Thankful.

I know I've blogged about this in the past, I think at the time it was a post about being "blessed."  This topic is actually not even on my list sitting next to me.  I was lying with the boys tonight in my bed, watching the Olympics before lights out time for them.  I couldn't help but think of how thankful I am for them, their health, and their happiness.  All 3 have been battling colds, croupy coughs, and fevers over the course of the past week - Quinn's head had a major run in with the cement yesterday and looks like he just fought a UFC fight - but all in all, I'm so thankful this is all we've ever had to deal with.  Just minor things, normal things. 

Each night at bedtime the boys say their "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep" prayers and then at the end I have them say something they're thankful for.  I've heard everything from being thankful for Nemo, chips, TV so we can watch the Olympics, friends, dirt, sausage, Subway, Mom, Dad, etc. you name it - I've heard a lot.  Every night they also ask me what I'm thankful for and I always say I'm thankful for them and then add an additional thing, like say, maybe good health or wonderful grandparents.  Konnor chimed in and asked why I'm thankful for good health, and I had a very honest, sincere conversation with him about how some children live in hospitals, some children don't have hair, some children have never been able to run or walk or play baseball or eat brownies, some children have never known their Moms or their Dads, and he just couldn't fathom it.  I think he actually genuinely felt like he understood and was also now thankful for what he had. 

I'm constantly reading other women's blogs on the internet, I tend to gear towards Christian ones and sometimes fall upon blogs of children who need prayers.  Children who are fighting cancer. Children who have passed away.  Children who have suffered from Shaken Baby Syndrome.  A few months ago I stumbled across this blog http://bandssullivan.blogspot.com/.  It's a blog written by a dad of a little girl who's mom just passed away last Fall.  Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after finding out they were pregnant with their first daughter, Chloe.  Long story short, Sarah had chemo treatments during her pregnancy, seemed to have been ahead in her battle against cancer when she gave birth, went home days after and had a major brain relapse of some sorts.  She spent a few short days with her husband and new baby at home and then was declared brain dead and passed away.  This dad has such an amazing faith and this baby is absolutely amazing. 

As I was lying in bed with the boys tonight I thought of how thankful I've been to experience nearly seven years of motherhood so far, with no major bumps.  Not that I'm ready to leave this world anytime soon but I'm so thankful for what I've been given thus far and the experiences and memories I've been able to create with the boys so far.  I'm so thankful for more then just health.  Thankful for the days we've spent hour after hour at the park just digging in the dirt, thankful for the days we've been able to go out and do something we normally wouldn't do like experience part of the Superbowl, or a Major League baseball game, or DisneyWorld.  I'm so thankful for the flexibility to be able to volunteer at school, drop in and have lunch with Konnor, spend some one on one time at Target with Quinn, sit on a hard tile floor and play ten games of Handy Manny Memory with Hunter - losing EVERY singe time.  I'm thankful for sleepless nights.  I'm thankful for some of the rougher days we've had b/c I've learned from them.  I've taken not so fun experiences and dug hard to find the good in them and strive to find ways to not have to deal with those rough days again.  I'm thankful for sticky floors because the kids spill all over them, I'm thankful for pee all over the toilet.  I'm thankful at the end of the day that I can look over and see all three of my beautiful, healthy boys, sleeping soundly on my bed - even if it leaves me with the floor.  I've had so many people question me "don't you wish you had a girl?" or "here's this book on how to make girls."  You know what?  I'm incredibly thankful for my three boys, I've never wished any of them were a girl.  I know some Moms say that and probably don't mean it, but to be completely honest, I am very thankful for three boys and have never wished any of them were a girl.  That's not to say I've never had a thought of wanting a girl - I mean, come on, look at all the adorable stuff you can dress little girls in, but really, having health is truly all that matters to me.  It really is. 

Don't get me wrong, I do have my days where I'm constantly cleaning up behind every move they make, getting frustrated that they've carelessly dumped a glass of orange juice all over the floor which splattered all over the windows, heck, sometimes I even get frustrated if they get handprints on the car windows, but I've learned over time that those are all things that even if I get frustrated about at times, are things I'm so thankful for.  Things I've been able to experience that other parents would give ANYTHING to experience just a little of if given the chance.  Little baby Chloe will never know her mother physically, but her Daddy has already made sure she will know her mother and where she came from.  There are so many parents who's child's innocence and youth have been robbed from them by a daycare provider, or by cancer, or a drunk driver's careless decision.  Can you just imagine what some of these parents might regret?  These are the parents that now say "I wish I never wished for early bedtimes, I wish I never thought to myself, 'would you just be quiet for 10 minutes so Mommy can think', I wish I never put my 2 year old in front of the TV for 30 minutes just so she'd stay out of my hair...."  I don't want regrets.  Although I know I'm not perfect, and I know I'm still at times going to fret over spilled milk or hand prints on clean windows, I'm so incredibly blessed and I don't ever want to take a bit of it for granted. 

Dear God, I'm so thankful.