GrEIGHTful extended version....

I know it has been a while once again since I have kept up with my Grateful list. Our little Prince is at the dayhome today and our Pincess is sleeping, so I am trying to do a bit of catching up and cleaning up around the house.

Lots to be grateful for, lots to be thankful for, so for the extended version here we go:

1. My husband. I do not know how we would have made it these past few weeks if it weren't for him. He is so amazing and so completely and utterly dedicated to his family. I am so, so, so BLESSED.

2. My little boy and his caring, sensitive little heart. It has not been an easy transistion for him, but he really loves his little sister and wants to help out so much. He loves to cuddle with her and feed her and demands that she plays with him. He laughs hysterically when she plays on her mat and kicks her feet and tells us how funny she is. He is still learning the idea of being really gentle. He seems to think that he can pick her up and bop her on the head, or squeeze her real tight. She lets him know though! :o) Oh and his name for his baby sister is "Baby G G". SO that is her nickname--something that we thought about before hand too.

3. My sister-in-law who flew up to help us while I was in the hospital. Not sure how we would have managed if she was not able to help out. Zech and her had a blast together and he wants to go on the airplane to see his Aunty Missy now!

4. Good friends and hand-me-downs. Trish gave us some of Isabelle's hand-me-downs and Mari has been sending us some hand-me-downs from Ruby! Thanks so much, I haven't really had to go out and buy much and this little monkey of ours is already out of the 0-3 month clothing.

5. My sis, brother-in-law and nephew. They have been a big help. They were able to help me when John had to work and I was with the kids by myself. The first week after my c-section was a little rough and I am not supposed to lift Zech, so my the Lee family helped me out and helped me get Zech bathed and into bed. They have also blessed us with meals (from the Big Cook, that I really wanted to do before I had Genesis), lots of clothes and goodies for both Genesis and Zech. Thanks!

6. For Photo Shop. I designed our birth announcements (which will finally be sent out today) before hand on Photoshop. I have to give credit for the design idea to my friend Heather. I loved the birth announcements she sent out for her son Silas, and looked every where to find one that was similar. I didn't like any of them and then it dawned on me to design my own. SO I did, but because I was in my daze like, sleepless state, I didn't compress the layers and adjust the resolution like I should have and now they all printed out blurry and well not the way they actually look in Photoshop. I was really disappointed, but not about to print them again. SO everyone will just have to get blurry, low resolution copies! :o(

7. The Stollery Children's Hospital. Yes we have been there already with Genesis. This past week we were in the doctor's office or hospital every second day it seemed with Zech getting an ear infection, me having a few complications with my c-section incision (having to go a few times to a doctor) and Genesis having diarrhea for days. I must say it is a true blessing to go to the Stollery as we are priority and never have to wait (the waiting room was full) and the doctor's and nurses are so NICE there and compassionate!

8. A formula that works--finally! We are actually making out own formula (oh how the doctor's and nurses are going to love this!!) and as soon as we switched Genesis to the new homemade formula her diarrhea cleared up and was gone the next day. Did you know that the first two ingredients in most formulas are corn syrup and sucrose! I questioned the nurse about this, and she didn't know this and had never ever looked at the ingredients before! How nice that we are pumping our kids full of corn syrup and sucrose from a very early age! This is why we decided to make our own.

9. Zech's dayhome. He loves going and it really has given us a much needed break!

10. A precious little girl who is a descent sleeper. She has given us a couple of nights where she has slept through the night, but that really scared me and I woke up with a start and tried to get her up to feed. Now she usually goes from 10:30 pm until 3:00 am and then feeds and goes back down until between 7:00 am and 8:00 am. Pretty good I think! Still don't have her on a schedule yet, but it will come!

11. A great church and a good message. The message on Sunday was about Death. Yeah I know sounds really uplifting, but it really was a good message and made you think about a few things. The message was built around R, Maximizing and Prioritizing your life. How true that we sometimes get so caught up in the wordly things of life and forget about what is most important. There were so many people that I think really needed to hear this message, including myself. Money, work, living a selfish life has become a priority and we are missing out on some of the greatest parts of life and living how God instructs us to live to ensure eternity.

12. That John is finally done is course tomorrow. He writes his final and then he gets a bit of a breather, before it is full speed ahead in the fall. I know he is stressed and hasn't had the time to study as much as he hoped, so I pray that God will help him get through this tough exam!

13. My first new bike ever! We cashed out our airmiles and I got a new bike. I know I can't ride it for a bit yet, but I am so excited to have a bike. It is really pretty and looks pretty fancy--I will have to figure out how to work the gearing. We love biking and can't wait to take the kids out biking!

14. God. Somedays I think we have both felt so overwhelmed and have wondered how on earth we are ever going to make it through. We have felt so alone, so isolated and so desperate for help, but just don't have it, so thank the Lord that He is always with us and able to get us through some really difficult times and sleepless nights. We now know what it is like to have two kids waking up in the middle of the night crying and needing attention. :o)