Y.O.G – #12

January 19, 2010 | Year of Gratitude

1. Clark is feeling better. What a difference 24 hours can make! Last night, he was a limp, hot rag doll. Tonight he’s back to his busy, sqirrelly, self. Unfortunately, we still have to give him medicine twice a day for a while, which, all that screaming you hear? That would be Clark. You’d think that stuff tasted like MEDICINE and not pink bubble gum.

2. The Tomato Gorgonzola Soup and Corina Rosemary Bread my dear husband brought me for lunch from Infinite Soups.

3. Cough syrup with codeine. Good night.

Y.O.G. – #11

January 18, 2010 | Year of Gratitude

Can you handle it? Can you handle looking at the saddest baby ever?

Today, it’s a little harder to YOG than usual. I mean, I usually YOG about less obvious things. But today has been a hard enough day that the things I’m thankful for are bigger than coffee.

It should be noted that I haven’t slept in 3 nights and am really sick myself. Puffy-eyed, feverish, nose throbbing, mouth breathing SICK. I’m feeling quite pathetic, obvs. Please feel very sorry for me.

1. Once again, my child’s health. I got pretty scared for a bit this afternoon. Clark’s fever was 102 and he wouldn’t stay awake. Then he started barfing. So, off were we to our first Urgent Care visit as parents. He’s going to be fine. But GAH. I kept thinking about what if he WASN’T GOING TO BE FINE? These kinds of crazy thoughts were of course intensified by the aforementioned fatigue and fever.

2. Convenient access to a washing machine. I was barfed on twice today. And we’re going through towels like crazy.

3. All the amenities available to me for dealing with this crisis. You know, access to health care, access to Target for medicines and tissues and frog shaped humidifiers, a warm and safe house to recuperate in, etc etc etc. In light of these things and recent tragedies, I’ll be all done whining about this now.

Y.O.G – #10

January 17, 2010 | Year of Gratitude

1. My child’s health. Clark is sicker today and it’s so hard to watch. He’s in relatively good spirits most of the time, but he’s so lethargic and clumsy. He’ll be playing, and just lay down for a few minutes. His nose runs like a faucet and he has a tiny smoker’s cough. But he’s going to get better. I can’t imagine how heartbreaking it must be to have a baby with a real health problem.

2. SB’s been making dinner every night for a week or so. Something good and healthy. It’s nice.

3. My bedroom. I’ve gotten almost zero sleep for the last two nights, and my mom actually took my sick baby today for a little while so I could rest. I spent the time in bed with my laptop and my lists, just enjoying my comfy nest, the nice light, and my pretty view. I never get to just hang out in bed in the middle of the day, so it was a lovely treat.

Y.O.G – #9

January 16, 2010 | Year of Gratitude

Reporting live from the house of Plague. I had it first, and I’m almost through it, but now SB has a Man Cold and our poor, poor Clarkie is sick for his first time ever. He’s so sad and pahetic. Goopy eyes, runny nose, and rampant frowny face. But there are still things to be grateful for!

1. Sick snuggles. My busy, busy, boy who never sits still, EVER, is now snuggling in our laps for minutes at a time, resting his hot little face against our cheeks. It’s WONDERFUL.

2. This is a weird thing to say, I think, but I’m enjoying wiping his little nose. It’s one of his cutest bits, and now I get to squeeze it all day in a tissue.

3. Today I’m feeling grateful for my community of drama-free women friends. I’m just never around the type of women who create drama or tear others down. But last night I had a brush with some Mean Girls, and I was reminded how lucky I am.

Y.O.G. #7, #8

January 15, 2010 | Year of Gratitude

Oh man. I fell off my YOG horse pretty quickly. In my defense, one night the internet was out, and last night, um, I forgot. So here’s a list of six things that made me happy over the last couple of days.

1. The internet. The other night when the internet was down, I had this thought pattern: “I need to YOG! Oh, right, no internet. (small amount of time passes) Ooh! I should blog about that new restaurant! Oh! Right! Dumbass. (small amount of time passes) Hey! I need to write K back on Facebook. Damn it! (small amount of time passes) I should upload some new photos to my Ginger fan page. OMG. I’m so dumb. (small amount of time passes) Okay, I’m going to work on thank you cards. Oh bummer. Jill’s address isn’t in my book, Oh I think it’s in an email, I’ll just go get it. GAH! As you can see, I appreciate the internets and it’s many uses very very much.

2. Paper. I love paper. I made some cute thank you cards for Clark and I very much enjoyed the cutting and pasting and the choosing of colors and weights.

3. Yoga clothes that fit. I’ve picked up my rusty yoga practice this new year, but until yesterday, I had been making myself wear my old thin self clothes. It does not aid in one’s zen to constantly have one’s love handles escaping over the top of one’s pants in downward dog. But last night I had on my new pants and shirt and it helped so much with my focus to not have to yank anything up or down between poses.

4. Clark’s surprises. He is constantly surprising me! The other night I sat down on the couch with a notebook and a pen and he grabbed the pen out of my hand and started scribbling with it! I didn’t know he could do that! It’s weird if you think about it. He can’t be seeing anyone use a pen and paper THAT often.

5. Girl’s Night. I have a Girl’s Night once a month in Tacoma and it’s always a highlight of my week. The evite goes out every month to about 40 people, and each time a different 5-8 women show up. This month was a good turn out, there were 9 of us all together. And we tried a new place that I think is My New Favorite Place. Blog review to come!

6. Following through. So, I had this cutesy idea for displaying my business cards, oh I don’t know, a year ago, and I finally completed enough of them and placed one out in public. Yay me!

Y.O.G – #6

January 12, 2010 | Year of Gratitude

Entertainment eddition, apparently.

1. SB is a member of SAG so we get sent movies so he can vote for the SAG awards. Today we got this cool packet (Ha! If you’ve seen it!) with Up In The Air, so I got to watch it in my cozies on the couch. It was really good, BTW. Ah, Clooney. He’s like a Chanel suit. He never goes out of style.

2. The How I Met Your Mother 100th episode and that darling darling Neil Patrick Harris. Gotta love a big song and dance number.

3. Taco. Tuesday. Two Tacos, plus rice and beans, one block away, for $3.

Y.O.G – #5

Year of Gratitude

1. Staying in my pajamas in a warm and cozy house on a grey and rainy Pacific Northwest day.

2. When the rain clears and SB takes Clark and Freya for a walk, leaving me blissfully alone in my cozy house.

3. Bed Time. Cool sheets. Heavy duvet.

Y.O.G. – #4

January 10, 2010 | Year of Gratitude

1. I am thankful that I live on the water. When we first moved to this house, I was out in the yard, and I was like, “What is that smell?” Then I realized, Oh, i’ts The Sea.

2. Today we went out on my parent’s new boat for the first time. They have decided to be boat people in their retirement. This is awesome, of course, because it’s always nicer to KNOW someone with a boat than to have one yourself. It was a lovely day at sea, and we saw all kinds of wildlife, including these sea lions fighting for space on a bouy.

3. I am very grateful for a husband who always has my back, no matter the circumstances. I could kick an old lady and he’d be positive she was asking for it.

Y.O.G – #3

January 9, 2010 | Year of Gratitude

1. A brisk early morning walk with my love before collecting our sweet boy from his Grandma’s.

2. A rare and delicious nap in the afternoon.

3. We didn’t buy Clark any Christmas presents. Isn’t that terrible? I filled his stocking with finger puppets and board books, but we just let his Aunties and Grandparents spoil him and saved money for our trip, I guess. The friends we visited in New York have a son who is 6 months older than Clark, and he had a play kitchen that Clark loved. So today, we went to Toys R Us for the first time as parents and bought him a kitchen. We spent the afternoon putting it together, then playing with him, and it was so, so wonderful. He loves it! He was PRETENDING. Pretending to eat with the spoons, pretending to answer the phone, even holding it crookedly against his head, saying, “Hiii-eee” over and over. I am so thankful that we could do that for him and for the precious time, crouching behind him, watching him play, kissing the back of his neck now and then.

Y.O.G – #2

Year of Gratitude

1. I am grateful for my mom, who will happlily take my son OVER NIGHT so that I may have a date night with my dear husband and an uninterupted night of sleep. HEAVEN.

2. I’m so very thankful that on said date night, I can escape from the chilly rain into a dark Irish pub where I can have a BLT and a Smithwicks.

3. I love that I can drop a quick email to some fun friends and that they will gather for late happy hour at my favorite restaurant and laughs will be had and stories will be told. Life is so good!