Nov
21
November 21, 2006
Riley has been talking, talking, talking lately. He seems to have many important things to say, judging by the expansive arm gestures that accompany his nonstop monologue, but I can’t understand a bit of it. He continues to occasionally speak the recognizable word, like duck, dog, baby, and backpack (and, of course, of course, because he is a rotten little anklebiter who has played favorites from the time he could focus more than two inches in front of his head, Dada), but the majority of his language is an indecipherable mishmash that rises and falls like water burbling through a brook.
He’ll come up to me, toy outstretched, and chatter excitedly like a ground squirrel, and I find myself responding like I’m awkwardly trying to communicate with someone from another country: “Well! Is that…is that for me? Well thank – wait, no? It’s not for me? Do you want me to – no? I? Oh, you’re leaving. Okay, bye!”
Oh, and he is walking, walking, walking. Gone is the tentative Frankenbaby who made his teetering way a few feet at a time, he’s a bustling little penguin now, scurrying to and fro at top speed. Every now and then he lands on the floor with a startling crash, then pulls himself together and sets off again.
We put cabinet locks in the kitchen and I cannot make myself remember their existence for love or money, I yank on the cabinets every single goddamn time and go, oh yeah.
He does this thing where he suddenly stops mid-gambol and lets out this grinning, perfectly crazy, delighted “Aahhhhh!”. He shakes his head and stomps his feet a little while he’s doing it. It reminds me of how when Dog is really excited, she shakes herself all over like she’s wet, just a quick brisk shake and maybe a sneeze at the end, with her big happy dog mouth open and smiling. It’s like there’s just too much joy and happiness and it can’t be contained, it must be let loose into the world so that other people can absorb it.
That’s what I like to think, anyway.
JB has been chasing Riley lately, arms outstretched while saying, “I’m gonna getchoo!” and Riley gets all shrieky with laughter and his penguin-steps get all discombobulated and often as not he falls down in a giggling splat of toddler.
The rollercoaster is in an upswing, I feel like we’re in the high loops. It’s whooshy and there is a lot of laughter and and I am crossing my fingers all molars and viruses stay at bay for just a little while longer, because I like it up here, I love it up here.
So, I thought I would ask you, as the holiday approaches (we are driving down to Oregon today after work, which is either genius because the boy is more likely to sleep or it’s fucking insane because it will be dark and awful and exhausting and hey, there’s no guarantees the boy will sleep), what are you thankful for right now? I know it’s kind of a cheesy question but I also know I will love reading your answers over the next few days.
Me, I’m grateful for the upswing. I’m also grateful as hell for my son in general and my family and everyone’s health and for having work that interests me and I’m grateful for Diet Coke and Eclipse gum and pumpkin cheesecake and the fact that Aimee Mann has a holiday album, but FOR REAL: thank you, gods of toddler mercurialness, for this smashingly enjoyable time we’ve been having.
Talk to you later, alligators. I hope you have a wonderful week, whatever your plans may be.
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I’m grateful for my daughter, and so many of her attributes, especially the way she gives hugs & kisses (like this: hug, kiss, grab the hair on top of your head to pull you in for an Eskimo kiss, “noggin” (which is bumping the tops of your heads together), another hug, another kiss - and sometimes if you’re really lucky, she sort of forgets what she’s doing and she grabs your hair again and starts over), and also the way she puts words together. I’m grateful for my husband, who is my very favorite person, tied with Katie. I’m grateful for having enough money this year that we can buy some Christmas gifts without freaking about it. I’m grateful you mentioned Aimee Mann’s holiday album, because I will have to check it out, and also that you linked to the pumpkin cheesecake recipe, because I am SO going to make it! I’m grateful, still, on a near daily basis, that we didn’t die in our car crash in July. I’m grateful for my parents, and Geoff’s parents, and our siblings. I’m grateful for my camera and my computer and for all of the internets, and for all of my friends, and for Cosi’s signature salad with grapes and apples and pistachio nuts, because it is delicious.
I am grateful that, somehow, I find myself in a new relationship with a man who thinks I am beautiful and nice and sexy and hot and wants to be with me every minute of every day, and would if our lives would allow it. And he wants to take me on vacations and spend money on me and he makes me feel treasured and valuable, and it’s been a long time since I’ve felt that way.
Also, I am grateful for the best sister that anyone could ask for (she feeds me dinner once a week, just as an excuse for me to be able to come over and spend time with her and get a good meal in me at the same time) and great friends who make me laugh on a daily basis with their weird senses of humor. I’m also grateful for my house full of animals who all have their own interesting personalities.
And I’m happy to have the chance to share my gratitude in my blog and in here. And of course I’m happy to have great journals/blogs to read while I’m *cough* working. :)
I’m thankful I don’t have to cook a turkey this weekend. We in Canada had our Thanksgiving last month. I’m thankful that on Friday, I’ll be lying on a beach in the Caribbean for one week with my man and the kids will be enjoying the snow flurries up here with Grandma & Grandpa. Hah! Beat that!!! lol Happy Thanksgiving to y’all in the U.S.
Thankful for family, friends, and that my ER technician class will finally be over soon. (I am never taking a class that if you blow a test you cannot get your certification again.) I am crazed with the pressure!
I’m thankful for my doggies too. They make me happy.
I am thankful for your blog to take me out of my world for a little while.
If the gas company ever shows up…..I will be eternally grateful for heat. Other than that, the usual stuff—family, pets, a big-girl bed, crappy job that pays well, etc. Oh yeah, almost forgot. I am most grateful that I no longer have to fill out student loan forms. Yippeeeeee!!!!
I’m thankful for my health, my education, my “tribe”, and especially my boyfriend-cum-fiance (long story short, I ruined my engagement surprise). I’m grateful for the few but great friends that I have that make me want to be a better person, but still love and support me when I am not. I’m grateful that despite having a lot of dark days, the sunny days still appear, and still fill me with joy when I have them. I’m also grateful for all of the good memories I have, and even though I don’t access them daily, I’m glad that they are there.
Oh my goodness, I’m first for once!
Ok, well even though we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here in NZ I will say I am thankful anyway for the baby growing in my tummy, my lovely partner Glenn, my family, my health etc (that’s all the good-feely stuff) aaaaaaaaaaand….I am also thankful for….
My new cleaning ladies
New tennis balls (did you knowl they are great for back massage? Found out in antenatal class)
Biscuits
Jelly beans and red liquorice
tv
the invention of beds and bras
jandals
apple crumble
(Um ok, so nearly 50% of that was food but hey, I’m 36wks preggers so not much else is on my mind at the mo…)
Have great thanksgivings all you American folk!
I’m grateful for the time that I had with my father. I’m grateful for the lessons he taught me about life, negotiation, and love. I’m happy he isn’t struggling with his MS anymore or going through terminal cancer. I’m grateful for the time I had with my husband’s mother. She taught me about patience and neverending faith. I’m also glad she’s done struggling with her MS and can be at peace.
I’m grateful for the child I’ve got and the wonderful, amazing, tearful, hard, excruciating year we’ve had getting to know him. It’s been hard, yet rewarding.
I’m grateful for our little family and the fact that I think we have strong roots put down that will help us weather the storms in the future. They were tested this year in ways we couldn’t have imagined, but I also think it helped make them stronger. I’m grateful and hopeful that next year surely can’t be as tough as this one was.
Blast! So I wasn’t first after all…..pfft.
I’m thankful for 5 days off in a row, for friends and family, for warmer weather, and for being alive to enjoy it all.
I’m grateful for my gorgeous and magical baby daughter, Olivia. I’m grateful for my husband, who performs random acts of awesomeness on a daily basis. Grateful for my family, and so thrilled that we live only fifteen minutes apart. So grateful for my friends, whose brilliant humor and supportive banter keep me going. Superficially, I’m grateful for my garage,
Ooh! I am thankful for my health, which is steadily improving, and the perks that have been coming with it, like a long-needed series of big steps toward mending my relationship with my significant other. Oh, and sleeping at night. I am grateful for the cold, clear days we’ve been having here. I’m grateful for the surprise bouquet of roses sitting in a travel mug on my desk. I’m grateful that the end of this semester is in sight. I’m grateful for most apple-derived products, particularly unpasteurized cider. I’m grateful for peppermint hot cocoa. I’m grateful for the forecast of light snow next week. I’m grateful for my darling guinea pig. And then all the stuff I don’t think about that much - I’m grateful that I have a comfy place to sleep, and enough food, and quirky roommates, and a supportive usual boyfriend, and this wonderful COMPUTER with high-speed internet, without which I’d never maintain sanity or a connection to the outside world. Oh, going to my parents’ home and the land of dial-up will be tough. ;-)
Hey! It got cut off. The rest was:
Blast! $10 bottles of Pinot Grigio, Christian Bale, and the Dropkick Murphys.
Thankful for: friends, family, and the no-pressure flirtation I have going on with a really fun guy I met. Puts a secret smile on my face wherever I go these days.
I’m grateful for my best friend, Christina. She’s been my EVERYTHING over the past…God…the past SEVEN years and she’s taught me so much about myself and she’s stuck by me through SO MUCH. It’s amazing how many people can come and go through your life, and just one deciding to stick around for the long haul can make all the difference.
My Thanksgiving is going to be pretty basic, but I’m looking forward to it. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving! I’m glad things are on the up and up :).
I’m thankful for my beautiful 7 week old daughter, my fabulous husband, the way sheets smell fresh from the dryer, and the way clean sheets feel against freshly shaved legs.
I’m thankful for being 7 weeks pregnant!
I’m thankful for my husband, who I love dearly. He is currently deployed at sea with the Navy, which reminds me how thankful I am for all the other servicemen out there who are going to be apart from their families this holiday season. I am thankful for my mother, who is flying across the country to be with me, as I near my 38th week of pregnancy. I’m thankful for the little brat in my belly, who punches and kicks my bladder on a daily basis, reminding me how lucky I am to be approaching motherhood. I’m thankful for McDonald’s french fries, Lindt truffles, Diet Coke and Zantac. Lastly, I’m thankful for my friends, both local, cross-country, and internet based. God bless the internet. :)
I’m thankful that my husband has this week AND next week off, as I get to spend some quality time with him that may or may not include long bouts of nudity. I’m also thankful that Jr has the friends he has in school and that he’s had wonderful teachers who’ve given him the extra help he’s needed without making stand out like a freak. I’m thankful that even though I’m still overweight (and will continue to bitch about it ad naseum, I’m sure) I have my health. Have a great holiday and may your upswing last until New Years.
I’m thankful that we’ll be going to my new in-laws’ to visit. We got legally married on the 12th, a very small ceremony, and they haven’t seen the rings yet. I’m still adjusting to calling them in-laws instead of X’s family.
I’m thankful for the house, the cats, family, the new piano, and that both of us are struggling with learning to play the piano because we both love music. I’m thankful to finally have a partner in life and that he is as happy as I am about how all of this turned out.
Life is good, and has been for quite a while now. Not much more that can be said.
I’m thankful that my boys are 8,8 and 10. Toddlers are cute and all, but it’s really much more satisfying to have self-reliant boys who understand repercussion, can help you clean up and will laugh at your jokes.
Hooray!
Oh, wow, how can I follow all this and be original? Eh, can’t.
I’m thankful for my brand-new husband, who, as someone above said, thinks I’m beautiful, sexy, smart, and cool and tells me so every day and makes me feel a way I hadn’t felt in a long time when I met him.
I am thankful for my 7-year-old girl, who is beautiful and smart and kind, and also for her little friend S, who is a little pushy now, but if they learn to love each other like my friends and I do, will be a fabulous ally as they grow older.
I am thankful that I’m learning to love my stepchildren.
I am thankful for the continued health of my family.
I, too, am thankful for a sucky job thay pays well and has fan-tas-tic benefits [signs up for flexible spending account].
I am thankful that I can turn my nose up at the cafeteria food today and *choose* to have Saltines and Coke for lunch.
I don’t really have anything to *not* be thankful for!
God bless us, every one.
I’m thankful that my 3-day, life shattering, migraine is over. I’ve never been so excited to go outside on a rainy windy morning. Yeah! And that was the painful reminder I needed to be thankful for every day I don’t have a headache.
As always, I am thankful to be alive. Everything else is transient.
I had to laugh about the kid locks. After five years I would still forget about them at times. The best thing I ever got for traveling with children was a portable DVD player. Actually we started out with a 12v TV with a builtin VCR and on our last trip (7500 miles around the country) used a Toshiba Portable DVD. The kids use head phones, the wife listens to Books on Tape with head phones, and I get to drive in peace. ;-) Best trip ever!
Wait, Aimee Mann has a holiday album?! Then I am thankful for THAT.
Also, my collection of thankfulness is random, but anyway - I am thankful for my new, great-fitting Seven jeans MY LITTLE BROTHER bought me (how cool is THAT?), I am thankful that my whole family can make it to my house for Thanksgiving dinner, and I am thankful for my snuggly super-smart pound dog, I can’t believe that dog was ever *not* wanted. I am thankful that my boyfriend can share my favorite holiday with me for the first time this year. I am thankful for cornbread stuffing and cranberry apple chutney!
And most weirdly, but most poignantly, I am so, so thankful that this year, at 28, my best friend finally found and met her father. And against all odds, he’s a good guy, and his family has welcomed her in. And this Thanksgiving, she is going to sit at the dinner table with her dad. God, I tear up thinking about that!
I’m thankful for my beautiful, wonderful, awesome partner, my family, the fact everyone is somewhat healthy, an upward moving career doing what I love, not having to travel for the holiday, good friends coming to town, and my MIL is only staying one day and night.
I am thankful for so much….
-Hylands teething tablets
-grape flavored Children’s Motrin (can you tell we are in the 7th level of teething hell?)
-daycare providers who still love my son, even after being a nightmare all morning
-my son, for saying “LOVE YOU MAMA” when I’m not expecting to hear it
-my loving husband and his wonderful family
-my own parents, who help us with so much, even though they make me crazy sometimes
-my employer, for not firing me for shitty attendance a few years ago, and for giving me opportunities to make more money for myself and the company
-my friends, especially the one that I’ve rekindled friendship with after 7 years of nothing. I missed her terribly and now she’s my best friend next to my husband
-blogs like this one, for showing me that I am not alone in my frustrations, affections, and fancy for good gadgets and grooming products
Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m thankful for: diet pepsi, the smell of clean laundry, a husband that rocks my socks off, a bitty boy that has learned to say “pretty” and constantly melts my heart, being able to stay home with him, good parents that will give me a break when I need one (or at least THINK I need one), Noggin television, pacifiers even though they will be the death of me when I have to take them away, sleep, being 17 weeks pregnant and past the horribly icky feeling, grapes … I could go on and on. What I am most thankful for is love. As trite as it may sound - it’s what keeps me going when I feel like my batteries are about to die. I look into the green eyes of the man that I love or the big ever-changing eyes of the little man who has so fully captured my heart and I know I am right where I belong. More than anything - that is enough.
I’m thankful for having the hottest, most wonderful husband in the world (he even scrubs toilets!) and for my daughter who is not only fascinatingly beautiful (i could stare at her for hours) but extremely intelligent and filled with self-esteem in a way I’ve never, ever been. I’m thankful for Zoloft, which I discovered four weeks ago, because I didn’t realize how sickeningly depressed I was until I wasn’t depressed any longer. I’m thankful for my brain. I’m thankful for blogs that I read that make me realize that I’m not the only person who worries, and frets, and says Fuck Waaay too much. Now, on the lighter side: I’m thankful for Brad Pitt’s abs in Troy. I’m thankful that chocolate covered christmas cherries go on sale directly after Halloween. I’m thankful for concealer. I’m thankful for automatic car washes. I’m thankful for Chinese take out. And, I’m thankful for tv that can pause and REWIND!
Happy Thanksgiving.
I am thankful for my husband and for my job which provides me with good healthcare and for the power wheelchair my employer’s healthcare provided for my husband. I am thankful for my family and for the MDA and for Jerry Lewis. I am thankful for our 4 crazy cats and the means to provide a nice home for them to run around in. I am thankful for our home and the neighbors and management team. I am thankful for the handicapped accessible van we have and for my zippy little Hyundai. I am thankful for high speed internet, email, and laptop computers. I am thankful for Coke with Lime, new bundt cake pans, and cheese.
I am thankful you asked and for the opportunity to share. Have a happy turkey day.
My brother got his drivers license in June and my parents STILL have the child locks on their cupboards. I break a damn nail every time I help my mom in the kitchen. But I am thankful for my parents, that they are my best friends and I live close enough to regulary break a nail at their house. I am thankful for my brother, who went from a fetus I resented because I was the only child, to a baby I adored, to a kid I couldn’t stand to be away from when I was away in college, to a young man who is brilliant and athletic and funny and makes me proud to be his sister every single day. I am thankful for my awesome friends, my comfy job, my new apartment (but not the huge spider I found in the bathtub yesterday), vodka, vanilla latte’s, chocolate, Nordstroms, Mild California winters, my health, my 90 year old Grandma and her tolerance that I inherited, the boys I have kissed and the ones I haven’t kissed yet, the Cowboys beating the Colts, designer jeans, short skirts, high heels and a 4 day weekend!
I am thankful that even though my kids will be with their father this year, I will be with my most favorite person in the world, my husband. After having survived a dysfunctional first marriage, finding true and real love has been the biggest blessing in my life. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about how lucky I am to have the man I have who loves me so completely and knows me so well. It is also so nice to read that many people also feel the same way about their spouses that I do! Aren’t we all so blessed!
Other things I am thankful for: my lovely and kind and beautiful daughters who have put up with so much in their young lives and yet have managed to do so well and be do well-adjusted and just plain old happy, being able to work part-time (allowing me time to take care of my family and also myself) and for having the choice of not working at all if I wanted. This is an amazing freedom that I am thankful for each and every day.
Little things: Chipotle burritos (OK, not so little!), foot massages (that I will beg my husband for and who will oblige happily), sleeping in the next few days, Tostitos Lime flavored tortilla chips with a cold beer, the stack of books I have next to my bedside and the time to read them.
Oh, and great sex and the desire to actually WANT to have it day after day with the same man for so many years.
Aww! Love happy entries!
I’m thankful for my loved ones obviously, and my cats. I’m thankful for the fact that even though I hate my weight at the moment, I’m not too fat that I can’t actually walk. I’m thankful for the fact that I don’t live on the streets and I can afford to visit the US next year!
I am grateful that I’ve survived the first 12 weeks of my pregnancy and that everything seems healthy and good. I’m so thankful that I get to spend the holiday with my family and friends and that, as of our anniversary today, my husband and I are still very happily married after 5 years. Ooo, and Butterfingers. Also, lavender bath salts, getting my website up and running, another beautiful California day, and sleeping late on freshly washed sheets this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m thankful my horoscope told me I could speak my mind no holds barred today because I got burned at the dry-cleaners. Heh.
I’m grateful for the basics. Good country. Good job. Good salary. Good food. Peppermint mocha Christmas coffees. That my water’s clear in a region where the water’s murky for mostly everybody else (Vancouver’s under a boil water advisory because of excessive rainfall). The sunshine peaking through the weighty west coast clouds.
And great blogs like yours. Happy Thanksgiving, Sundry.
I am thankful for this blog, because if I didn’t get to read your occasional mildly horrifying descriptions of Riley I would very often be in a state of total despair, wondering what in the hell I was doing so WRONG with my own kid. Instead, I read about Riley and think, “Ooooh, he’s doing it too…well…either there’s more than one person out there creating a little demon, or it’s a normal kinda thing. Cool.” And nice to know that since my descriptions of Cameron would pretty much be spot-on with yours, I can expect a retraction of the horns and fangs and the sprouting of wings and a halo sometime soon…yes?
Happy Turkey Day.
We host Thanksgiving at our house. My parents, maybe my in-laws, my Grandmother. We also pick up the strays from the fire station (my husband is a Lieutenant there, but he’s not working over the holiday) who can’t leave the district. I like hosting because it’s much more comfortable to go find my old maternity pants and wander around in them after dinner.
This year, I’m thankful for 10+ months of good health and no headaches for my boy. He had surgery last January, and we’ve just experienced the best year of his life as a result. I’m also thankful for Bare Minerals makeup, Snickers bars and pumpkin pie. Oh, and toilet paper.
I am thankful for my health and the health of my family. I am thankful for my sons and wonderful husband, and the fact that he does so much to keep us happy and our house running smoothly. I am thankful for my friends and that life is getting more and more fun the older I get.
(I am thankful for this blog too. I gives me peace of mind that I am not alone in my experiences/emotions, both before and after we became mothers. –Plus, so many laughs and great comments too)
Hmmm. I am thankful that, even though I really wanted to get out of the Army when my contract says I am supposed to, the fact that I am being stop-lossed and forced to stay in means I don’t have to worry about job security for another three years. Hooray, kind of. And I am thankful that this Thanksgiving — unlike last Thanksgiving — I’m not in Iraq. Which is always a plus.
P.S. As happy for you as I am about your upswing, I must tell you that if it doesn’t end in the near future, I may start yearning for a child, and then you would have to whomp me soundly on the head and remind me that 24 IS TOO YOUNG FOR EMILY TO BE HAVING ANY BABIES.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I am thankful to have a new job I love, and that the shy animals I care for are willing to trust me, and thankful for all the many animals in my life (they’ve always been a passion of mine and I’m so grateful I get to work with them, and enjoy them at home). I am thankful for my amazing husband! And my wonderful friends, my parents and brothers, their wives, my nieces, and that all of us are in good health… I’m thankful for sunshine and good books, crazy t.v. and video games, the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies they sell at my grocery store, all the free time I have, that I have a home I love, that our finances are good, and that we’re living a wonderfully comfortable, happy, life. I’m thankful for family visiting next week, and Disneyland, which is where we’re having Thanksgiving dinner. Life is really good right now, and I’m very thankful for that!
I am thankful for disposable diapers, burpcloths and pacifiers. I am thankful for my loving parents, and that my husband’s mom is in Oregon not here. I am thankful for all my trials and tribulations, and the lessons I learn from them. I will be thankful if someone learns from them too. I am thankful for the manager that has been running my business for the past 2.5 months so that i have the opportunity to be home with my little boy.
Lastly, i am thankful that I am alive.
I am grateful for my husband and my daughter. Grateful for my mother, sister and rest of my family…even my in-laws - they drive me crazy but I really am grateful for them all.
Grateful for all of the mistakes in my life that led me down this road to my husband and my beautiful girl.
I’m grateful for my family’s health - we’ve had our share of issues but nothing that has stopped us from living life.
Grateful for bubble baths, when the baby sleeps late, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip mint ice cream, and the money in my pocket…it hasn’t always been there.
Happy Thanksgiving Linda, JB and Riley! Got my fingers and toes crossed for a sleepy boy in the car. :)
I’m thankful for your insight and humor. I’m also grateful, insanely so, for my husband: an honestly good man who for some insane reason really loves me, and my daughter, who also loves me, again, insane reason. I’m grateful for laughter…and the people that make others laugh. Especially when I hear someone surprised into laughing, and dark humor. I’m thankful for loving family, our home, every heartbeat, heat, food, and that I don’t live in a country that some retarded cowboy is bombing the fuck out of to prove he’s better than his daddy.
I’m also grateful for freedoms like speech, the right to assemble, and that people have maybe started to realize that the government isn’t above the law.
And chocolate and beer. Yum.
“bustling little penguin” = my new favorite description of toddlerhood.
I am grateful for Sam Adams Winter Lager. Even though it’s too damn expensive. Anything that mellows me out during this crazy time of year is worth it. Wishing you many more upswing days!
I’m so happy for you and your upswing.
And I’m grateful for my family, Starbucks gingerbread lattes, the idea of snow coming in the (hopefully) near future, the fact that the public library is free and so is the aquarium (thanks to our lovely pass). I’m grateful for Thanksgiving, even if I don’t like everyone who is going to be there, and for getting to bake bread and blueberry pie with my son. Also for sleep, which is my most favorite thing ever and which I’ve been getting actually a lot of lately.
I am grateful that I’ll actually get to go home for thanksgiving this year. It wasn’t looking like I would be able to. I am also grateful for finally having a job.
And speaking of my job, I actually work at a day care now, and when I’m reading your blog it makes me smile to think that the kids I work with are the same age as Riley. They’re all so cute and wonderful and I love working with them. I really am thankful to have the opportunity to do this every day. And not just because I need the income. I love working with these kids and watching them grow and change so quickly. It’s just amazing.
Thankful=full of thanks: my healthy body, even though I drive myself crazy sometimes crying and gnashing my teeth over the shape of it. Thankful it carries me through my days and nights. Also for my children, my husband of 15 years who just propositioned me (guess he doesn’t see what I see when I look at my body)…thankful that the problems over thanksgiving are because we have so much family that want to see us! Life is good.
I am so glad that Riley is in a good phase! It sounds so cute!
I’m thankful for:
good digital cameras
intelligent, well-written blogs like this one
hot chocolate with Bailey’s
golden retrievers, even when they have infected ears that STANK
baby/toddler hands clutching my neck
husbands that will turn over and stop snoring when you kick them
my favorite meal of the year on Thursday
Happy Thanksgiving, Sundry, JB and Riley!
I am truly thankful for the outstanding way my life has turned out so far. I am over the moon with joy for my two wonderful daughters, my incredibly supportive and loving husband, and for the comfortable and loving home we have built together. I know that I don’t have the ‘attitude of gratitude’ often enough.
I am thankful that I have enough of everything I need, and that I can give to others who don’t.
I am thankful that I have my health, and my mind, and a career that ensures I will always be able to provide for my children, no matter what happens. I am thankful that I was lucky enough to find a man who loves me more than I can even fathom, and I am grateful evry day for his patience and wisdom.
I hope you have a terrific Thanksgiving.
So far this year I’m grateful that the doctor fixed Jeff’s back and he can like walk, sit AND stand.
And that my mommy DOESN’T have diabetes, and that she seems to be doing really well in the heart department.
And that I can usually afford to buy mountain dew. Because without it I’d be lost.
And that Dale & Chewy are adapting well to eachother.
And basically that I haven’t been evicted, bankrupted, divorced, widowed, or orphaned. These are all good things.
This was even more excellent than normal. The squirrel, the penguin…aahhhh; that’s some snuggly writing, that there.
I’m thankful for so many things, I can’t seem to wrap my brain around it all to write. Hence my regular shivers of delight, just like Dog.
Hmmm. Grateful for? In no particular order:
Caffeine and all of the drinks which contain it.
How much fun a new relationship is… maybe TOO fun.
Healthy family, even if they aren’t perfect.
My cat and the nightly snuggling he provides even if no one else is around to provide some snuggling.
I’m gonna work in a little blatant consumerism and say my pretty blue ipod nano, which makes so many unpleasant waits and drives so much more pleasant.
And maybe a little thankfullness for booze. Maybe. Meh, actually, nevermind. But it’s done me some good turns recently, shockingly enough.
Thankful for a few days off. Glorious days off!! Thankful to be going to my parents’ house where I can witness them cooing and squeeing all over AJ in his adorable talky toddlerhood. (Your post resonates with me today!) Thankful for plans to take a looooooong walk on Tgiving morning so that I can just eat and drink wine and not worry about it, come 4:00.
Thankful, as someone else said, for wonderful blog-friends to entertain me while I’m *cough* working. :)
Thankful for They Might Be Giants, for Toy Story, and for this good life. :)
I’m thankful that my husband’s grandmother should be getting out of the hospital soon, after we thought a week ago that she was dying. I’m thankful that my parents are my friends as well as my parents. I’m thankful for my wonderful husband and my wonderful cat, and I’m thankful that my life is so rich with blessings. AND I’m thankful that I get to read your blog!
I’m thankful for my wonderful husband, my health, my family and friends and that life is so good.
I’m grateful that last month I got to marry my very best friend. I am grateful that I now get to call myself a member of his family, and he of mine, crazy as they all may be. I’m grateful that I get to be an aunt to three wonderful kids, granddaughter to the World’s Coolest Grandaddy and daughter to two people who raised an amazing son. I’m grateful that we were able to buy our very first house. I’m grateful that the heating bill isn’t turning out to be nearly as bad as we had feared. I’m grateful for our golden retreiver, who is the doggie love of my life. And also pumpkin spice lattes.
I’m thankful for family. For the next four days with my family and no interruptions of work because NO ONE IS THERE! :)
I’m thankful that we are all healthy and - aside from being a little insane - we are all enjoying each other and in a happy little bubble - just like you guys right now!
Hope it doesn’t pop anytime soon either!
Have a great one!
I feel like I have so many things to be thankful about this year, it makes me sweat a little because it’s almost like life is going too well, and also I don’t want to leave anyone or anything out in my ferocious praise.
But one of the things for which I am grateful, and which I neglected to mention on my own site, is, as goofy as it sounds, the blogging world. Not the craptastic, ugly side of it, of course, but the side of it that is this civil and insightful and sometimes unutterably beautiful community. Sites like yours and so many others that share in the joys and frustrations of life in new and hilarious ways. And the people behind them — I’ve been fortunate enough to make a lifelong friend in Jonniker, whom I had the great fortune of meeting recently. It’s amazing what this crazy Internet diary thing has turned into, and I love it. Just love it.
Have a safe and happy holiday!
1st - Aimee Mann has a holiday album? Good to know.
2nd - I needed this this morning. I have been looking forward to the holidays SO MUCH but this morning I woke up cranky and frustrated. We have a teething baby and, well, I’m not liking it much. So it’s nice to count my blessings.
I’m thankful for the best husband in the world. My best friend. It always amazes me that he would give anything he had just to make me happy. He is the best person, father, friend, partner that could ever be.
I’m grateful for my baby. SuperBaby is so content and has his father’s temperment instead of my manic temper. He laughs easily and just is happy.
I’m thankful for pie and veggie dip and sweats and netflix and board games. I’m thankful that a couple of times a year all of those things collide into a perfect do nothing day.
Clean, warm water. Soap. Toothepaste. Chocolate. Pomegranate. Computers. Love. Dreams.
I’m thankful for my incredible little boy who blows me away on a daily basis. I’m thankful for a loving, supportive, forgiving family, and for a mended relationship between my mother and my grandmother. I’m thankful that my brother is slowly becoming a grown-up. Painfully slowly, but still…progress. I’m thankful for my friends…those I’ve known for many, many years, and those I’ve just met. They help center me. I’m thankful to not be married to my ex-husband anymore, but more than that, I’m thankful for having unexpectedly met someone who has turned out to be a really good match for me, and with whom I can be myself and feel at ease doing so. I’m thankful for my health, and my son’s, and I’m thankful for being employed, even if I am not in love with what I do. Finally, I’m thankful for second and third and fourth chances, and that I’m finally feeling more comfortable in my own skin.
Happy Thanksgiving, Sundry and family!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving :)
I too am on a roller coaster upswing right now. All is well in my little world. I am thankful for the 23 people I will be having at my house tomorrow, I am thankful for my friends, my husband, my children, good food, good drink, laughter, sunshine, beautiful autumn trees, smiles,my life.
Like so many others I’m thankful for my husband. There are still times after 9 years when I cannot believe how lucky I was to find him. I’m thankful for my son. As someone who was on the fence about whether to have kids, he has been the most delightful and amazing surprise for nearly 4 years now. I didn’t know I could love someone so much. I’m thankful for my family and in-laws - although we make each other crazy sometimes, I am blessed to have a good relationship with my parents and my in-laws. I’m thankful for my friends. We’ve been through some tough times, but they make me laugh, comfort me when I cry, and generally make my days fuller. On the shallower side, I’m thankful for See’s dark chocolate event, eggnog, cheese, nachos, self-tanner and possibly the most annoying, but effective work out video ever that has helped me FINALLY get back to my pre-baby weight and size after all of these years.
I am thankful for my loving, giving, sweet husband that took me 35 years to find… and for the baby that is growing inside me that we created. I am thankful we are healthy and happy. I am thankful my husband had the courage to go back to school and get a degree so he can do what he loves and it will make our lives much easier in the long-run. I am thankful for my wonderful family because of how perfect they are, and because they have adopted my husband as if he was always part of the family. I’m thankful for our wonderful dogs, who happen to be a bright spot in my day, every day. I am thankful I live in a beautiful place called Oregon where I can do almost anything I love; camping, fishing, skiing (at least, I will get to do it next year after the baby’s born!), or nothing. I am thankful for friends, the smell of sagebrush after a rain, the sound of the wind through a Ponderosa pine, morning playtime with the pups, afternoons at my parents’ house, good food and so much more.
I’m thankful for the beautiful, lets take Ian for a walk weather we are having right now, even though it usually snows the day before Thanksgiving. I’m thankful for my son and husband and twin who is coming to spend the weekend with us. I’m greatful that my husband is so supportive and loving and that he has a good, healthy growing relationship with Ian. I’m thankful for friends and for good health and a great book, especially a mystery! And did I mention chocolate, especially the dark kind?
I’m thankful for being alive. A body like a 90 year old, but at least I’m breathing!
God, I don’t know, I’m thankful for something like…everything, seriously. My family, my husband, and even my damn dog. In so many ways, as hard as this year has been, it has been the best year of my life so far, and I don’t think I even realized it until right now. But it has. The best.
So hell yes, I’m thankful for that.
I’m thankful for the experience and opportunity of 4.5 months in Paris and that neither of the planes I took on my trip back went down in flaming fireballs o’ death.
I’m also thankful for:
1. my little bear Pete, who gets me through the tough times and makes me smile with his jauntiness, and who I’m hoping to get a kids’ book out of.
2. awesome, intimate sex
3. all the people who wrote me comments on my blog and sent me email and care packages while I was living alone in a foreign land with no one to speak to for 4.5 months
4. this amazing, well-written blog that makes me laugh, smile, and feel mostly really great, and when it makes me feel something else, it lets me know I’m not alone in my travails.
And my health, the support of my friends and boyfriend, my mom, and the people in my life when I was growing up who taught me to believe in myself and my abilities instead of knocking me down.
This is totally absurdly cheesy but I’m actually pretty grateful for you, Linda and your blog, for getting me through this confounding and isolating baby dealy I have going on.
I’m also pretty grateful for Nolan and Robby and Jordi but only when he’s not being a beligerent asshole.
I’m thankful that in less than a year, I will be married to a wonderful guy and we’ll be living on our own in a city that is not where our families are residing. I am thankful that this is my last year of undergraduate school. I am also thankful, of course, for my friends and family that have supported my family for the past year and all the random crazy things that have happened. I love this time of year and I love treasuring it as long as I can. I love the smell of the outdoors, the smell in the kitchen, the smell of the sound of our families getting together. Perhaps I am most thankful that my sister and I are now closer than ever and that we call each other to talk at least once a week. 21 years ago, I never would have guessed that I can now truly call her my best friend.
But, I am not thankful for my inability to chow down on and dig in on what is supposed to be one of the best meals of the year. And that make me sad.
Been thinking a lot about what I’m thankful for today. Generally I hate Thanksgiving. It’s hard because I’m not comfortable in groups of people, particularly those that you see because you have to and not because you want to. So I’m working hard on finding things to be thankful for so this day can be something I enjoy. I’m thankful for my life, for my family and friends, for the new adventure I’m taking part in right now, for lessons learned and for all the love I’ve gotten to feel in this life. I’m thankful that I went to Cirque du Soleil last night and that I’ve gotten to be of help to my dad and stepmom. I’m thankful that I’m learning how to ask for things, and to let go of the outcome of things. I’m very thankful for the sense of calm and peace I have at this time. That’s a start, yes?
and yes, I am very truly thankful for your blog. It’s a wonderful highlight in my days.
There’s just one thing I can say - the person I love most was in the hospital this time last year after a suicide attempt. All I am thankful for is to have her here this Thanksgiving to eat too much turkey with me.
Hope you and yours have a beautiful holiday.
I’m grateful for my mom’s health- she was admitted to the hospital two weeks ago for something that looked like cancer and turned out to be a ruptured appendix. Her belly was really infected and they had to remove some intestine, which left her with an unpleasent bathroom alternative for a few months but compared to what we thought we were facing? It’s ALL GOOD and she is still here!
I am late in responding as I am just back to work and reading the blogs I enjoy so much! But I am thankful for our first baby which my hubby and I found out will arrive next summer! Also for a spectacular family and great friends. I hope you enjoyed your holiday to the fullest!!!
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