LOTS to be Thankful for this year!

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving I felt it appropriate for this blog to list all that I am thankful for this year!

1. Avery Cayden: We welcomed our beautiful daughter into this world January 14th. Although the delivery was a little rough, I am so thankful that she made it here without any problems, and that she is now a healthy 10 month old! I am thankful that she is happy and laid back (most of the time) and that she has developed a great little personality.

2. Brad: We became first time parents together and there's no one else I would have wanted to share that with. He was so helpful the first week home when I was still healing from my surgery, that I really have no idea what I would have done without him. A few weeks later he started a new job with more growth potential and better benefits, all for us. He works his butt off, and because of that I have been able to stay home with Avery for the last 6 months. I'm not sure how long the stay-at-home mom thing will last, but without him it never would have been possible at all. I'm thankful that he is a great dad to Avery. She lights up every time he gets home from work and for some reason she thinks he's the funniest person in the world :) I love to watch them play together...she is most definitely a daddy's girl!

3. Motorcycle helmets: It saved Taylors life, plain and simple. I'm so thankful Taylor survived his motorcycle accident. AND, not only did he survive, but he is back walking around and doing all the things he was able to do before. He has some leg pain still, and more than likely will have to have another surgery on his hand, BUT he is the same Taylor as before...he looks the same, has the same personality, and can continue on with life as normal.

4. Living close to family: I am so thankful that we only live about 20-25 minutes from both sets of our parents, all of our siblings (niece & nephews), Brad's Nana, and his Grandfather. I didn't grow up close to my Grandparents and I am so glad that Avery gets to see hers on a regular basis. It's so funny to me that at only 10 months old, she knows exactly who will give her whatever she wants (grammy g, grambino, & nana) and who is always willing to play with her (gran & bubba)! In addition to having her grandparents close, she's also going to grow up close to her aunts, uncles, and cousins...such fun!

5. Wesson Reece Alenne: My new little nephew was just born November 18th. Besides being absolutely adorable, he is happy and healthy! I'm thankful he made it into this world with no complications, and I'm very much looking forward to watching him grow up.

6. Friends: As much as I love staying home with Avery, I also love seeing my friends. It's nice to have adult conversations and to just socialize. It brings a little bit of sanity back into my life and without those times I'm pretty sure I would have gone crazy by now :)

I could probably sit here for hours and list different things, and specific times over the past year that I'm thankful for, but these are the first ones that popped into my head (besides the obvious...god, health, roof over my head, etc.). It's been a great year, and I'm very much looking forward to some good food and lots of family time tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. Here are some pictures of Wesson...he was born at 8:11 am on November 18th, and weighed 8 lbs 3 oz, and was 20 inches long!

he's here...meet Wesson Reece Alenne

ready to head home

so handsome

one CrAzY week

Last week started out great. Monday morning we had Avery's 9 month pictures taken (we were a couple of weeks late), and since it was Halloween we decided to have some taken in her costume too. Hopefully, we'll get them back early this week...I can't wait to see them. After pictures we went home to get ready for Avery's first experience trick-or-treating! Since our neighborhood has tons of houses close together, along with a bunch of little kids, everyone decided to come trick-or-treating in our neighborhood...and by everyone I mean; my mom, my brother, his wife, my nephew, Brad's parents, his sisters, our niece, his Nana, and our friends with their baby who is only 10 days younger than Avery. We ordered pizza, and I made some cute owl cupcakes (thanks to pinterest)! It was a fun night even though Avery couldn't really participate. She just rode around in her wagon, all dressed up. I'm pretty sure I had more fun than she did.

For the first time since Brad has been with Taco Mac, his off days were consecutive. So, we decided to go on a little getaway. Brad's dad has been traveling a lot for work, so his mom was more than happy to keep Avery Tuesday night and have a cuddle buddy. We headed up to Helen Tuesday and after walking around town for a little bit went and had dinner at a little tavern next to our hotel. We stayed for a while, but eventually decided to take advantage of the fact that we had no baby with us and head back to the hotel for a full nights sleep...or so we thought. I was woken up about 3 am to the sound of Brad getting sick in the bathroom :( He came out soon after and told me he had a terrible headache and it was making him sick. I called the front desk in search of some Tylenol or Advil, but unfortunately they said they weren't allowed to keep things like that for guests. I went on a hunt for the ice machine so I could get him a glass of ice water. After he had some water, and I got him a cool rag to put on his head he fell back asleep. When we woke up Wednesday morning he said his head was feeling much better and didn't think much more about it. We went to the habersham winery, and then had dinner at a cute little pizzeria before heading back to get Avery.

Brad didn't have to be back to work until Thursday at 4 pm, so we just lounged around the house that morning until he left for work. It was his great uncle's birthday and his Nana was having a little birthday celebration at her house, so I packed up Avery and headed over there to have homemade pizza, cake & ice cream. I never got any :( Brad texted me after being at work for about an hour saying he was feeling weird and was kind of worried because he was having chest pains and trouble breathing in. Maybe 30 minutes later he called me and asked if I could come pick him up. So, I told his mom he wasn't feeling well and that I was going to go get him and she said to leave Avery and she'd watch her. I picked up Brad and he asked me to take him to the ER because something was wrong.

He was taken back immediately because of the chest pains. After many many tests, and hours at the hospital, Brad was diagnosed with something called Plurasey (sp). The doctor explained that his chest walls were inflamed, which was causing pain when he inhailed. He said that it was more than likely caused by a viral infection and caused the severe headache he had experienced a few nights before. He prescribed him a bunch of medicine and ordered him to rest (no work) for the next 2 days, and if he was not feeling at least 75% better by Saturday for him to come back. It did get a little worse before it got better, but thankfully his medicine did it's job and Brad was able to return back to work today. Thank goodness too, because he gets super antsy and if he had to stay home anymore he was going to go crazy...and drive me nuts!

We did get to spend about 5 days together as a family...not how we wanted...definitely wish it wasn't because of Brad being in pain...but it was nice to have him home so much. I'm hoping this week is much less eventful and I can get Avery adjusted to the time change!

xoxo