Grains of Gratitude

I can't believe we are already in November! Thanksgiving will be here before I know it, then Christmas, and a few weeks after that Joe will be home!

Things from last week I'm grateful for:

1. I've mentioned before how sweet and thoughtful Karen is (and it's not just because she sends me chocolate from New Zealand!) but she's been at it again! Her daughter, same age as Kayla, picked out a little something for Kayla when they went on a recent vacation. Kayla hasn't seen it yet because it's all wrapped up so I'm waiting for Christmas to give it to her. Karen once again included some absolutely delicious chocolate for me! I think it's my new favorite! Here's a brief description from the back "...notice the crispy lightness of the wafer; the creamy chocolate soon fills your mouth, quickly followed by mouth-watering gooey caramel. Back to the wafer, the chocolate, the caramel. The wafer, the chocolate, the caramel. You swallow." Do you know how much self-control I needed to not sit there and eat the whole bag?! Maybe it's a good thing they don't sell this over here! Karen also gave me the "Friendly Site Award" -thanks for thinking of me Karen!

Speaking of awards, I'd also like to thank Christine for giving me the "Community Blogger Award!"

2. On Tuesday I was able to finally go to a water aerobics class. I did this when I was pregnant with Kayla and have been wanting to go back again; but I didn't keep my maternity bathing suit from back then. There are no stores in this town that sell maternity bathing suits, so I had to resort to getting one off the internet - that's hard to do when you can't try it on! But I finally got one, that I probably wouldn't have bought off the rack, but it'll do. I'm looking forward to doing some sort of exercise! I'm grateful Jennifer doesn't mind watching Kayla each Tues evening for me so I can go!

3. Kayla really enjoyed trick or treating and had such fun going up to each house and passing all the kids on the sidewalk. I think she had just as much fun handing out the candy when we got back home too! She grabbed fistfuls of it and couldn't wait for someone to come by so she could put it in their bags. She kept calling out, "kids! a mere! More candy!" It was so funny. I've already posted pictures of Kayla in the doctor scrubs, but I did find this little hat at the dollar store to round out her costume.
4. I'm grateful for all the bloggers out there who participated in the Fall Giveaway! I think I have carpel tunnel from entering all those contests! LOL It was fun to visit some new blogs and see what prizes people were offering. I even won a few! I won a set of bath products from Welcome To Parenthood. I've never heard of Lush before so I'm looking forward to trying these products out. I won two vintage aprons from Homemaking Through The Church Year. Last night I found out I won 5 coupons for free (not cents off) products (to include Barilla pasta and a Barilla sauce) from Sharing My Two Cents. In case you missed it, the winner for my giveaway is Nerd Family Things.

5. I mentioned before one of the support programs in place is Give Parents A Break (if your spouse is deployed/TDY). This is only on the first Saturday of the month and you drop your child(ren) off at the base Child Development Center from 9-3 for free child care. We didn't get to do this last month since the first Saturday of October found us in Roswell for the Buddy Walk! You can better believe I was counting down the days for the first Saturday of this month! I was looking forward to having a few hours to myself on Saturday. Let me tell you how much I needed this! At 920 someone called asking if I was still planning on bringing Kayla in (you have to be registered). I said, "yes but when I signed her up I said she would probably be there between 930-1000." The lady said, "well it's almost 1030." I looked at my watch and said "It's almost 930." I then mentioned the time change. Yes people, I changed my watch back on Friday night! Ok are you done laughing at me yet? All week I kept reminding myself this was the weekend to change the clocks back, I need to remember to do that on Saturday night since it happens early Sunday. In my brain that shortened to "need to do that on Saturday" which led to me going to bed Friday night thinking, "oh yeah, gotta change it back for Saturday." So I ended up losing an hour since I didn't get to drop her off until almost 1045 instead of 945! I blame it on pregnancy brain. She did have 4 hours there and she had fun and I had a few hours to clean/organize and scrapbook. I wish they had this 2 Saturdays a month instead of only the 1st, but I'm grateful it's available at all!

6. And now this morning, since we really did turn our clocks back, Kayla woke up at 600. I'm so grateful that I was able to bring her back to bed with me and she fell immediately back to sleep - and slept until 730! I was surprised she slept that long!

I haven't posted a belly pic since I was 20 wks along - I'm now 24 wks! So here I am 4 wks later: I resorted to taking pictures in the mirror :)

You almost don't notice with a regular t-shirt on


but there it is!