A November's Worth of Thanks

    I haven't done the Facebook November daily thankful thing because I am thankful for nothing!  Just kidding. The real reason is that I don't have that kind of follow through.  That's partially true.  The other reason is that I didn't get what was going on until about the fifth.  So, there. I am grateful for so many things, though, and I've always liked that we take this time of year to be mindful of gratitude and thanks.

     Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July have always been my favorite holidays because there are no gifts, and for me, not a lot of expectations.  Celebration for the sake of celebration.  We have holiday traditions, but they aren't that firm.  I don't think any two Thanksgivings have ever been the same.  I'm not really sure what traditions we'll start now with the baby.  We've always been so portable that we could go anywhere and celebrate with anyone.  Now there are just so many more moving parts to be considered.  He's one little person, but having a four month old is like trying move a caravan.  We tried to plan, because we are planners who love plans.  Plan plan plan.  Turns out, those plans just aren't going to work out this year.  So, now we're figuring something else out.  Maybe that's the new tradition.  That is, being flexible and figuring it out as we go.  I have no idea.  In my fantasy life, all of my friends and loved ones live in the same place so we can always have him wake up in his own house on holidays, but still see everyone who loves him without hopping from place to place. That wasn't the case for me growing up and probably isn't for most people.  We'll work it out, but I want so much for him to have some dinstinctly "us" memories as he gets older even if it's a little different every year.

    However we celebrate this year, I feel like this is the year that gratitude was made for.  I had a healthy baby boy.  I was finally made permanent at work.  Our friend made it through a health scare.  We've had the opportunity to spend time with friends and family we don't get to see much. I've got the most supportive husband in the world.  I can honestly say that nothing would make me happier than for my son to grow up to be just like him.   Like any other year, there has been some really tough stuff going on too, but I'm happy to take time to focus on the good things.  We've got new worries, but so many of the things I was worried about this time last year have worked out perfectly and that's important for me to remember.

 

Holla-ween

     They say pimpin' ain't easy, and I don't want to belittle what must be a challenging line of work with untold personnel issues, but being a new mom and back to work is pretty tough, too.  This mom gig is the hardest job I've ever had and he doesn't even talk yet. On top of that, indigent defense is, at times, not as fun as you may have imagined. Pimpin' may not be easy, but pumpin' isn't a cake walk either.  Breastpump joke!  So far, every morning has been an adventure in postpartum dressing.  Those last ten pounds weren't really bothering me so much when I was still wearing glorified pajamas.  I say 'glorified' because my rule during my maternity leave was that if I hadn't actually slept in it the night before, it wasn't pajamas.  Put it on in the morning and call it an outfit!  I also had a rule that the baby needed me to have ice cream pretty much every night.  See aforementioned ten pounds.

   Being back at work has been good, but really jarring. I haven't recovered from the massive change of pace or gotten used to not being attached to him all day.  He does seem to be happy at daycare, though, which is a huge relief.  Its fun to see him learn how to be a part of a little community. I hope I haven't derailed his social standing with the other babies by taking him in his costume on Halloween.  It's a kill or be killed world in the infant room. That's a complete lie, but it sounds funny.  To me. Here's a cute baby in a ketchup packet:

    We did pitifully little for Halloween other than sending him to daycare in his packet.  We didn't want the dog to blow his sweet little gasket, so we turned off the porch light and hunkered down.  I'm gonna tell you a sad true story.  Our pumpkin is still in the truck.  Yep.  We bought a pumpkin to carve and we never even brought it out of the truck.  Peter, Peter pumpkin eater had a...poor introduction to Halloween.  We'll do better next  year.  We'll definitely get him out trick or treating when he's big enough to bring home some chocolate.  You can take that to the bank.