Thankful Thursday

For today's edition I thought I would put in my Top 10 things I am thankful for today. There is no real order of importance here.

10. I am thankful for my son's imagination. He is so creative and funny when he thinks of things to make believe. Recently he has been obsessed with Indiana Jones ever since we saw a Indiana Jones skit at Disney World. Andrew rented a few of the movies to let him watch too and for a while now I have had my little guy walking around adorned by a belt to hold his pocket knife (plastic toy butter knife), his gun (a flash light toy he has that has a pivot at one point so it resembles a gun in his mind) and of course another belt - looped once on its self and tucked inside his other belt for his whip. He turns his yellow fire fighter's hat backwards to get the wide brim part to be in the front - completing his look with a hat. I am thankful for his fun personality and that he makes me laugh every time he dresses up like that and makes me call him Indian Jones instead of Lyman.

9. I am thankful for the rain we have had recently. Usually or at least it has been our short experience that in Ohio it rains usually at least 2 times a week. Recently over the past 3 or so weeks we have had hardly any rain - resulting in maybe one or two times during that whole time. As a result the grass has started to brown in spots and it made me sad since one thing that I do love about living in Ohio is how green it is. Over the past couple of days we have had a series of good rain storms and the grass has reacted quickly towards recovery making me grateful.

8. I am thankful that Andrew puts up with my crazy hormone induced moods and dreams. It seems every couple of weeks I have some kind of irrational obsession or emotional dilemma that he patiently puts up with. Always telling me it will be okay, or comforting however necessary. Always submitting to the house work I am obsessed over doing but cant do myself (bushes). And never ever making me feel silly for feeling one way or another. Most recently I had a horrible dream that he died and I was left alone to work out funeral arrangements, the children's upbringing, decisions about his belongings and if or when to do something with them. All totally mortifying things and when I woke up that morning to an empty bed (Andrew had already left for work) I was even more worried about it. When I talked to him about it he simply reassured me everything would be fine and even promised me not to die. He could have laughed at my silly, wild and dramatic dreams and the stirred up emotions they cause afterwards - but he didn't.

7. I am thankful for Corilynn's "baby" voice that she uses whenever she describes anything small (human or inhuman), baby like or cute. She gets this little high pitched little voice and puckers her lips while using her hands to describe its miniature nature and talks sweetly about it. She frequently talks about the baby in Mommy's tummy this way and its just too cute.

6. Speaking of baby, I am thankful this baby has his/her appetite in line with how Id like to see things go this pregnancy with my body. I am thankful that instead of helping me pack on the pounds like the other two pregnancies did - having me gain 10 pounds by this halfway point in the pregnancy - the baby has chosen to take some strength from my already abundant "food storage" found in my bum, thighs and the pizza baby I hold in my tummy. I have only gained 1 pound so far this pregnancy at half way through! I am thankful for this for sure because starting this pregnancy heavier than I have with the other two pregnancies has not been easy when I considered the added weight likely to come. I think part of this low number is the fact that I couldn't keep anything down. Yeah for only 1 pound.

5. I am thankful it is a three day weekend for us. Andrew has tomorrow off as his Friday off for his work schedule and that makes me happy.

4. I am thankful that my sister, Nancy, who is just starting out as a foster parent has gotten her first set of foster children. Sisters, ages 5 and 3 and I am grateful at the wonderful and tender feelings she already has for these little girls and the blessing it will be in every one's life to have these additions to their house.

3. I am thankful for my discovery of Motherhood Maternity's belly band. What a lovely invention! Its just an elasticy strip of fabric in a tube that is about 15 inches long that I can put over my unzipped jeans, or under a shirt that isn't really maternity but doesn't quite cover my belly anymore and it makes it look like I am wearing a cute little white undershirt underneath - making my open fly disappear. And can I say comfortable! Check it out - these are awesome.

2. I am thankful for the green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and crispy lettuce in my fridge calling for me to make a chompalicious salad for tonight. I am also thankful for the delicious ranch dressing mix that I have - and how wonderfully it has chosen to take over my previous craving for cookies with dreams of white herb speckled goodness delicately dancing around said veggies.

1. I am thankful that over the past almost 5 years of being a Mom that I have learned to cope with the sound of a two year old's screaming tantrum when nothing at all is wrong. I am thankful that I have become able to ignore said tantrum when all other attempts to comfort, reason and understand the erratic emotions of that two year old fail. Can you guess what is going on at my feet currently?