For Thanksgiving this year, we went to my aunt Jimmie’s house, as we usually do. It’s amazing how long it took Don and I to get out of the house with all the needed supplies for a day. We took the swing and bouncy seat so they’d be able to nap at her house. Yeah right – Avery refused, but Alex did take a few catnaps. By the end of the day, after a few tastes of pumpkin pie, they were just fried and she was shrieking from being so exhausted. They did at least sleep on the way home – one more thing to be thankful for! It’s fun to see the babies interact with other people. Alex doesn’t seem to care much who holds him, but he definitely checks you out if you’re new. That look Santa got in the picture in the previous post is what everyone gets. And Avery, well she is more particular and does this little bottom lip pout and then cry when someone new looks at her sideways. She loves my grandmother though – she’ll hang out in her arms all day.
I know it’s a Thanksgiving cliche to reflect and enumerate all you have to be thankful for, but it is the point of the holiday too, right? Don and I talk all the time about how much we have to be thankful for now, how lucky we are to have these little miracles in our lives. We’re so thankful for the doctors and the science that helped us make our dream of being parents a reality. Two years ago, we were being told we might never have our own children, and last year we were nervous and praying both babies would make it to delivery. So this year we’re thankful that our babies arrived healthy and have stayed that way. They are incredible little beings. We’re thankful for every little smile and giggle and gurgle. Our lives are so different than they used to be, but only in the best ways. Thanksgiving this year also made me think about how much I cherish Don, what an amazing father and husband he is, and how lucky Alex, Avery, and I are to have him. Seeing him with the babies makes me love him in new ways. We are blessed with family, friends, health, security – pretty much everything we could ever want, and that made this a very special Thanksgiving – definitely one where the meaning of the holiday hit home for me.