Gratitude Friday...

Holy moly, the gratitude list this week is so long. Long. Long. Long. Llllllooooonnnnggggg.

Part of that is because there's much to share with you. Things swimming around in my head and heart. So be on the look out over the next several weeks for some stuff. Some of it will be important. Some of it will be frivolous. And some of it will be just because I want to make sure and document it.

It's my blog and I'll document if I want to.

Alright so on to the gratitude list. This week's list will have two categories. One all about baby and one not about baby. I'll do non-baby first since I know you're probably not even reading this but are still busy staring at her pictures. I get it. She's cute.

I. Non-baby items

a. Transportation - Planes, trains and automobiles are awesome. They have brought so many wonderful people to Texas this summer. And they've taken us to see some great friends as well. But I am truly grateful that they are available when we need to get to a loved one in need. Or in celebration. How blessed we are to be able to visit with our family no matter where they live.

b. Home Goods - Seriously. If you've never been, I am so very sorry. I discovered this Mecca of home decor when we lived in Georgia. There was a Home Goods just an hour up the road in Savannah and I can't even tell you how many Monday's (my day off) I spent taking fabulous little road trips to shop. Now there's one all of 6 minutes from my house. I've been on the hunt for new bedding for the master bedroom. Not that I didn't love the all white but I just felt like I needed a little color. I'd hoped to find something in the aqua family but no such luck. Instead I found this gorgeous slate blue color. For 15 bucks. Hello.

c. Clearance Sales - Mrs. JT and I went shopping last week. I'm at the weird stage where the maternity clothes are too big but my regular clothes are still too small. (Sidenote: However, just yesterday, a pair of jeans buttoned up that hadn't a month ago. Progress is being made.) I'm 110% done wearing the maternity stuff. It just makes me feel frumpy. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how I look. I just don't have the money to buy an entire wardrobe for this new body. But I do have the money to buy $11 jeans on clearance for this new body. Hooray for feeling normal!

d. Date Night & Non-date Days- Last night, we went on our first real night out. Honestly, we both love being home with Pumpkin so I haven't really missed going out. What I've discovered is the time we do spend together, like going to the airport, has become really productive. Yes, we need to get out once and a while. It's good for baby and good for us. However, we have also learned to make the most of the time we do have even if it's at odd times or in odd places. The cell phone lot at the airport is now our favorite date spot!

II. Baby Items

a. Dress Up Time - AK doesn't like to have her clothes changed. Does. Not. Which is a shame because hello, I love kissing her belly. But she's a girl and I'm a girl and dang if baby girl clothes are not the cutest stuff out there. So we play dress up. A lot. Pumpkin is still pretty small so I keep trying her adorable 3 month outfits on her to see if they fit yet. They don't. But it's fun any way.

b. The Magic Spot - Babies get fussy. Heck, we'd all love to get fussy when we're tired. We just don't. Because the people around us would not appreciate it. We tend to laugh at Pumpkin when she gets fussy. She's so precious that we just want to scoop her up and cuddle. So we do. Daddy has what we call the Magic Spot. When she's at the point where nothing can comfort her, the magic spot often works. He just puts her on his chest and holds her close. And this is what happens...

c. That Bottom Lip - Does this really need any additional explanation?

d. Smiles - I came back from the gym yesterday to find Pumpkin sitting next to Chris on the couch in her boppy. She was just chillin'. She's good at that. She knows my voice for sure. I love when she turns her head toward me when she hears me. But yesterday, I came in, started talking to her and then leaned in to give her a kiss. As soon as I did, she just gave me the biggest grin. Heart. Melted.

I hope all of you had a wonderful week. Much love to everyone from our little family!