Gratitude Challenge : Days 21-24 and Other Things

So I have been really ungrateful, huh?

Haha the last few days have been insanely busy for me.  We haven't spent a night at home in several days.  Thursday night we had Thanksgiving dinner at Clay's parents house.  Friday, I went with my sister and mom to eat lunch, get pedicures and go shopping for Whit's birthday.  Clay got a haircut for the pictures we are getting taken tomorrow, and then we spent the night at my mom's so she could watch Ellie the next day while Clay and I were at work.  Saturday, Clay and I spent the day at work.
Today, Clay is working and guess what... so am I.  I picked up an extra shift to make up for a shift I missed earlier in the week.  So Whitney has the babe.  And here I am, at work on a slow Sunday, and I decided I need to catch up on my neglected blog. 

30 Days of Gratitude Challenge

Gratitude Challenge : Day 21 (what would have been Thursday...)

I am grateful for my in-laws.  We don't get to see them very often because Clay and I have crazy work schedules and they live an hour away.  Finding a day when everyone has time off is pretty tough.  But it's always great when we do get to see them.  We had so much fun having dinner with everyone Thursday night.  Ellie had woken up really cranky that morning, and by the time we made it to Syracuse she was a mess and didn't like anything or anyone but mom.  I finally got the idea to strip her down and let her be naked, because sometimes my baby really hates to be dressed.  This was one of those times.  As soon as she was down to her diaper, she had so much fun with her grandparents and aunts and uncles.  We always have a hoot with the Weathersbys.  The extended Weathersby branch in Arizona are amazing people too - and I am grateful to have married into this family.  I can't wait for the Arizona Weathersbys to meet little Ellie - hopefully sometime soon!! 

Gratitude Challenge : Day 22 (what would have been Friday...)

I am grateful for the health insurance we have through Clay's job.  It has been the biggest blessing to our family.  When Clay and I were first married, I was having serious problems with my ovaries, and guess what?  We didn't have insurance. We have spent the last two years paying off thousands (and I mean thousands) of dollars of medical bills from that time in our life.  (Let's be honest - the beginning of our marriage was tough.  Clay confessed to me the other day that he thought we were going to get divorced. Nice, huh?)  In January, we will have all of them - with the exception of one hospital stay - paid off.  A few weeks ago, I went to the doctor because I thought I had broken my hand.  Turns out, I had severely inflamed muscles and had to wear a brace for about two weeks.  I got the bill for the visit in the mail this week.  The visit was over two hundred dollars.  Guess how much we had to pay?  $32.00.  Having health insurance - and good health insurance - has been such a blessing in our lives. 

Gratitude Challenge : Day 23 (what would have been Saturday...)

I am grateful for the food I have to eat and the clean clothes I have to wear.  Very basic it seems.  One thing I really like about my job is that it keeps things in perspective for me.  When I come to work, I encounter the homeless daily.  I see people that don't have enough to eat or nice clothes to wear.  Most of us can count on some type of dinner at night - whether it's a gourmet meal or a box of mac n cheese.  Most of us have a warm coat that we can snuggle into when it's cold.  These things are easily at our disposal - and so I think sometimes we forget that there really are people out there who don't have these things like we do.  Whenever I'm feeling down about something in my life, it seems coming to work and seeing someone who is less fortunate than I am humbles me very quickly.  I am very blessed. 

Gratitude Challenge : Day 24 - TODAY! :)

Today, I am grateful for my family that helps me with Ellie.  Yesterday when I picked Ellie up from my mom's house after a long day at work and got home, I was so overwhelmed with emotion for some reason.  I am SO glad that I don't have to drop my baby off with someone I barely know to watch her while I work.  Leaving Ellie to go to work has been hard, and it definitely hasn't gotten easier.  In fact, the older Ellie is getting, the harder leaving her is getting.  There is nothing in this world that beats hanging out with my daughter - playing with her, comforting her when she's upset, cuddling with her, teaching her new things.  I still think work is a mental break from baby mode for me and helps me be a better me.  Being a mom is hard work, I'm not going to lie.  It's the hardest job I've ever had.  It's also the most rewarding.  But coming to work the one or two days a week I do helps me hit "reset".  It is hard enough to leave Ellie, but I am so grateful that when I am at work I don't have to worry about her well being or if she is being watched or loved.  I love that I only miss her - I don't have to worry about her being neglected.  And when I come home, I am refreshed and ready to be mom again.  I am so grateful my mom, step-mom and sister are willing to help me out.  The few times we need a sitter a month they are always willing to take her and love on her for a few hours.  And I'm happy to let them. 

 I'm so excited to have the next two days off with my husband and daughter.  We are getting Ellie's six month pictures taken at CameraShy tomorrow - I am so excited.  So look for some cute pics on the blog tomorrow night.  :)  I'm hoping Clay and I can get out on a date and see a movie or something.  I'm also hoping to maybe finish my Christmas shopping and get caught up on a few things around the house.  And last but not least... I want to put up a little Christmas tree.  Yep. It's not even Thanksgiving, but I'm ready to bust out the tree.  Clay and I have never put up a tree while we've been married.  We've kind of been Scrooges.  I have a little six foot tree that I bought on clearance from Walgreens a few years ago in storage.  Clay and I thought about getting it out last year, but by the time we got around to it - we didn't have ornaments or lights to put on it and all the decorations the stores had left weren't our style.  (I absolutely hate blue Christmas lights.  I blame my mom.)  But this year - we HAVE to have a tree for little miss.  We are in an apartment, so a big tree just isn't possible.  We are going to dig that little six footer out of storage.  On Friday when I was shopping with my  mom and sister, we went to Hobby Lobby and they had all their Christmas decor on sale.  So I picked some really pretty Christmas ornaments.  And then... I noticed they were glass.  Crap.  Little miss is basically crawling - glass ornaments are a bad idea.  So, I put my pretty ornaments back and looked for some shatterproof ones.  I'm normally all about pretty browns and reds and golds and greens.... But my shatterproof ornament selection was very limited.  So I chose some candy cane themed and silver ornaments.  Hopefully it's cute when it's all said and done and on the tree.  Clay and I also decided that every year, we are going to give our kids their own ornament to hang on the tree.  As the years go on, hopefully it will be fun for them to place their ornaments from years past on the tree.  Then, when they get married and move on with their lives as adults, we will give them their ornaments.  This year, we found the perfect ornament for little miss.  I'll be sure to take a picture and post it after the tree is up. 

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for December.  Oh. My. Gosh.  Ellie will be six months old and will have her first Christmas.  She probably won't give a crap about what's going on.  But I swear, something about having kids has made the holidays ten times better already.  :)  Until next time.