Feeling grateful

There's a lot of talk about gratitude lately, and I love the reminders.  Glennon Melton of Momastery has a Gratitude Challenge of sorts to think of three things each day for which you are grateful and then post one on her Facebook page.  I think she calls the posts a waterfall of gratitude.  Just in the past few days since she wrote this post, I have been thinking about what things I would write down each day.

As she says in her post, "I bet the miracle will not be in the lists themselves- but in the way preparing to write our lists changes our experiences throughout our day and the way we see our lives. Because if we are spending all day looking for things to be grateful for- we will find them. And the search for all of those everyday treasures will help us gain some perspective about our bruitful lives."  Totally agree.  

My mom kept a gratitude journal for a while when she was sick, and we found it later.  Some of the things she wrote down were serious and some were pretty mundane, but I think that's the beauty of gratitude.  You can be grateful for anything.  Some of the things I've thought of over the past few days are being grateful for having a boss who puts our needs above her own, having some pretty amazing friendships, and for my fitbit.  Right now I am also grateful that in an hour I am driving to Eugene with Sarah K to visit Sarah J for a 40th birthday sushi dinner - there are so many things in that sentence to be grateful for - having a supportive husband who will hold down the fort while I'm gone for the night, having two BFFs who are still BFFs after 20 years, all three of us being healthy and happy at 40 (or almost 40), and don't forget the sushi!  

A few weeks ago, my dad and Sandy came up for Case's birthday party.  He's one, can you believe it?  On Saturday, they spent the day with Trey while Randy and I helped Nyree and Jason move.  Nyree has been waiting for this day for a long time, and when I first stepped into their new house, I couldn't help from tearing up.  I am so happy for her and the beginning of their family as four.  Sunday we watched Grady and Case for a while so Julie could get ready for the party.  I put my dad on Case Duty, and let's just say he's not very good at "keeping his eye on the baby."  

Blowing bubbles with Grandpa 

Grady giving Case some love

The party was a lot of fun and a lot of family.  Julie and Tim are so blessed to be surrounded by such love, and their boys will grow up with a pretty amazing extended family (and, no, I'm not just talking about us).  (Note: the party was delayed a few weeks because of the snow we had on Case's actual birthday - February 6th.  Good thing Case is only one because he had no idea.)

Happy 1st Birthday to Case! 

I wish I had audio for this picture because I can totally hear Grady saying, "Cake!!!!!!!!!" as he watched Case eat his birthday cupcake.

 Grandpa Gerts and Grady

Case was a little cranky at his party (might have been those nasty molars coming in ) and didn't have much interest in opening his gifts.  Luckily, Julie had Trey to the rescue, as he was more than happy to help out.  The reason he's blurry in this picture is because he was THAT FAST at opening gifts.  I think he thought if he stopped for one second one of the other cousins might have taken over.

We are, once again, having a few sleep issues with Trey.  I pulled out Weissbluth and kicked things back into high gear, and after a week I am happy to say things have improved.  It's funny how having clear expectations, communicating them to your child, and then reinforcing the behavior you want brings results.  Shocking, right?

Last weekend Julie went to Reno with the ladies for a much deserved girls' weekend.  Tim was solo with the boys, so Grady came over to play on Saturday morning, and then Randy and I took Trey and Grady to the Children's Museum on Sunday.  Words cannot express how much I love this kid.  

Because this is what good babysitting looks like. 

I also did something educational with them... 

And fed them a really "healthy" lunch. 

Grady loves climbing in our tub.  

Funny because he hates bathtime at home. 

Playing Lite Brite at the Children's Museum 

Playing in the store 

Dr. Grady listening to his own heartbeat

Giving doggie a bath 

Driving the ambulance 

Ta-dah!

Randy has found some foam toys and turned them into light sabors.  He and Trey have been having fun fighting with them around the house.

Randy has also been introducing Trey to Hot Wheels.  Well, I should say reintroducing because they have played with them before.  Right now the tracks go all the way down our hall (go ahead and imagine how this makes me feel...).

Trey has been doing great with bedtime and not calling out, so his reward was to go to the candy store.  I thought it would be hard to rein him in, but all he wanted were some jelly bellies.  Sounds good to me!

Today Trey had swimming lessons, and he has been doing awesome.  I didn't get to video him swimming across the pool, but I did get a little bit of footage that shows the progress he has made.  It is only 20 seconds long, but it won't hurt my feelings if you don't want to watch.  I'm a proud mama anyway!

Trey and I made a trip to the library this afternoon.  He stocked up on some Superman, Spiderman, Blue's Clues, and Max and Ruby books, and I picked up some holds.  I am looking forward to checking out this cookbook:

I also love the title of this book.  I hope it's not too cerebral for me because that might just put me to sleep.  

I'm not loving the novel I'm reading right now (the newest Anna Quindlen), so hopefully the one I picked up will be better.  

What I do know is that tonight I get to sleep without risk of being woken up at 2am, and I see a good book and an Ambien in my future.  After some delicious sushi and girl talk with my besties, of course.