Giving Thanks

Even though it's not Thursday, I can count my blessings, right? :)

1. Oliver had not been feeling up to par for a few days. He was having seemingly umpteen billion messy diapers a day, hardly eating any solid food, etc. I was SO relieved that yesterday he went back to his norm of pooping only once, and he also ate more solid food. It also meant he was able to poop on the potty today for the first time in several days. While he had "the runs"  he also developed a bad case of diaper rash. It was the first time since he was home from the NICU that I had to use diaper cream on him. I am so glad that he's back to normal today and the diaper rash is gone!

2. Paul came home rather distraught on Wednesday night because the bookstore had goofed up his order. Over 100 students had purchased a condensed version of the textbook he had selected (only 6 chapters), and only 3 of the chapters were ones he had planned to use. Most of the chapters he planned to use were not in the textbook his students purchased. We emailed the textbook rep yesterday, and he solved the problem by giving all of his students access to an electronic version of the entire textbook. What a relief!!! Also, his enrollment dropped to 93 students in that class. He could have had as many as 130 students. We're relieved to "only" have 93 even though the most I ever had in a class was 50.

3. I won't be able to participate in my church's choir over the next four months, but I am going to be able to rejoin the handbell choir at my former church during that time span as the rehearsals are on Monday nights, and Paul is only teaching on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The handbell choir plays in their worship service once a month, but since I'm not teaching Sunday School again until December, we can go to our former church once a month over the next four months. I am so glad that I'll still be able to be involved in a music ministry even though Paul is teaching on Wednesday nights.

4. I have been trying over the past few months to find little ways to keep the house more organized. My latest idea was to buy a shoe shelf. For the past five years we've been taking off our shoes in the kitchen when we come in the house through the garage. Recently I ordered a bamboo shoe shelf on Amazon. I assembled it yesterday and placed it in the foyer under the kids' coat rack. It looks great! The kitchen floor looks much neater also. :)

5. On Wednesday morning all three kids slept until at least 7:30am. Wow! Usually at least one of them is up by 6:45, and typically they're all up by 7:00. This morning Ian crawled in bed with us at 6:15, for example. Having all three sleep until 7:30 was quite a treat!

6. It's been nice weather for swimming this week as the highs have been in the upper 80's. We have enjoyed our pool membership! Our favorite lifeguards were Daniel and Vivian (high schoolers).