Thankful, Even for the Growing Pains

We celebrated Thanksgiving a week ago. We did dinner at our house which I love because cooking and thinking about cooking are two of my favorite things. We rarely get to have nice big dinners, usually I'm refereeing a child who doesn't want to eat and a child who eats but also flings food and it's not a lot of fun, so it's wonderful to sit down with the whole family and enjoy a leisurely meal. The only downside was that  Sean was working the night shift so he could only join us for dessert.

  

 

The next day I attended my cousin's wedding which was lovely and also really weird because I remember us all having pillow fights in my grandparent's basement and there he was in a tux with a pretty new wife and a law degree. Time flies! 

In between the Big Meal and the Wedding, Sean and I squeezed in some Black Friday shopping where we purchased our annual haul of movies. We own more movies than I can count because we so rarely make it out to the theater, plus watching them at home means you can wear pajamas. I guess you could wear pajamas to the theater but you might get weird looks.

I was a really busy couple of days, I even had a doctors appointment squeezed in there. Baby-wise, things are going fine. She's growing right on track and seems so be much more laid-back than her brothers. Please let this mean she will be laid-back on the outside too. PLEASE.

I have reached that point in pregnancy where I am OVER IT. So over it. Being this large and tired makes doing all the fun holiday stuff much more strenuous and I never remember to take it easy until I'm physically and emotionally exhausted. Even something as simple as standing for the length of the cocktail hour at my cousin's wedding left me so lightheaded and dizzy I was afraid I'd faint. I do not cope well with having to delegate tasks or admit that I  need a break, and it was especially hard during the holiday weekend because there was so much to do. From here on out however, I pledge to take a giant dose of Sit The Heck Down whenever I need it. 

Notice the mommy snowman, on the left, has passed clean out

Another special  "holiday" we celebrated this week was Aiden's sixth birthday. He is just like his father and spent the days leading up to it lamenting turning six and telling everyone he didn't want to get any older. He certainly enjoyed the cake and presents however. We also got our Christmas tree, at his request, on his birthday so that was fun too.

I cannot believe how big he is getting. Physically he's all long legs and arms and we have to warn him to be careful whenever he tries to climb on us or curl up near us because he's just so big. At school he's gone from the silent child to one of the chattiest. He can count by fives and tens and we're seeing that math is definitely his forte. He and Sean will go back and forth asking each other math problems and this word-oriented girl is left trying to encourage him to read.

 Emotionally, he's like a teenager. This has been, by far, our hardest year yet. Our very compliant kid who never threw tantrums (or at least tantrums the way Rory does) has become opinionated, strong willed and kind of high strung. It is really hard for me to cope with but it all makes so much sense in the context of learning to deal with new siblings, starting Kindergarten and becoming more independent than ever.  I'm trying to remind myself that this is necessary for him to figure out how to stand on his own but it's trying at times, mostly because I realize how much of his life, from all day at kindergarten to the time he spends with his grandparents or friends, that doesn't revolve around he and I anymore. He too must be realizing that he is his own person with his own experiences and it's a lot to process.  Despite the challenges, I am so proud of him. He has embraced these changes and grown so much, he really is going through a whirlwind of growth and change and doing a spectacular job of learning to navigate it all. Basically, he still needs me, but just a little less than yesterday. That's really the blessing and the curse of it.