the kitchen and saw that the front burner, the one with the pot of chili on it, was turned to the HI position. There were no flames, just gas coming out. It had probably been like that for about an hour- if it happened right before Bobby left, which I suspect it did- I think he bumped it on his way out the kitchen door to get to his car that was parked in the back. In any case, I quickly turned it off and opened the window to air out the room. If I hadn't gone into the house, it would've been another two hours at least until I would have returned home. I can't imagine how dangerous that would've been. Someone was definitely looking out for us.
3. Liam's ABC's. He sings the song over and over and it just gets cuter and cuter. At the end he says, "Now I know my EFG's, next time won't you sing with me!" I can't bring myself to correct him.
4. Sticky notes. Bobby could tell that I was in a bit of a rush and a funk when I herded everyone out the door this evening. When we got home Lillian and I found sticky notes all over the bathroom mirror. Bobby wrote a little note to each one of us. It brightened up my night. He's a sweet guy.
1. The opportunity to pay it forward. Last night a friend of mine did me a huge favor by coming over after the kids were asleep so I could go grocery shopping. Bobby has been working nights, I babysit 2 little girls during the day, and everyone got sick over the past week. It's been hard to get out and do the essentials- like buy milk and bread. It was so helpful to be able to get out for 45 minutes on my own. I was very grateful for her time and service.
Today I had the opportunity to help out another neighbor. She has two kids, a 5-year old girl S and a 2 year-old little boy E. Our kids are friends. She is currently in school for Occupational Therapy and she's in the middle of finals week. She texted me in a panic this morning because her babysitter fell through at the last minute and she needed to study for a practical exam in the afternoon. Could I watch her 2 year-old for a couple of hours so she could study, she asked. I had been planning on running a few errands in the morning, but after I had been helped in my time of need last night, I didn't feel right saying, "I wish I could help, but I'm busy. Sorry." I told her to bring E over for as long as she needed. I can't describe the look of relief on her face when she dropped him off. It reminded me of my own grad school experience and how stressful it was, especially during finals. There were times when all I could think about was studying, eating, or sleeping. It was hard enough, and that was before we had any kids. I can't imagine being in school now with little people who need my time and attention. I commend my friend for her efforts; she is doing a very hard thing.
I decided to take it a step further and I doubled the recipe for chili and cornbread that I was making for dinner. Bobby dropped off the extra batch for her and her family, and she later texted me, "Oh my gosh Amanda, thank you so much!! You probably felt that I'm not cooking anymore lately!! Thank you, this is so much, thank you!" I'm glad I was able to lift that burden for her. Service is good medicine.
2. My guardian angel. I definitely had one watching over me tonight. Our schedule got kind of crazy around 5 pm. The girls had a birthday party to go to and a rehearsal at church for the Christmas pageant tomorrow night. I was running way behind for everything, and when I was parking on the street for the birthday party I nearly took out the rear headlight on a sign post. I didn't even see it behind me until it was right next to me- literally centimeters from the side of the van. I don't know how I missed it, but I'm glad I did.
Later, when we were running [late] to get to the church, Sydney started complaining that she was hungry. I explained to her that was because she refused to eat anything at the birthday party and I hadn't packed any snacks so I couldn't do anything about it to help her. Then, in a moment of compassion, I realized that we would be driving right by the house in order to pick up 2 youth on the way to church. I told Sydney that I would run into the house to grab something for her to eat. As soon as I opened the door and stepped inside I smelled gas. I ran into the kitchen and saw that the front burner, the one with the pot of chili on it, was turned to the HI position. There were no flames, just gas coming out. It had probably been like that for about an hour- if it happened right before Bobby left, which I suspect it did- I think he bumped it on his way out the kitchen door to get to his car that was parked in the back. In any case, I quickly turned it off and opened the window to air out the room. If I hadn't gone into the house, it would've been another two hours at least until I would have returned home. I can't imagine how dangerous that would've been. Someone was definitely looking out for us.
3. Liam's ABC's. He sings the song over and over and it just gets cuter and cuter. At the end he says, "Now I know my EFG's, next time won't you sing with me!" I can't bring myself to correct him.
4. Sticky notes. Bobby could tell that I was in a bit of a rush and a funk when I herded everyone out the door this evening. When we got home Lillian and I found sticky notes all over the bathroom mirror. Bobby wrote a little note to each one of us. It brightened up my night. He's a sweet guy.
My List
Today I'm thankful for . . .
1. The Christmas tree in my living room that is sparkling with lights and hanging with years of memories in ornaments.
2. Christmas songs- can't get enough of 'em! Yay!
3. My wonderful neighbor friends. T came over after the kids were asleep so I could do some much-needed grocery shopping tonight. I'm grateful to have milk in my fridge again, and for friends who are so supportive.
4. Only one [and a half] more shifts of night float this week. Bobby has been working the night shift since Sunday. He comes home in the morning and sleeps all day until he has to get up to go right back to the hospital. It's a pretty miserable schedule. Tomorrow night will be the last shift- wahoo!- until he has to do it again at the end of the month. :-/
5. Antibiotics. Liam got a wicked ear infection over Thanksgiving break and had a high fever for five days. His antibiotics are finally starting to kick in and he's getting back to his normal self. Thank goodness. Now I'm ready for my head cold and sinus pressure to go away.
6. My new nieces!! Bobby's sister had a baby girl a few days before Thanksgiving. Her name is Piper and she's adorable! Then, on Thanksgiving day, my brother and his wife welcomed the long-awaited arrival of Baby Jane into their sweet little family. I'm grateful that everyone is healthy and doing well!
7. A clean kitchen. Unfortunately my kitchen is NOT clean at the moment. There are dishes piled in the sink and dried up apple peels from lunch on the counter. But when it is clean I always take an extra moment to enjoy it. Because I know it won't last very long. Now I'm going to leave my messy kitchen and go to bed. Maybe the cleaning fairy will visit while I'm sleeping.
1. The Christmas tree in my living room that is sparkling with lights and hanging with years of memories in ornaments.
2. Christmas songs- can't get enough of 'em! Yay!
3. My wonderful neighbor friends. T came over after the kids were asleep so I could do some much-needed grocery shopping tonight. I'm grateful to have milk in my fridge again, and for friends who are so supportive.
4. Only one [and a half] more shifts of night float this week. Bobby has been working the night shift since Sunday. He comes home in the morning and sleeps all day until he has to get up to go right back to the hospital. It's a pretty miserable schedule. Tomorrow night will be the last shift- wahoo!- until he has to do it again at the end of the month. :-/
5. Antibiotics. Liam got a wicked ear infection over Thanksgiving break and had a high fever for five days. His antibiotics are finally starting to kick in and he's getting back to his normal self. Thank goodness. Now I'm ready for my head cold and sinus pressure to go away.
6. My new nieces!! Bobby's sister had a baby girl a few days before Thanksgiving. Her name is Piper and she's adorable! Then, on Thanksgiving day, my brother and his wife welcomed the long-awaited arrival of Baby Jane into their sweet little family. I'm grateful that everyone is healthy and doing well!
7. A clean kitchen. Unfortunately my kitchen is NOT clean at the moment. There are dishes piled in the sink and dried up apple peels from lunch on the counter. But when it is clean I always take an extra moment to enjoy it. Because I know it won't last very long. Now I'm going to leave my messy kitchen and go to bed. Maybe the cleaning fairy will visit while I'm sleeping.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
