A time to give thanks, indeed

My favorite holiday has come and gone - and by next year we will be a family of 3! Wild.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday - maybe because it's my moms favorite. An entire day - or weekend if you're lucky - to focus on being thankful! And oh man, I have a lot to be thankful for! This year I am especially thankful that I stuck around and trusted that it would get better. I am incredibly thankful for my life. Might seem cliche but there were several years I didn't want to be alive. I thought I was a mistake. I thought I couldn't have any of the things I wanted: to be proud of myself, to be honest about who I am, to have a family, to have friends who know the real me and love me for it, to have a job I'm passionate about and to have a real authentic relationship with God. I feel humbled, I feel thankful and I feel motivated to pass on the message of 'it gets better' to the people that need it.

Erin and I were both sick over the Thanksgiving weekend. This dumb cold/cough kept us close to home which turned out being perfect. (This weekend has had me wondering what parents do when they get sick. I'm a total wimp, I don't want to do anything when I'm sick.)  There was a lot of relaxing with a few outings to hike, shop the neighborhood stores on Small Business Saturday and go to the Salon to turn me into a red head. We went to the McKinnon's for Thanksgiving dinner and it was perfect and low key. I seriously scored when it comes to in-laws!

We are 20 weeks pregnant today. Twenty weeks or 139 days to go! Erin is just starting to get her baby bump. Every morning for the last week I have asked her to wear something tight - just so I can see it. She's done it for me most of the time. :) Erin has to pee several times during the day. It seems she has the urge more often than not and then when she goes to the bathroom nothing comes out. It's annoying to her and she has said that it's the worst part of being pregnant - which we are both thankful for. We have heard pregnancy horror stories so no complaining about the constant urge. But then again, that's easy for me to say!

It's fascinating to learn about the developments in Poppy as they're happening.  This week her uterus and ovaries are finishing developing along with the millions of eggs that will allow her to be a mom someday, if she choses. Isn't that wild?! She is about 6 inches long crown to rump - already nearly formed. I'm in constant awe. I have been caught looking at Erin with a confused and almost nervous look on my face. I can't help it. It is the coolest thing that our baby is growing inside of her. 

So many of our conversations are about Poppy. We talk about the things we need to purchase to prepare for her, the things we want to teach her, we wonder what she's going to be like - like today we wondered if she's going to want to have long hair like Erin or short hair like me,  we've spent quite a bit of time talking about how to maintain our relationship and relationships with our friends when she gets here. It's hard to remember what we spent our time talking about before we got pregnant. She already takes up so much of my mind space.

We have our 20 week ultrasound and our second centering appointment this week. I am so eager for both.  We are getting our house ready for Christmas and have holiday plans approaching. I love this time of year - it feels magic. We are going to do our best to be in the moment and enjoy our last Christmas as a family of 2 while at the same time continue to be so excited for next year with little Poppy!