Leftovers

I'm grateful for leftovers, especially Thanksgiving leftovers. I love the turkey, oyster stuffing, sweet potatoes, and the rest. After today, though I'm only going to have turkey left, though I'm considering making more of the rest. I'm also glad that my family is okay with eating the same thing for more than one day in a row.

Needs

I am grateful that all of my family's and my needs are taken care of to the point that the only reason that I ever feel the lack of any extra income is when I want to help others. I do wish right now that we had the extra funds to help so many that I know in need, but it is a great blessing that I am worried about others and their children and not my own.

I am also grateful that Darth Baby seems to be doing well. We had a perinatologist and an OB appointment today and she is doing fine. I am only around 2 cm dilated and barely effaced so we think she is going to hang tight for a while. With my first two, I was completely effaced at this point and starting to dilate and I am only days away from how long I carried the bear cub. Darth baby has a strong heartbeat. She did well on the NST. My blood glucose numbers are really well controlled (average of 78). So everything is looking good right now. I have my next two appointments in a week where I'll get another ultrasound to estimate size and check on her again.

Too young for knowledge?

I'm grateful that my parents did not restrict what I watched or read at any point in my life. I don't know if it is the right decision for every child, but it definitely was the one for me. I was not traumatized by watching some of the movies that I saw. I'm a little prone to nightmares anyway (as an adult I had nightmares for a week after seeing Titanic), but I think in my case the nightmares would have been sparked whether or not I had seen anything that others would consider inappropriate for a child. When it came to reading, I remember one of the ladies I babysat for used to regularly lend me books, and she was the first person I ever ran across that even thought to censor my reading material (Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear and I was 13) and she just made me ask my mom if it was alright for me to read it. My mother's response was to wonder why I would be asking. I'm also fairly sure that my parents never worried about what they discussed in front of us and my mom always answered questions when I asked them. Well, in one instance where I asked what masturbation was in church at around age eight after reading the word in a question in Catholic Digest, she did put it off until later. I really believe that never trying to dampen my curiosity or steer me away from what I wanted to know is the reason for my continuing to always strive for knowledge and my creativity. I hope that I remember this when it comes to my girls and do my best not to discourage their curiosity when I come across these situations when they are older.

Mom and hubby

I'm so grateful that my husband appreciates my mom's help so much. I have been so incredibly tired and slept an awful lot especially yesterday and today. There are a lot of husbands that cannot even fathom having their mother-in-law at their house from a Wednesday night until Saturday afternoon, and I love that my husband realizes how much she was needed to allow us extra sleep right now.

Thanksgiving recovery

I am grateful that despite a number of issues with Thanksgiving that everyone in my family took each problem with even temper and did not feel the holiday was ruined.

It started in the morning, with my sister S calling me to let me know that she was running a few hours late. This wouldn't be a big deal, but it was just the first thing. She called a short while later to let me know that she was throwing up and she wasn't going to come. She thought she had eaten something bad. Normally, she would have been still encouraged to come, but because a similar assumption was made during my pregnancy with the bear cub where I almost lost her, we are all paranoid enough that we left it at that. Because of this I felt a little guilty and the the promise of making her plates of food doesn't exactly make up for it.

Next came the fact that my mom found she had left all sorts of things in Austin, including some of her medication, some of the ingredients, the recipe for oyster stuffing (something my other sister R and I consider a requirement for the Thanksgiving meal to feel complete), and other assorted items. Luckily R had not left Austin and was able to bring some of the items.

Almost three hours after we started the turkey, we started wondering why we weren't beginning to smell it. My mom checked the roaster and learned that it had never turned on. The outlet that we had plugged the roaster into is a GFCI outlet and it had somehow been switched off, so we turned it back on and continued with the meal. This actually resulted in more time to make the other items on the menu and for R to show up with the missing ingredients, but it resulted in our eating hamburgers and sweet potato fries for our normal 1 pm Thanksgiving meal. BTW, my husband is great at making burgers and I am grateful for the fact that he stepped in to make sure we all chose to eat instead of waiting the extra three hours for the turkey.

There were various other issues, such as the pregnant woman forgetting to cook the raw sweet potatoes in advance and resorting to nuking them in the microwave and the bread not being placed in the oven until the rest of the meal was actually on the table, but it was a wonderful holiday despite certain missing items and the obstacles we faced. We ended up having a wonderful turkey, oyster stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and sweet potatoes. We also had rolls and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert a bit afterward.

I think in a lot of families all the things that came up would have resulted in a miserable day and horrible moods, especially with the hormonal pregnant woman snapping a few times over trivial things, but the holiday turned out wonderful, even if it was far from perfect.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am grateful for this holiday, which is my favorite. I love a celebration that includes food* and family and thanks for all we have, with no trappings that come along with some of the other holidays. I wish you all the best this day.

*Food in our house is still an idea in limbo because my beloved mother wants to wing it and this is not exactly her forte.

Cleaning Supplies

I am really grateful for some great cleaning supplies!

I love my Euro-Pro Hydra Canister Steamer (metal core). It heats the water like a pressure cooker. I think it wasn't produced for very long. My mom and aunt have a plastic version by different companies, but none seem to compare to mine. It heats about a quart of water and blows out the boiling steam for cleaning. I use it to clean my appliances like the dishwasher, the washing machine, the oven, and the microwave, in addition to bathtubs, tile, and grout. I will admit though that I think the use of this very cool machine may have contributed to the early demise of a microwave.

Another steam cleaner that I'm particularly fond of is my Bissell Little Green Machine. I'm on my second one of these after almost a decade. This machine got red wine out of a white carpet. I use this one for spot cleaning of any porous surfaces, like the couch, carpets, and rugs. I've even used this machine to suck up extra water that has spilled in areas that are just hard to get other wise. It is really great because the bear cub still spills a lot when drinking so I'm constantly cleaning up spots.

Another great cleaning supply is the steam mop. I will admit that I'm not as in love with my Shark model as I am with the first two machines I mentioned. It requires quite a bit of elbow grease and the water doesn't get as hot as I would like. However, if this thing were to break down, I would definitely replace it with another steam mop right away. I hate carpet and we removed all the carpet from the downstairs and replaced it with tile and laminate. I fill the tank with a vinegar and water mixture and make the downstairs smell like I spilled a big box of pickles, but it is a great deterrent to bugs, particularly roaches and ants.

I try to be extremely environmentally conscious, but there is one area that I will admit to being wasteful. I use a lot of sanitizing wipes (Clorox or Lysol usually as long as it is bleach free as I'm allergic to bleach). For most things that would require a paper towel, I use pieces of old towels and we go through very few paper towels, but after cleaning up almost anything, I wipe it with a sanitizing wipe.

The last thing I'm going to mention today on my cleaning supply list that I'm grateful for is an industrial black light. I have a few cheap ones from the pet store or Wal-mart, but they seem pretty useless in comparison to the ones I used as a drug and device investigator, so we use an industrial. They are great for making sure that areas are really clean and I sometimes use it to try to identify where a smell might be coming from or what it might be. It is also the reason that I'm satisfied cleaning with vinegar and steam instead of feeling the need for chemicals for things to be really clean.

Also, I love that cleaners come in lemon and orange scents. I love the smell of clean with a touch of the scent of citrus.

waning OCD

I am thankful that I am not OCD anymore as OCD as I used to be. I am so glad that I do not feel the need to finish reading the book in the previous post. A few years ago, I actually slogged through Ulysses by James Joyce, and that is a book that I'm fairly sure no one reads anymore unless they have OCD helping them finish it. I'm grateful that during this third pregnancy my hands are not covered in scabs from over-washing. I am thankful that even though I may have the occasional breakdown from the state of our house that I can mostly let it go and spend the quality time with my girls and husband that they deserve. I'm especially grateful that I am not modeling all those behaviors I used to exhibit to the nerdlet, who I'm sure would pick them up willingly and quickly.

Self Help Books

Today I had an perinatalogist appointment for a glucose download and an NST (non-stress test). I never know how long they are going to last for a number of reasons. My doctor sees people from not just San Antonio, but I know as far as drives 3 or 4 hours away and in a lot of cases my appointment gets pushed back. Also, Darth Baby isn't as reliably a mover for the NST as the nerdlet and the bear cub (the nerdlet always moved non-stop and the NSTs were always quick and the bear cub never moved much so I was always there forever). As I was leaving the car, I realized I had neglected to bring a book and I almost started crying thinking about having a long boring appointment with nothing to occupy myself with so I borrowed one from Q's car called Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs.

My appointment lasted a little less than an hour so I only had to plow through 83 pages of this garbage. The idea behind the book is pretty much in the title. I don't have a problem with the overall premise, but the actual writing and examples he gives just really pissed me off. He seemed to miss the fact that men and women should treat their wives and husbands with both love and respect. He also seems to think that respect for your husband means treating his precious, delicate ego with white kid gloves and that love for your wife means putting her on a pedestal and treat her like a princess. For Q and I, this would pretty much end our good relationship very quickly. He also seems think that acting like you love your wife and acting like you respect your husband regardless of whether or not you actually do is the most important thing and will fix all the ills, including your husband's philandering, which is obviously the woman's fault for not catering to his ego and pride. It also irritates me to no end that he really harps on the fact the bible verses say that wives should respect their husbands and men should love their wives (I don't disagree with the verses, but I do disagree with how he interprets it and then tries to use it to justify a woman never getting upset with her husband or letting him know of any faults he has). I think he is giving Christians and the Bible a bad name. I can only imagine one type of marriage that would really benefit from his advice and my imagination doesn't really lead to a very flattering image of the husband in that particular marriage.

So I when I got home I asked my husband about the book. He had been lent the book from a coworker and said he tried to read it but had gotten pretty irritated himself and stopped reading it on page 18. He says his major thing against the book is that he is afraid that people having issues with their marriage will take his advice and screw their marriage up even further.

So today I am thankful for my husband and actually helpful and good self help books. I am thankful to be in a relationship that thrives on both genuine love and respect and not the type of sexist relationship that is described as ideal in the passage of books like this. I am grateful for my husband's big, non-delicate ego. I am thankful for books like The Five Love Languages that are well written, have something insightful to say, and don't portray Christians and Christianity in such a bad light.

Baby Doe

I am so very thankful that Baby Doe's DNR has been lifted. Thank you again to everyone that helped and prayed for him.

Air conditioning

I am thankful for air conditioning. I can't imagine a place that I would really be comfortable without having it. Right now while I'm experience the extra heat that carrying a baby brings, I think that I would never want to be pregnant after the first one if there were no air conditioning to cool off with.

Update on Baby Doe in Arkansas: As of Sunday afternoon, the DNR is still on the baby and was placed there by the adoptive parents that left him in the hospital. They have no interest in the baby but will take him if he dies. I don't even have the words.

Thankful for people that care

Click here for a link to plea for saving Baby Doe.

The agency that has control has put a DNR on this baby in Arkansas. The Down Syndrome Community wants so much to save him and is looking for an advocate to represent him until paperwork can be processed for him to be adopted. Please, please help anyway you can, including prayers, helping finding out the name of the agency, and contacting the governor of Arkansas (http://governor.arkansas.gov/contact/index.php). There is no reason for this baby to die. I have included a portion of a letter to the governor if you have a hard time finding to words to include in a letter of your own.

I am requesting intervention from you in regards to Baby Doe, an infant that was supposed to be adopted but was left behind at Arkansas Children’s Hospital by the prospective parents. The agency that is in control has a DNR on this baby that was born with Down syndrome and because of this the baby is not receiving the care that he needs so that he lives long enough for paperwork to be processed for adoption. There are multiple families willing to adopt this child. In the interim while adoption issues are worked out, this child needs a guardian ad litem appointed to protect him. Please do what you can in order for the agency to remove the DNR and the child can receive the life saving efforts that any newborn deserves.

In your letter, please include that this baby boy is in Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Also include that fact there is a DNR that was placed by the adoption agency and that a DS adoption network has already identified multiple families that are willing to adopt this child. In the interim while adoption issues are worked out, this child needs a guardian ad litem appointed to protect him.

I would love to bring this baby home to our family, but the adoptive family needs to be homestudy ready and in Arkansas. There are multiple families willing to adopt this child working through their DSAs and the courts, but the paperwork still takes time and that DNR is an evil obstacle in the way.

I am grateful to the many that I know that have already written letters and said prayers for this boy and I am grateful for those that upon reading my plea will add their voices. Thank you so much!

*edit 11/22/2010 Official update on behalf of the Arkansas Down Syndrome Association:

Dana McClain, esq. a representative of the the protection and advocacy system for the state of Arkansas has looked into this matter, and based upon the information has been able to confirm as true and factual, at this time, is confidant that ACH is providing medically appropriate care, there is no DNR, and there is a competent guardian in place for the child.

Sleep

I'm grateful that I have a husband that understands that sometimes I just need to crash when he gets home and is willing to watch the girls even though both decided to skip napping today. Good night, all.

Chocolate

I am grateful for chocolate! I prefer my chocolate nice and dark. My favorite candy bar when I was little was Special Dark. During certain times of the month when I am not pregnant you will find that I have receipts that list two items: a feminine product and chocolate filled Oreos. I especially love my coffee when it has chocolate in it. I hear that the price of chocolate is about to go up a lot and I dread even the idea of that.

Chocolate is good for the environment. It is a rainforest product and is mostly grown my small farms and is sustainable. It is good for your mood. It's high in antioxidants and nutrients and has been shown to reduce blood pressure. Also, in case you didn't know, it tastes good.

San Antonio, TX

I'm grateful that I ended up in San Antonio. I love it. I love Texas. Initially, when I got a got in SA, I was really disappointed to leave Austin. There are a lot of really good things about Austin that I thought I was going to miss, but the longer I live in San Antonio, the happier I am here. When I'm not pregnant, I visit Austin at least once a month and instead of regretting leaving, I'm finding that Austin is no longer as good a fit for me as it used to be.

I love that San Antonio is big on recycling. We can recycle just about anything. We even recycle styrofoam. SA was the first city to commit to harvest methane gas from human waste on a commercial scale and turn it into clean-burning fuel and that biogas facility is now up and running. SA also has one of the lowest energy costs in the country. Austin talks about environmentalism, but San Antonio actually does it a lot more. Also, Texas has installed more wind power than any other state and if it was its own country it would be fifth in the world.

I really like that we have no state income tax. Our sales tax differs by county and city, but the maximum allowed in the state is 8.25% (which is what it is in more areas). I like that SA has a low unemployment rate. I love that Texas has HEB! I like that housing is affordable to almost anyone.


I also love that even with the mix of cultures that we have that racism isn't like it is in the rest of the country. We are considered part of the south, but I don't get the looks I get in Alabama or Georgia when I smile at random people. You don't see some of the overt bigotry that I have witnessed in Little Rock and New Orleans (except maybe in very East Texas near the Arkansas and Northern Louisiana border). You don't see the supressed quiet racism of the North. Additionally, there isn't a lot of bigotry towards the intellectually disabled. I see acceptance everywhere of my bear cub and we have a great Down Syndrome Association. Also, I see people with intellectual disabilities working and with family constantly. San Antonio has a very conservative culture, but it is filled with incredibly friendly people and is still open-minded especially about people's differences.

Before you consider moving here, let me note that we are high on the list of most uncomfortable cities due to the combination of high heat and humidity. We also have an extremely high allergen rate year round and people that move here find that even if they never had allergies before they get them here. Also, our average pay is probably a lot lower than average.

Q and I like to daydream about what it would be like for Texas to secede. I love being American and know how much better we have it than other countries first hand. I am like a lot of people though that are extremely dissatisfied with where our country is and where it is going, but I'm still proud to be a Texan and an American.

Authors

I'm grateful for finding new authors that I enjoy reading. I'm currently reading Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I only started reading him because he picked up The Wheel of Time series when Robert Jordan died. I am enjoying his writing style quite a bit. Two other authors that I have been enjoying that are new to me are Julie Kenner and Moira J. Moore. All three authors listed here are fantasy, but normally I read everything.

When I was pregnant with the nerdlet and afterward, I read every book in the library system on pregnancy and parenting. One of the things that stuck with me that was in a lot of the books was how new mothers become resentful of some of the things new fathers said about things that they missed that new mothers hadn't even had time to thing about, like a new father might say he missed going out for drinks with the guys or a game of golf while a new mother missed having five minutes for a shower. What do I find that I miss most? The ability to find time to read. Somehow I'm managing to still find some time to read, but I used to average about 200 books a year and now it is closer to 50, and I imagine with 3 it will go down even further.

Feel free to recommend any authors in any genre you read.

Ultrasounds

I'm grateful to live in a time of ultrasounds. I love that I know the gender months in advance of the birth. I even sort of like the diagnosis of gestational diabetes because I have gotten the extra views of my girls. It has been especially helpful this pregnancy because they gave me a beautiful view of Darth Baby's face which has helped me bond with her, which I had no problem with with my first two, but for some reason was not occurring as much during this pregnancy.

Thankful for my family

I was going to post how thankful I am that my husband is not self-conscious, but instead I am reminded again of how wonderful my husband and my in-laws are. I'm am so thankful that I have great in-laws, understanding and not quick to judge. I was pretty worried about this holiday season because we always spend one of the big ones (Thanksgiving and Christmas) with one side of the family and one with the other. This year, because of Darth Baby and my unwillingness to be too far from the hospital, we are staying put at home. I'm thankful that both sides of my family are taking it in stride and not blaming either me or Q for this decision but understanding the reasoning behind it. I'm so glad that family decisions aren't made into big deals outside our immediate family. I'm also grateful how wonderful of in-laws my family and my mom's family make.

Beautiful Weather

I'm thankful for the beautiful weather we have been having. Today started out a bit chilly, but it very quickly warmed up to still being cool, but warm enough to being enjoyable. It is mostly clear and bright, and unless you had specific weather related plans I think most people would describe it as practically perfect. I love that we've had so many of these beautiful days this year.

Tolerance

I'm so grateful that family and friends put up with me. I know I am a lot of work and not easy to deal with. Here is my thank you to all of you.

Growing up in the military

I'm a grateful for being a military brat. I have moved over 20 times in my life and I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the places that I have had. I have vivid memories of seeing the castles in Germany even though we left Germany when I was six. I enjoyed seeing the ruins and the rainforest in Panama. I am so glad that I got to see so much of America that I would not have otherwise. I also enjoyed being exposed to different cultures and languages. I like that I have had an opportunity to meet so many different people and am continually surprised at how so many people's lives from my past intersect with my own at various times. There are definitely down sides to growing up in the military (we were there during Noriega's coup), but overall it was a wonderful experience for me and I'm thankful that I had it.

Dining out with GD

I'm grateful for the places that I can eat out while having Gestational Diabetes. Diabetes is different for everyone and my dinner meals are 28 grams of protein, 30 grams of carbohydrates, a serving of fruit (not considered part of my carbs), a dairy serving (also not part of my carbs), and two servings of vegetables. As long as I stay under the carbohydrate limit, I can expect to have a glucose blood reading of between 90 and 115. I'm currently on insulin, but these meals were working for me for months before without the insulin.

Jason's Deli
I get the manager's special. It's a half sandwich, a bowl of soup, and strawberries and cantaloupe. I almost always get the tomato basil soup, which I count as my vegetable and which the bear cub loves. The sandwich varies, but my favorite is the Philly chick wrap. I also absolutely love the Black Currant Tea which is a Jason's Deli exclusive (if anyone knows where I can get this tea elsewhere, please let me know). Once this baby is born, I'm going to eat a lot of deli meat sandwiches which I'm currently avoiding due to the listeria risk.

Olive Garden
As I said before, everyone that has diabetes has a different diet. I'm lucky enough to not have pasta as a trigger food. I used to skip the bread, croutons, and pasta and get the chicken marsala with the side substituted with the squash medley. This would allow me to get the no sugar added chocolate volcano cake with strawberries that they used to offer. Sadly, they no longer offer this dessert and Darth Baby isn't fond of squash. Now, I like to get the braised beef and tortelloni and it is two meals for me. I also like to get a side of asparagus. Our local Olive Garden is generous with the asparagus, but I've learned that other locations are sometimes pretty stingy with the amount of asparagus. This sounds so good right now to me that I may drag my hubby for dinner.

Outback
I get the Alice Springs Chicken with the vegetable medley and a side salad, and if I skip the bread and croutons, I can have cheesecake for dessert with no topping, though truthfully I usually go for a little of the bread because I love it. The chicken is enough for 3 meals and the vegetables enough for two. I used to get their citrus chicken, but it isn't carried here anymore.

Taco Cabana
The only thing on the menu that works for me is the fajitas with no beans or rice. The beans and rice usually go to the girls and they love it. The fajita meat is enough for multiple meals (two for me with left over tortillas), but for the second meal, I need to use the veggies and other toppings from home.

Chick-Fil-A
I can eat almost anything on the menu that isn't fried. I LOVE the Southwest Chargrilled Salad and I joked with my first two that they were made up of 1/7 of these salads. Darth baby hasn't gotten them once a week or more, but I still love these salads. I eat the whole thing, but it probably could be split into two if I added more protein for the second day.

McDonalds
That's right, the evil fast food empire. I get the Cheeseburger Happy Meal or the Double Cheeseburger Big Kids Meal with apples and I order a side salad for $1. The nerdlet gets the milk from my meal and a few bites of my burger and usually snatches apple pieces. Occasionally, I will order her her own cheeseburger meal (she won't eat chicken nuggets unless they are from Chick-Fil-A) if she tells me she is hungry enough ahead of time.

I cannot tell you how much I am thankful that I have McDonalds available to us. The nerdlet is 3 and scrapes 23 pounds. When she chooses she can eat a whole happy meal and I'm grateful for the possibility of it putting weight on her (so far no luck with that). I like that she gets a chance to work on her social phobia. I like that my bear cub finally was willing to try self feeding with their french fries (and I tried every other suggestion given to me before resorting to that one). The nerdlet will almost always choose the apples over the fries. So, yes, I am grateful for McDonald's. Suck on that, San Francisco!

Just a note for the judging out there. We are not eating out all the time, but we do eat out a bit. However, I gained 18 pounds with my pregnancy with the nerdlet, 12 with the bear cub, and am sitting around 12 so far with Darth Baby. I don't think that eating out is contributing to a lack of nutrition or to an excess of weight in our family. It is about choices.../end rant.

My bear cub benefits

I am thankful of all the things that are available to my bear cub. I'm grateful for ECI. I'm especially grateful for her old therapy team, who I feel did so much for her. I'm glad that I live in a time period where no one has tried to get me to give her up to an institution. I'm so happy to have 'Signing Times' because there is no doubt in my mind that she would not be using 30+ signs (I stopped counting) at 19 months if we did not have that. I'm glad that there are laws protecting my daughter's rights to inclusion in school and other places. There are, of course, a lot of places with vast room for improvement, but I am aware of all sorts of things that benefit her (and the people that love her) to be thankful for.

I'm also really glad to be in San Antonio. There are so many people here that are having children with Down syndrome and there are many, many more that have grown up knowing someone with it. I have seen very little prejudice against her in real life (except for the 'R' word). I'm so happy to live in a place where life is valued so much more than it seems it is in the rest of the US and world. I've read hundreds of birth stories and none were as good as mine. I did not encounter anyone in the hospital that showed anything less accepting of the bear cub than they did of the nerdlet.

Costco Rules!

I am thankful for Costco. It sounds very superficial, I know. My nerdlet loves Costco. She has argued with my MIL that she wanted to go to Costco instead of the toy store. The other day she asked to go to Six Flags and when I told her that Six Flags was not open right now, she immediately asked, "Is Costco open?" We use it as a bribe, "If you take a nap, we'll go to Costco when you get up" and it works. We don't even have to buy anything. She goes to see the seasonal items (right now the Christmas lights and ornaments) and the flowers. She goes for the samples. I'm pretty sure she will eat anything given to her in a little paper cup. She likes to run through the cold room seeing what fruit and veggies they have. Today she was a little disappointed because they didn't have strawberries or broccoli.

I'm rather fond of Costco myself. When I'm not pregnant, I go on Tuesdays because that is when new books are released and they are discounted much higher at Costco than the bookstore. Q and I are rather fond of Adele's chicken sausages and they are much cheaper than at HEB. I probably wouldn't go as often if it wasn't so close (2 miles, if that), but I'm really glad they are.

Feminine Wiles

Yeah, I don't actually have any feminine wiles, but today I am thankful for being female. I'm not very traditionally feminine. I like computers and science and I am more than proficient with them. I can be very aggressive and intimidating. I walk quickly and not with a lot of grace. I'm more analytical than sensitive and less socially perceptive than most women. Yet, there are definite ways that I enjoy being a woman.

I'm most especially grateful that I get to be the mother. I'm thankful that I get to be the one that feels the babies moving inside. I like being able to wear skirts and dresses and soft satiny things and still be able to wear more masculine clothes without there being a stigma. I don't often wear make-up, high heels, or jewelry, but I love that I have the option. I like having soft skin despite not using products to help (though Q and I have a theory about that maybe being from the crazy and not from the being female). I like being able to multitask well (I know a lot of men are good at this, but on average women are better). I like that I can smile at almost anyone and be met with another smile and not fear or anxiety.

Also, it is particularly nice to be a woman in this time period, when we are not powerless and can make choices to be all or none of these things.

Thankful for my Mom

I'm so very thankful for my mom. I'm especially thankful that at her age she is so youthful, energetic, and healthy. She's been coming down a lot to help me clean and get ready for the new baby and does so much more than just keeping my girls occupied. Today, my sciatic nerve has been giving me an abnormally hard time (thank you Nerdlet for struggling so much when having your hair brushed) and I've been fairly useless most of the afternoon. I'm also grateful that she is on a like mind of what I find acceptable for cleaning (not just organizing and doing a thorough job of what is being addressed). I've been so frustrated lately about trying to get it altogether and I'd likely be in tears today from not being able to finish. We're having a birthday party for the Nerdlet tomorrow and although it isn't spotless, it is certainly much more presentable than it would have been had Q and I been the only ones working on it.

Crafts and sewing

I'm so thankful that I live in a day and age where I so many arts and crafts are available to me. I love my sewing machine and my serger and my quilting machine. I love that I can play with fabric. I love that I can play with glass and paints and wood in so many ways.

I think of my grandmother who was very intelligent and creative, but she was born the eleventh of twelve children to a poor Mexican copper miner in Morenci, AZ, before it even became a state. She married young and had her first of fifteen children at age 16. Despite having to be a mother so young and to so many children, she still found a way to be creative with sewing by hand and crocheting. She would have loved to be able to play with half of the tools for creativity that I have stashed all over the house. She would have been amazed to see me toss a piece of my daughter's clothing in my sewing machine and embroider a flower on it in less than 10 minutes. My grandmother is the one that finally taught me to crochet after everyone else turned me down (attention span of a bumblebee, little social ability, and no sense doesn't really make for the ideal student, especially one that is still a child). I'm so grateful for her and the path that she led me down for it was the first of many crafts that have brought me joy.

Facebook

One of the things that I'm really grateful for is the Down syndrome community and how wonderfully supportive they are in general. I'm really glad that I finally decided while looking for something to do while pumping milk for the bear cub was to join Facebook. The large majority of my facebook friends are parents of children with Ds. I also have a few friends that actually have Ds and they are an inspiration to me in regards to my bear cub. I learn so much about what is available in new research, what problems to prepare for when she starts school, what new toys or existing toys help are kids, and what books people have found most helpful. I also love that some of my friends are advocates like you couldn't believe. One particular individual posts links in regards to people with Ds daily, flies around the world as an advocate, and even dyed her hair pink to bring awareness to more people. I get the pleasure of seeing photos and videos of people enjoying life as they should and it brings such joy to me to view them.

Q was telling me that while listening to NPR he learned that a lot of people are blaming facebook and text messaging on breakups of their relationship. It is a tool that can be used for good or ill, and the Ds community certainly uses it for good. I think it should be obvious that if your significant other cheats on you and is using facebook or texting assist them, that the media isn't the cause. People tend to show their negative side more when they aren't face to face. Even within the Ds community you occasionally see negativity, but it is rare and not a lot of people I know get caught up in it. In general, in my life, the facebook Ds community has been a wonderful thing for me and the people that have welcomed me to view the pieces of their lives and share in the ups and downs of raising a child with Ds has immeasurable value. I can only hope that I give others reason to be grateful for this community, also.

The past

I'm grateful for my past and what it has made me. I've touched on this before, but even the bad things that have happened in my life have shaped me and help make me into a better person. It's particularly strong a feeling today because today is my dad's birthday and so I've been thinking a lot about him. I really think he is the reason that I am such a strong person. I know I would never condone his methods for child raising, which are more in tune with what would be used internment camps, but I do know that because of his influence I am a better, stronger person. I'm grateful for my first husband (short marriage that the Catholic church didn't even think was a real marriage) because Q and I would not have the wonderful marriage we do without my having the experience and growth from the former relationship. I'm grateful for my mom's family and their examples of acceptance and love through everything because they have shown me so much. I'm grateful for every little thing that has happened in my life and I wouldn't change a bit of it because I would never risk losing all the wonderful things in my life.

Thankfulness Day 2

Today I'm especially grateful for my superb in-laws. Seriously, my in-laws are wonderful. They are helpful and patient. They are understanding of the nerdlet and my temperaments and that we are slightly different from the rest of the group. They have accepted me from the beginning (maybe too much so in some cases).

They have never given me or the bear cub any negativity towards the fact that she has an extra chromosome and have given lots of positivity. The most I have to complain about in regards to the trisomy is that maybe they aren't as big of advocates as they could be.

They understand that my girls and their cousins are the most important thing in our lives. They would never do anything actively to endanger them and they wouldn't allow anything to happen through their inaction. I also LOVE that they are willing to include Little Miss, my sister, R's daughter in this group.

I'm so lucky to have them and I only wish that my other family members, like my mom and sister could have been as lucky.

Happy for Good Pregnancies

I have a lot probably I could update on, but I'm just going to make a thankful post. I am thankful that my pregnancies have gone as well as they have. I know that a lot of Q's and my own family would think I'm nuts for thinking this, but it's true. My big fears for a bad pregnancy have been preeclampsia, months of forced bed rest, or a really early delivery of some sort, and I've had none of that or any horrible surprise issues. I've had people tell me that they have had the worst pregnancy for whatever reason, and both my husband and my MIL will disagree with them and list all my issues (some more personal than I would likely share), but I've really felt like the pregnancies haven't been that bad and I'm grateful for the superb doctors I have involved in my care.

That being said, I am not going to miss being pregnant at all and have a kind of wonder at people that have experienced pregnancies that allow them to feel this way.