Because of Him

 I'm having a really hard time believing that it's already the last day of November. Time is speeding past me. I feel like it's fitting to end my month of gratitude by sharing my grateful for the person next month focuses on, Jesus Christ.

I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. Through Him, all the bad and outrageously unfair are made right and, frequently, beneficial. I know He loves me as I am and wants to help me grow into so much more. He will never force me to, but as the scriptures say, "his arm is stretched out still." I am grateful that I can rely on Him and that He perfectly understands my situation. I am never alone. All these things are true for you too.

Temples

 I am so grateful for the temple. I am grateful for peace I feel there. I am grateful for the clarity I receive for my own life. I am grateful to share my love for the temple with my children.

My Children

I am so grateful for each of my children. They each bring so much joy to my life in their own unique way. I am so humbled to be their mother.

It's still surreal to have Aaron and Lucy here that most days I feel like I am just babysitting. I am grateful to be learning and growing right alongside them.

I am grateful for Lucy's sweet and patient personality. Each day she's getting more interactive and playful. She's already grateful to have Aaron around.

I am grateful for Aaron's joyful nature. He gets so excited over many things like rocks and trains. Aaron adores his sister and tries to help take care of her.

I am grateful for wonderful Baby E. I still can't find a particularly good way of describing E's personality beyond sweet, but that comes nowhere near it. I am so grateful to have E in our family.

I am grateful for my stalwart Baby J and for the discovery of this picture. This is the only picture of me while I was pregnant with J and I love it even more that Garrett is sitting right on top of my pregnant belly. (He loves his cousins J and E almost as much as I do.) J is such a wonderful example to me and I want to be like J.

I still miss J and E every day especially now that Aaron and Lucy are here. Seeing the two of them together makes me more grateful that J and E have each other. I am also grateful for the time we had together and the promise that we are sealed together for all eternity. Death is not the end for our family.

My Mr. Nelson

I am so grateful to be married to Jonathan. He is such an incredible man and I am so blessed to have him as my husband. Jonathan picks up the various tasks I've been dropping while adjusting to life with a newborn again. 

Jonathan makes life so much better for all of us! 

Mother Dearest

 Building off of yesterday's post, I am so grateful for my mom. As soon as it was clear that surgery would be necessary, she got the soonest flight she could to be with us. My mom was the last family member I saw as I was rolled away to surgery and took care of Aaron every night for three weeks when I got home.

Fast forward to this past September and she again got the earliest flight to help us when Lucy came earlier than expected. (She was still full term just not 40 weeks.) Again she spent way more time with Aaron, but that was exactly what I needed. My mom takes such good care of us that it makes it difficult to let her go.

Health

I am so grateful to be healthy and for all the doctors, surgeons, and nurses that have helped me regain it. I still can't believe how crazy my postpartum recovery was with Aaron and having my very sick gallbladder removed all before he was even a month old. I am so grateful for a surgeon that could handle my complicated case even though all indications pointed to a simple gallbladder full of gall stones.

These memories have been on the surface while I've been recovering from Lucy's birth. I still can't believe all my body went through and all I have is a few scars on my belly from it.

Really Quick

 Before going to sleep tonight I wanted to remember what I'm grateful for.

I'm grateful for traditions. They bring stability and help bond us with the past. I want to be more intentional with them in our family. Tonight, we watched Jurassic Park with our friends just like we did 5 years ago at our first Thanksgiving in Texas with them.

I am grateful for cuddles with Aaron. He's so big and more independent while I'm also usually busy with Lucy that I relish any snuggles he'll give me.

Yes, we are watching Jurassic Park and no it didn't scare him.

Better Late Than Never

I'm not giving up even if I am only doing this every other day!

I am grateful for good books and sharing them with Aaron and Lucy. Yesterday, we finished reading Peter Pan. Sure they aren't really getting that much out of it, but it's still a habit I want to instill in them. I'm good at starting books, but not finishing them. My friend Alyssa shared her reading stats at the end of last year and it inspired me to make a New Year's resolution to start finishing books. I didn't want to overwhelm myself especially with a toddler and anticipating a pregnancy so I went with 24 books for the year. It's felt so good actually finishing books and I met my goal before Lucy was born. I still have about 10 books that I am currently working through, but I know eventually I will finish them. 

I am grateful for cute hair bows. I was certain that Lucy was a boy so much that I didn't start prepping her clothes until my 35 week ultrasound that verified that she was in fact a girl. I still was only 95% convinced while I labored and finally 100% when I saw her for myself. I think my favorite part of having a little girl is all the cute bows to coordinate with her outfits or even just her pajamas! Seeing them all hung up brings me so much happiness!

Yes, I have added even more since I took this picture.

 

Double Or Nothing

 It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just a few days away. Time is already getting away from me. 

I am grateful to see my dad in Aaron's smile. I don't know that I'll ever live close to my parents, but I love seeing them in my kids as well as myself. (I occasionally wear outfits that my mom would.)

I am grateful to worship with my ward family. Lucy and I finally made it to church today and it was wonderful. Yes, we were late but we were all there as a family. We sat in our usual spot and it all felt so right even when Lucy cried.

 

Oh, and Aaron is grateful that he found his toy car in Nursery today. 

54%

 I am grateful for our family scripture study. Just about every night since Aaron was a little baby, we read a few verses from the Book of Mormon. It's extremely slow going, but we are now 54% done with it.  I really appreciated our reading tonight in the Book of Alma.

I know God hears us especially when we are afflicted - even when we are the cause of it. He loves us and His mercy will come.

Yet Another Two for One

 The reason why I ran out of time to post is the same thing I was very grateful for. I am grateful to be serving with the girls ages 7 to 11 in my ward. I was just called a few weeks ago and I'm really enjoying our time together.

I'm also grateful for days at the beach. My mom instilled a love of the beach and I hope to do the same for my kids.

Another Two for One

 I am grateful for prayer. Last night, Aaron was having an unusually difficult time going to sleep. Jonathan checked on him, but he mostly wanted to play. Unfortunately, the crying continued. After feeding Lucy, I checked on him. I held him in my arms and again he mostly wanted to play. I got him some trains and still he wasn't ready for me to go. The thought came to me to pray with Aaron one more time. While I said the prayer I felt impressed to ask for his angels to come and comfort him. I don't typically pray like that, but they felt right. Aaron still wasn't ready for me to leave, but he quickly calmed down and had a restful night.

I am grateful to slow down. Lucy has helped me to reprioritize my life right now. I'm not running around trying to get things done. Instead I'm typically cuddling Lucy or playing on the floor with Aaron. It is so nice to go so slowly even though it still shocks me that we are already halfway through November!

A Small Sunday Tradition

I am grateful for our Sunday tradition of watching Music and the Spoken Word. I love the music and seeing the orchestra. It's perfect to watch just before Aaron's nap.

I loved today's episode for Veteran's Day.