It has nothing to do with Istanbul

Last Thanksgiving was the day we found out we would soon have one more thing for which to be thankful for – another baby. And this year as I cuddled Ray Konrad and watched Noah cavort joyfully for the sole purpose of making his baby brother laugh I was reminded once again this is what I should be thankful for, not only on Thanksgiving but every day. We have so much love in our lives – for each other, our families and friends – and I hope we have many, many more healthy years to enjoy and appreciate them.

Typically on Thanksgiving we stop in to see my Dad around noon and then head to my Mom’s place for dinner, where she also feeds my in-laws. It’s a nice plan to see everyone. This year however my Mom is honeymooning in Vegas and since my Dad is postponing Thanksgiving until next week when my sister Elisha is visiting from Florida with her husband and son – that left our plans in a shambles. So we invited my FIL and his wife to our place for dinner. And since I’m no saint or martyr I ordered the bulk of our meal pre-cooked from the grocery store. As pathetic as I feel for cheating – it made it a lot less stressful. It was hard enough managing the boys while getting the place a little cleaned up for company let alone figuring out how to cook the bird. Luckily Noah was kept busy this morning by an avid interest in the Thanksgiving Day Parade - unfortunately he was repeatedly asking to see bits from last years parade. Sheesh.

I’m very happy to report that both the boys got a clean bill of health at their pediatrician well visits (3 years for Noah, 4 months for Ray) this past week. Ray is 26.5 inches and 17 pounds and is in the 90 percentile for weight, height and head circumference – he’s one big boy. In comparison he is one inch longer and four pounds heavier than Noah was at four months old. Noah is now 39 inches and 32.5 pounds – which is 90 percent for height and 50 percent for weight for his age group. These numbers and percentages might bore you to tears but for some odd reason I totally look forward to finding them out at each visit. Both boys got shots – and Noah took his flu shot bravely and without one tear.

I am considering taking Noah on the Santa Express train to the Gallery mall tomorrow morning – but don’t intend on doing any door buster shopping. I haven’t even made out my Christmas shopping list yet. Years ago I would do all my shopping at the last minute because I would have to use the money from that very last pay period to buy gifts. This isn’t really the case any more but I still wait until the very last minute. I hope to change that for next year, but probably will say the same exact thing next year.

Tomorrow night we host our traditional Black Friday Potluck for a handful of friends. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen some of these folk – so I’m really looking forward to it. But of course weighing heavily (pun intended) on my mind is how I wish I were thinner and both I and the house were a bit more put together. But if I waited for that I’d never see people.