Day 6 :: Photo A Day and 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 6: Today I am thankful to live in the United States. We have the privilege and right to vote and take part in our governmental process. We have many freedoms that were bought with a high price that others in the world don't enjoy. I really have no reason to ever complain about anything because I'm better off than like 90% of the world. While all the debating sometimes annoys me, I remember that there are few places in the world that people could openly debate such things and I'm thankful.

Photo A Day: A Favorite Thing
I always prefer to right with Sharpie Pens

Day 5 :: Photo A Day and 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 5: Today, I'm thankful that we did the hard work of making Jacob learn to put himself to sleep. Sure, he still wakes up in the night to eat, but putting him down at nap times and bed times are most of the time stress free. We do it about the same time every day, following his cues as well. We went through some hard weeks of letting him cry a while. He still fusses a bit, but puts himself to sleep.

Photo A Day: 5 o clock
I was at my nanny job and this is what it looked like at 5...

Day 4 :: Photo A Day and 30 Days of Thankfulness

For today's 30 Days of Thankfulness, I'm going to lump my family in together. If I took a day to be thankful for each member of just me immediate family, well, that'd take up the whole month. I'm the oldest of 11 kids. That doesn't count parents, in-laws, aunts and uncles, cousins....you get my point. Sometimes, family members are difficult to deal with, but I know I'm difficult to deal with sometimes, too, so it all evens out. I wouldn't trade any of them for the world. Marriage is a beautiful thing for a lot of reasons, but one important one is the expansion of family. I have twice the love, friends, encouragement and support! Jacob is well loved by them all, and so are we.

Photo A Day 4 :: TV
Most every Sunday, we watch NFL on TV and watch our Fantasy Teams.

Day 3:: Photo A Day and 30 Days of Thankfulness

Something I'm Thankful For:

It probably goes without saying, but I'm crazy thankful for my closet ally in the world, Jim. Sure, it goes without saying for me, but sometimes those things are the most important. I was just reading on Facebook last night about someone going through a difficult divorce and it hurt my heart. 

Jim is my best friend. There's no one I'd rather spend a free day with than him. He speaks truth to my confusing emotions and helps me sort out my thoughts. He is an amazing Dad and loves us both so well. He is the man of the house, the leader that I look to for guidance and I know Jacob will do the same. 

Day 3 :: Breakfast

Today was a picture of breakfast! This is what I eat EVERY MORNING.

Day 2 :: Photo A Day and 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 2 of Something I'm Thankful for: So thankful for a healthy, happy little boy! He is the most challenging and yet at the same time the best part of my days! His smile and giggle make me smile, and when he shakes his fists at me because he wants me, even though it means he's probably a little bit spoiled, my heart is full because he loves his momma! I'm so thankful God chose us as stewards of his life; we seek His wisdom daily in doing our part the best that we can.

Day 2 of Photo A Day: Color
The Autumn color palette is by far my favorite of the year!

I realize the link may not be working from yesterday's post, so here's the list from her website (Fat Mum Slim).

Jacob :: 9 Months

Yesterday, Jacob turned 9 months old! We went to the doctor for his check up, so here's what we found out, plus some other important information in my favorite way of writing, a list:

• He weighs 26 pounds 2 ounces
• He is 31 inches long (that's almost a yard!)
• He is still off the chart in height and weight, but follows a proportional curve above the graph
• He can play Pat A Cake, Peek A Boo, give high fives, wave (sometimes at appropriate times) and has good control of the "pincer" grasp (using his index finger and thumb to grab things) and a good "vocabulary" (makes lots of different sounds with his mouth in response to things).
• He is wearing 18-24 month clothes, but we've even had to venture into 2T for pajamas and some t-shirts.
• He was a skunk for his first Halloween
• I did find some shoes from Old Navy that will stay on his feet (as long as he isn't able to pull them off!)
• We will start offering table food to him since he seems to be snobby about preferring nursing over baby food. Feeding my child has been the hardest part so far about being a Mom. I never know if I'm doing the right thing or when to change. That probably sounds weird because you would think eating would be something you wouldn't have much trouble with, but it's hard for me. I need a checklist!
• He got a flu shot today and cried less than a minute.
• Still loves jumping-jumping-jumping in his bouncer and is content to sit in the floor with toys to play.
• Has made no motion toward crawling. He's got until 12 months to start or we'll have to do some physical therapy. I've been assured/encouraged that this is not uncharacteristic by other mom-friends. Things change so fast, anyway, I'm not worried about it at all. We'll be adding in some baby massage/exercises to see if that helps.
• He still doesn't sleep through the night. We go 7 hours at the most, but some nights he wakes up 2 or 3 times. If I didn't have a job, I'd probably be more into to crying it out in the middle of the night, but knowing nap times are my only "me" time at home to get stuff done (like showering or Bible Study or cleaning) before I go to work in the afternoons just makes me want to get him back to sleep ASAP so I can go back to sleep, too. I figure once he weans from breastfeeding, I'll be more gung-ho about making him cry it out.
• He's been wearing a disposable diaper at night- every diaper he was wearing was leaking and I was done changing sheets/jammies in the middle of the night. We're hoping for some different diapers for Christmas that will change that.

And now, for cute pictures:

Day 1 :: Photo A Day and 30 Days of Thankfulness

I'm going to jump on two bandwagons for the month of November.

NOVEMBER

The first is Photo A Day. I've tried this a few times, but it was before I got my new iPhone and so it's much easier to share pictures now. I'll be doing this Photo A Day Challenge!

The other thing is 30 days of Thankfulness!

Being thankful and focusing on the things you have and not the things you don't can do WONDERS to your attitude and perspective on life. It's pretty much a guarantee! Join with me?

This means I'll occasionally be posting twice a day, but it's my blog and I'll do what I want!

Day 1 :: Something That Starts With "C"

Day 1 :: A fitting place to start for being thankful is the beginning. For me, that's my Heavenly Father's love. All the rest of the good gifts (i.e. things I'm thankful for) are from Him through the work of Christ on the cross! Without it, I am dead in my sin, doomed to a life of hopelessness.