30 Days of Thanks: Day 30

As silly as this sounds, I'm thankful that I have so many things to be thankful for.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 29

We made it down to Oklahoma, and I'm thankful for the mostly-smooth trip down here.

I have lots more to say about the trip, but I'm too tired so that will have to wait until a later time.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 28

I'm thankful that with this move, I don't have to lift a single box. Having movers has made me super spoiled and I will never go back to U-Hauling it again!



On a slightly-related note: My internet connection will most likely be spotty for the next couple of days, so sorry in advance if things are a bit slow around here.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 27

For all the friends and wonderful memories we've made in Illinois.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 26

I'm thankful for the yummy, yummy Indian food we had for dinner tonight. I will definitely miss all the awesome ethnic food we're able to get here.

Now back to my food coma.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 25

In the past week or so we've started the letting Ella have some whole milk in a sippy. Originally I was planning on waiting until after she was a year old, but for a variety of reasons and under the advice of our pediatrician we decided to introduce it a bit early. 

To be quite honest, I'm a little sad that she's taken to it so readily. I fully expected to have to warm it up, mix it with breast milk, try a different type of cup, etc., to get her to drink it. She took that cup, though, and drank it down like she had been doing it her whole life. 

Transitioning her to whole milk has made me realize how glad I am that I've been able to breastfeed her, and that it looks like I will be able to make it to my initial goal of one year. Before she was born I was of the mindset that I would give it a shot and see how it went, and if for whatever reason it didn't work out, then we'd use bottles. Now, almost a year later, I can't imagine not breastfeeding her and missing out on that special time with her. Hopefully I can make it one more year!  

30 Days of Thanks: Day 24

Today, I am thankful for my fellow December mommies. They make me laugh and cry, and help me to realize that we are all on the front lines of mommyhood together.

It's hard to explain to people the bond we all share. Yet they have been there for me throughout all the highs and lows of my life, ever since the days when we first saw those two pink lines. Yesterday, when I was having a crummy time of things, I had friends text, email, and call me to pick up my spirits and offer words of encouragement. You ladies know who you are, and all hold a very special place in my heart.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 23

One of the hardest things is to be thankful when things don't go as planned. This time last week, it seemed like everything was falling into place. Then we got the inspection report back on the house we wanted to buy.

Foundation repairs needed. Mold. Presence of past water damage. Radon levels questionably high. The list went on and on.

We made the decision that as much as we want to buy a house and be settled, this house is not the one for us. So now we are back at step one of the home buying process. Ella's first birthday will be spent in some sort of temporary housing situation. There won't be any decorations or Christmas tree for the holidays. I'm more than a little bummed out.

In the midst of my disappointment, I'm trying to remember to be thankful. The home inspection ensured that we were aware of the multitude of problems, and won't be buying something that will be a constant source of stress and money down the line.

::Sigh:: Perhaps we'll be in a house in time for my birthday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! We are heading out in a bit to have dinner with Jim's sister and brother-in-law and some good family friends. If I'm not in too much of a carb-induced haze later on, I'll try to post some pictures of our dinner. Hope everyone has a nice, relaxing, food-filled weekend!

Edit to add some photos from our festivities:

Clockwise from top left: Waiting patiently for food; enjoying cranberries (pretty much the only thing she wanted to eat); the face she made after every bite of cranberries; a view of the spread.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 21

I'm thankful for these past 11 months with my (not-so) little girl. How is it that this time next month she will be a year old?!

30 Days of Thanks: Day 20

Every now and again, I experience a perfect moment. Tonight I had one of those. 

Normally at Ella's bedtime, I'm in such a rush to get her through her bedtime routine so I can have some quiet time myself. Bath, diaper, pajamas, teeth brushed, book read, nurse, bed- we have it down to an exact science by now. 

Perhaps it's because of her looming first birthday, or perhaps because of all the changes in our lives right now, but tonight I slowed things down, and we did things on her time. We splashed around in the tub until her fingers were pruned and she was done playing. We cuddled up together and read her book, and I continued reading while she was nursing. 

She ended up falling asleep in the middle of the book, and I read to her for a while longer. I thought about putting her down in her crib. Instead, I held her up against me and tried to memorize everything about that moment to hold in store for a time when she's too old to want to snuggle up with her mommy. The softness of her hair, and how it dries in every direction. How her face squishes up against my arm. The way her mouth hangs half-open, and the little snores she occasionally gives. Her still-tiny hand, clutching at my shirt. How all the troubles and worries of the world seem to melt away when I am holding that soft, comforting little body up against mine. 

As your daddy says to you every night, "Good night, sleep tight, we'll see you in the morning light." 

30 Days of Thanks: Day 19

I'm a huge wuss when it comes to watching anything remotely scary on the TV. I'm thankful that my husband doesn't mock me (too much) for turning into a five-year-old if a show has something scary.

Case in point: We were watching Dr. Who the other evening. The episode was "Blink." If you've seen it, you know that it's more suspenseful than terrifying. However, I still was scared, and spent a good portion of the episode with a blanket over my head, repeatedly asking Jim if it was safe to look at the TV. (You may wonder why I don't simply leave the room or turn on something different. It's because it's way worse not knowing how it ends).

I'm sure he probably thinks that I am slightly ridiculous. But I'm ever-thankful that he puts up with my nonsense, and that he has only once tried to grab my leg to scare me more while I hide in my blanket fort.

30 Days of Thanks: Days 17 & 18

Day 17: For a fun day of hanging out with friends and family. We had a great lunch downtown with some friends at bd's Mongolian grill, complete with dessert at Red Mango. Later on my sister-in-law and brother-in-law came by for a bit to hang out with their favorite niece.

Day 18: For the fact that in the eyes of my daughter, my singing and dancing are incredibly awesome and can always bring a smile to her face.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 16

We are closing in quickly on Jim's last day of work. He has some vacation time accrued so he's using some of those days to hang out with us girls. I'm thankful for the (hopefully) lazy three-day weekend ahead of us. Here's to three days of vegging on the sofa, hanging out with friends, and doing some fun stuff around Chicago.

30 Days of Thanks: Days 14 & 15

Being sick while having a sick baby is kicking my ass, so yet again I am behind in updating and am doing two posts in one. Last night I had every intention of writing a post, but apparently I fell asleep on the couch at 7PM.

Day 14: Yesterday I had to take Ella to the pediatrician since she's been sick for 10 days, with an intermittent fever, and the pediatrician was concerned she might have an ear infection. Nothing came back as being particularly worrisome, and the verdict is that she has either a virus/very bad cold, and whatever it is simply has to run its course. Unfortunately in a baby her age, that might be up to three weeks. Great. I'm really hoping that it doesn't take three weeks to leave my system too. I'm thankful, though, that it isn't anything serious, and that we have great healthcare.

Day 15: I am thankful that we have an awesome public library system. I love reading, more than almost anything (except red velvet cake...joking), and I'm glad that I can indulge my love of books without it costing me a fortune. Our library here also has so many fantastic programs for children, and I really enjoy taking Ella to story time each week.

30 Days of Thanks: Days 10-13 (yes, I know I'm cheating)

We've been on the road again, this time back to Oklahoma for more house hunting. Since it's a bit hard to update my blog with no internet access (yes, I live in circa 2002 with no smart phone or latest Apple thingy), I'm cheating a bit and combining several days into one post.

Before we left, Ella was kind enough to share her illness with us. Nothing quite like getting on a flight looking like you are carrying the Black Plague. I'm sure everyone was thrilled to have us there.

To keep everything short, 14 houses and one entire package of DayQuil later, we figured out which house we wanted to make an offer on. Monday morning we made the offer, they countered while we were at lunch, and before we got on the plane to head back to Chicago we managed to come to an agreement with the sellers.

Even though I feel like I'm cheating by not having separate posts for the past few days, I think that a house is big enough to cover four days worth of thankfulness.

30 Days of Thanks: Day Nine

Whoever invented DayQuil, today I salute you. Enough said.

30 Days of Thanks: Day Eight

Trying to plan out the logistics of our move to Oklahoma has been a huge source of stress. We have been assigned a relocation consultant, who is responsible for helping us arrange everything. Sounds great in theory, but in reality it means that everything has to get filtered a gazillion different ways before it can actually get done. For example, we needed to get a moving company. Jim has to call up our person. She then has to send us the list of approved moving companies. Jim has to send it to me, I have to say, "I don't care, they all look good, pick one," and he then has to call the relocation consultant back. She has to call up the moving company for us, then call us back saying it's okay for us to talk to them. After all of that, we can finally talk to someone about getting a moving truck. For a person who wants to get stuff done, and be in charge of everything, this is a nightmare.

We were told this morning that it would be next to impossible to get movers on any of the days that work with our schedule, due to the Thanksgiving holiday. When I got off the phone this morning, we were looking at the possibility of me having to stay up here for an extra month with Ella after Jim started his new job, because no one was willing to work with us.

Enter Ed. He is my hero in this whole situation. He spent this afternoon calling around and found people willing to be up here the day after Thanksgiving to pack up our stuff, and someone to come move it the week after. Maybe I have awesome powers of persuasion. Maybe it was the screaming child in the background. Maybe he's sympathetic to the plight of over-stressed moms. Whatever his reasons, I am thankful that he was willing to go the extra mile to help me out today.

30 Days of Thanks: Day Seven

This week has not been kind to us here at Two Nerds. Daylight savings time, broken furnace, teething/possibly sick baby, late nights looking at house listings...I've definitely been stress-eating the leftover Halloween candy.

But then in the midst of everything, there are moments like this. The baby is in bed. Jim is still at work. Dogs are quietly napping. We're doing take-out for dinner (Just because. It's not someone's birthday or anything. This is a super rare occurrence). The house is relatively clean. Even if this moment only lasts for five minutes, it's five minutes where I don't have to do anything. And I'm beyond thankful for that.

30 Days of Thanks: Day Six

Ah, election day. Also known as the day when my Facebook newsfeed is filled solely with political statuses.

I took Ella with me to vote today, and even though I know she won't remember, I want to set an example for her. I'm thankful that we have the right to vote, without fear for physical harm. And I'm thankful for the women who fought many years ago for my right to vote. I hope that Ella will grow up to recognize the importance of having an informed political opinion and will never be afraid to make her voice heard.