Thankful Thursday

1. I'm grateful for libraries. I checked out two novels for myself on Tuesday morning at the church library (where I go for ladies Bible study). Yesterday it hit me that I could check out dvd's for the kids at the public library. Paul and I have always rented DVD's (used Netflix the last few years) for ourselves. We never buy DVD's for ourself (aside from a few exercise dvds). However, I've gotten in the habit of buying dvd's for the kids. I'm sure I'll still buy them one from time to time, but I'd like to switch to checking them out from the library. This is much cheaper! Yesterday I checked out a Winnie the Pooh dvd and one that included the reading of 3 of Kevin Henkes' books (two of which have been favorites of Nadia for many months). I also requested a book I've been wanting to read (Crazy Love) through interlibrary loan - again cheaper than buying it. I recently read One Thousand Gifts that I also got through interlibrary loan.

2. I'm thankful for wholesome movies. Yes, they do exist! One that we really enjoyed recently was Dolphin Tale. I'm looking forward to seeing Courageous whenever it becomes available through Netflix.

3. Ian woke up early four days in a row (as in sometime between 4:30 and 6:30am). Yesterday, I was thrilled when he broke that trend and slept until 7:15am. I was really tired on Tuesday night. I went to bed before 9pm, which means I was in bed for 10 hours, which was bliss since I actually slept almost that whole time.
4. For several days (starting when Ian had the flu on Saturday) we let him sleep in our arms. He'd sleep in his crib for a bit and then when we'd get him, he'd fall back asleep in my arms or Paul's arms. Well maybe that was a good plan because yesterday he woke up after being asleep for about 20 minutes and went back to sleep. He slept for an hour in his crib. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles!!! We shall see if that might happen again in the near future or not.

5. The weather on Monday and Tuesday was really nice. I really enjoyed taking the kids to the playground yesterday. I can't wait until spring weather becomes the norm and we can go several times a week. I really, really want to gain as little weight as possible during this pregnancy, and regular exercise would really help me achieve that goal.

6. I'm very thankful that ladies Bible study has resumed. The study we're doing on the book of James is really outstanding.
7. I'm very, very, very thankful that I am carrying another baby. One thing that is making this experience really exciting is that Nadia is old enough to be excited. She thanks God for "our baby" in most of her prayers. She told her Cubbies leader last night that "Mommy has a baby in her belly." I can't wait until she can feel the baby kick and of course eventually hold this little one in her arms. It's going to be a lot different this time around as she'll be 4.25 years old instead of just shy of 1.5 years old. Ian of course has no clue at this point, and I have no idea how he'll react when the new little one arrives on the scene. I don't *think* it will be as hard on him as it was on Nadia since he's never had the experience of being an only child. If you went by ivf statistics alone, I should not be pregnant again. It's a miracle from God. There's no other explanation that 3 rounds of ivf (all done when I was over the age of 35) have resulted in three pregnancies plus one frozen embryo to transfer in the future.

8. I'm thankful Ian will be starting the intensive feeding program in 3-4 weeks. Today after a discussion with his OT and psychologist, we've eliminated milk again. Dr. Williams doesn't want us to try to reintroduce anything for 6-12 months. I think his esophagitis was coming back. Please pray he won't lose too much more weight between now and his admission to Hershey Medical. I haven't been able to get him to eat much food lately. He threw up at the beauty salon today while his hair was being cut. I cleaned up the mess and gave her a $3 tip (for a $2 haircut).