Thankfulness

So I'm a couple days late in this post! What do you want from me?!?!?! ;)

My blog for my 29th bday included 29 things I was thankful for, I've revised that list recently and here it is now:

1. Charlie- my best friend and husband. Without him my life would not be complete. He is my rock and he keeps me sane. He has given me the most wonderful life and I love him so very very much.

2. Natalia and Lydia- my beautiful and sweet girls. I have a purpose now; I always knew I wanted to be a mommy. They are my whole world.

3. My wonderful and amazing parents- They worked so hard to give us a good life growing up. They taught me everything. They supported me and have been so strong at times of need.

4. The rest of my family! I have a great brother and great in laws. Amazing grandparents, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews. I could go on forever. I love them all to death and couldn't imagine life without them.

5. Oliver- he gets his own because he is so darn special. That little man has taught me so much in his little life. He was always such a happy baby despite being so sick. He was a fighter and wouldn't let go when faced with some pretty serious stuff. Our time in Utah with him was the most intense days. But, we became so much stronger as a family because of it. He's an amazing little man and so much fun to have around. Also grateful for modern medicine, life would be drastically different without it!

6/7. My friends/Alpha Chi- I have a great group of girlfriends that are the best girls ever. They make me laugh when I need it and the listen when I need it. We have fun dress up parties all the time! It's nice to get out of the house from time to time and just enjoy myself. I say Alpha Chi as well because without it I wouldn't have gotten so close to these girls. Plus Alpha Chi made college some of the best years of my life. It was so much fun. It also made me accountable for my grades in college because I had to have a certain GPA to maintain my offices in the sorority. So when times were tough I still plugged through just so I could stay in the sorority.

8. Switch- yes my dog. He's my fur baby. He keeps us safe, even if he is a big wimp! But, he looks meaner then he is. He will be a great protector of my children and our little family.

9. Charlie's job- with the economy the way it is, I'm so glad that Charlie has a great job and it's stable. This leads me to 10.

10. Stay at home mommy- Because of Charlie's steady income and his working hard I get to stay home with Natalia, Lydia, and our future children. I love being home with them and taking care of them. Even if I'm so tired all the time!

11. Our house- we did pretty well in buying our first home. It suits us quite well and it's in a great location. I love that we own a home instead of having to rent. We have so many great memories here, it will be sad to move when the time comes.

12. My health- considering all the crap my family has been through, I'm pretty grateful for my good health. I had relatively easy pregnancies (even if I complained a lot!) and have managed to lose most of the baby weight without having to restrict my diet too much. I'm very fortunate to have all that.

13. Our camera- this might seem a little silly, unless you really know me. But I LOVE LOVE pictures. I'm always taking pictures and Natalia is one of the most well documented babies you will ever come across. I used to transfer that love of photos to scrap booking, and maybe someday will get back into it... but in the mean time I still love looking back at photos and remembering all our good times.

14. Modern Appliances! I seriously hate dishes and couldn't imagine having to hand wash dishes every day. Washers and dryers are also great because who seriously wants to hand wash that much laundry!

15. Speaking of modern appliances, the DVR- now that I've had one, it would be seriously hard to go without it. It's awesome to be able to record all the shows I enjoy and then fast forward through the commercials. And, I don't have to sit and watch the shows right when they come on. I watch them as I have time now. It’s amazing.

16. Books- I love to read. I don't know how it started or when... but for as far as I can remember I've loved to read. And, I'm pretty fast at it too. I got that from my dad. I would love someday if we could just build shelves to cover an entire wall of like an office and just fill it with books. I hope that my kiddos will love to read too. I love my Nook it has become such a blessing while I'm pumping!

17. Traveling- I've been to some pretty cool places and have had some amazing trips. We went to Italy for our two year anniversary, which was a dream come true. Plus going on a cruise to the Caribbean, stopping in New York, for our honeymoon. And, of course Disneyland and Disneyworld. AMAZING! When I was little I was even lucky enough to go to El Salvador and see where my mom grew up. That was pretty awesome as well.

18. Date nights- I know we don't go out on a date night often enough, but when we do I really appreciate it!

19. Sunshine- I hate being cooped up in the house when it gets cold. I’m ready for winter to be over already so I can go for walks with the girls.

20. Caffeine- yes I said it. I love me some Dr. Pepper, it's a slight obsession. Especially fountain soda, to me it just tastes the best! And the occasional white chocolate peppermint mocha frappichino from Starbucks always makes my day too. Funny how those things were a staple in my diet at the end of my pregnancy with Natalia. For some reason they would be the ONLY thing that would make my heartburn go away.

21. The Internet- what would our lives be without it? It's how I stay in contact with friends and family near and far. I order this and that off of it, I sell my bows on it... I could go and on.

22. Being Bilingual- it is pretty awesome to be able to understand Spanish so easily. I know one day I’ll go back to school and finish my degree in Spanish.

23. Cable TV- he he he. The endless amount of shows I can watch on it. Especially the food network! I love watching cooking shows and trying to figure out meals for us from it.

24. Food in general- I love love love food. I love bad food and healthy food equally. I’m excited for the holidays and all the yummy food and treats!

25. Soldiers- I'm grateful to them for making the sacrifice to serve our country so that I don't have to worry and I can be home with my family safe and sound.

26. Cell phones- I love that I can go anywhere and bring a phone with me. I live for text messaging. I do the majority of my communication in text he he he.

27. Hot Showers- after long nights with the girls my body gets pretty achy and the hot shower is always a way to relieve that... plus it's just nice to have hot and cold water at my fingertips.

28. Living in Idaho- I love it here, it's pretty great!

29. Last but not least, I'm just pretty grateful for my awesome life! I have it pretty great and want people to know it. There are a lot less fortunate people out there.

So there you have it. I could probably tack on a few more things, but there the shortened version I guess. I feel like sometimes I complain too much or am not grateful enough... or that maybe i just don't deserve so many wonderful things. So for now I'll just practice being a little more appreciative. ;)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here. Lydia's first! I had both girls in pretty dresses at the beginning of the day. Natalia even got all excited about me curling my hair and wanted hers done as well... and what do you know I failed at getting a picture of it! DOH! For lunch we went to my mother in law's house. It was delicious and what was really shocking it was a relatively calm meal. I even made a comment about it because I swear that the last few times we've gotten together there for a big meal (bday etc) something chaotic happens. We kept saying that with the three babies life was about to get crazier and it was just not at all what i expected. She spoiled the girls wrotten and got them beautiful Christmas dresses (we are celebrating with her on the 23rd this year so that she can do her travel nursing thing in Montana), I'm so excited to put them in them and this time I swear I'll get pics of it. Anyway, she also gave Natalia froggie PJ's and that was the end of her dress... but they are SO DARN CUTE! She wore them the rest of the day and to dinner at my grandma's house. (BTW Lydia's dress was gone too she had a gross diaper that leaked) so she wore her cute little turkey outfit with the tutu pants. Then my mom took Natalia for the night. Lydia slept from like 11:00pm- 5:00pm. So after pumping etc I got a solid 5 hours of sleep, it was awesome. Here's hoping for more of that!

I avoided the whole black Friday thing, but indulged in a different kind of insanity. Charlie got all my Rubbermaid bins from the shed (it's an obscene amount) and we began the decorating that I like to refer to as Christmas throwing up in our house. Natalia was so excited and so stinking cute helping us decorate the Christmas tree. I LOVE that she is actually getting into it and recognizing what's going on. When we pass a house with lights she says, "look mommy Christmas lights" SO FREAKING ADORABLE! Charlie was a trooper and put up our outside lights as well today. I still have to put up some garland/lights around the doors but am pretty much done after that. I was laughing at myself today as Charlie brought in all my bins because it just seems to multiply every year... probably because I have a problem and need serious help when it comes to the after Christmas clearance sales. We had to find a new spot for our Christmas tree this year since the old spot is now occupied by our computer desk (which used to be in Lydia's room). So we moved the movie cabinet and that's where it went. I was complaining to Charlie, as usual, about our house being too small for us now. When really I just need to appreciate that we have a home (see I'm working on it!). Anyway, it worked out nicely and now I get to stare at it all lit up from the couch. It's a nice view if you don't count the sweet little baby bug snuggling on me right now he he he.

Ok enough rambling. I need to go pump and go to bed. I'm hoping to post more updates soon.