Thankful Thursday

1. Ian hasn't thrown up over the past 8 days. Also, he didn't have any accidents the past 3 days.

2. I'm thankful we've been able to use a cleaning service a little the past couple of years. They came 5 times in 2011 and have been here 3 times so far this year, but unless Paul thinks otherwise, today was the last time. The two women clean for 1.25 hours every other week, so that would be 2.5 hours for me if I did it myself. The problem is that I spend the whole morning (they came at 11:30 today) trying so hard to keep the place clutter free, which is pretty much impossible with Ian. He constantly creates havoc. I decided today it would be easier to use the Motivated Moms chore lists than to try to get (keep) the house ready for the cleaning service.

3. I recently read the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It is a GREAT book. I highly recommend it.

4. We saw the movie Courageous last week. I highly recommend it.

5. I am grateful for safety on the roads. It's so easy to take that for granted. On Tuesday I was almost in an accident. I was able to slam on the brakes, swerve, and honk my horn to avoid the collision. Whew.

6. I'm pregnant again. Sometimes I still have to look at the ultrasound picture or hpt to convince myself it's really true. Conceiving seemed so elusive to me for so long. It just blows me away that I'm pregnant for the 3rd time in 4.25 years - especially since I'm almost 40 and it's supposed to be harder to conceive at this age than when we first started trying (we started trying 1 month after I turned 30). Every pregnancy is a miracle, but it feels like SUCH a miracle. When we were trying for Ian, they said we had a 25% chance of conceiving. I am sure the number was lower this time, although they didn't say this time what they thought the odds were. I am very, very grateful for this baby.

7. I'm grateful Paul's parents live fairly close (one hour away) as they are going to help out and watch the kids for a few hours tomorrow so I can review promotion binders in the library and attend my department's faculty meeting.

8. I am thankful that a colleague of mine was willing to cover a couple of my classes while Ian is at Hershey. The Dean told me today that he can't cover my classes (sigh), but I'm grateful he volunteered and was trying to help me out.

9. I found out yesterday that my presentation in DC the last week of March was moved from Saturday morning to Wednesday afternoon. I had requested a change because I need to attend a promotion meeting that Friday afternoon/evening (supposedly these meetings usually last from 3pm to midnight). I'm not sure how all this will work if Ian is admitted to the hospital that week, but I'm thankful I can make my presentation and attend the promotion committee meeting.