Texas Lou

Although I didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving this year, I have so much to be thankful for:

1. I’m so grateful to my in-laws for taking care of my 3 boys (and my 2 nieces for helping) so that Ben and I could attend my brother’s wedding in Costa Rica.  Although we wanted to take them with us, we just couldn’t make it work and I’m so glad we didn’t have to miss the wedding and I didn’t have to go alone.  Thanks so much to my in-laws for all of their help!
2. I’m thankful for 5 days in paradise with my family.  This was the first time in 11 years I’ve been with my family on Thanksgiving.  And even though we didn’t have Thanksgiving dinner, we definitely had a celebration!
3. I’m grateful that my brother found his best friend and soul mate in Erin.  I’m so happy for them as they start their lives together.
4. I’m thankful that we made it through all of our travels safely.  Traveling to a foreign country can be scary and full of anxiety but we were lucky to be safe and not have any hiccups along the way.
5. I’m grateful that I get to see my family again soon for Christmas!

Happy day friends!

Happy Thursday!  Just checking in for a dose of gratitude.  Here are a few things I’m thankful for today:

1. I’m thankful that I’m finally getting some help for my postpartum anxiety.  I’m already feeling better able to cope!
2. I’m grateful for sunshine when we have it.  We have had so much rain lately, that it has really helped me appreciate the sunny days that have been few and far away.  We celebrated sunshine with a trip to the park last weekend!
3. I’m grateful for many opportunities to grow professionally at work over the past 6 months.  I have learned so much and am thankful for all of the help from my coworkers!
4. I’m grateful for times with family.  We have a lot of family time coming up – weddings, birthdays, holidays – and I’m grateful I’ll get to see my family for all of these!
5. I’m thankful that my parents are taking care of their health so that they will both hopefully be around a long time for my boys to have a relationship with.

Have a wonderful day!

My mom left after a fun visit today and I’m feeling kinda down so I think I need a dose of gratitude to help me perk up.  Here are just a few things I’m grateful for lately:

1. I’m grateful that my mom was able to come visit and help celebrate Auggie Bear’s first birthday.  It means more than the world to me that my boys are getting to spend quality time with my mom/best friend.
2. I’m grateful we made it through the first year of life with 3 kiddos under 4!  Those first few weeks were daunting but we made it and are all stronger because of them!
3. I’m thankful for a wonderful summer filled with visits from loved ones and travel!  I have to say an extra thank you to Ben and his mom for helping out with the kiddos so I could travel to Houston, Padre Island, and Chicago to help celebrate my brother and his fiance.  I’m also so grateful to have had both my mom and my brother and his fiance visit us this summer.  I don’t care how often I have to wash the sheets in the guest room…I’d do it a million times for precious memories made with my loved ones!
4. I’m grateful for my little family.  For so long, I wanted my own little family and now my life is full with a great husband and 3 sweet, healthy, and active little boys!
5. I’m thankful for a challenging job that I enjoy and awesome coworkers plus the opportunity to work part time so I can spend more time with my babies.

Have a great day friends!

I’m drowning in life and to-dos and I’m trying to remember to stay positive and practice gratitude.  So here’s some gratitude to keep me in the right frame of mind!

Today, I’m thankful for:

1. I’m thankful for the opportunity to travel a couple times this summer to help celebrate my brother and his fiance.  I’m very grateful to have extra childcare from my in-laws and husband to allow me to make this possible!
2. I’m thankful for my health.  Despite some injuries and illnesses lately, everything has been minor, and I’m so thankful to have good health.
3. I’m grateful for good influences in my life.  I have certain friends and family in my life who set such a good example for me as a person and parent and I’m grateful for them and their influence.
4. I’m so grateful for warm weather…FINALLY!
5. I’m thankful to feel like I’m emerging from the fog!  Though I still feel like I’m constantly busy and have a thousand things to do, I’m starting to feel like I’m managing the anxiety of being a working mom of 3 small children much better and no longer feel like I’m constantly living in a postpartum fog!

Happy day to you all!

Hola!  I’m keeping that spirit of gratitude alive!  Here are just a few of the things I’m grateful for today:

1. I’m grateful that my nephew was born safe and healthy and that my sister is recovering well after giving birth on Thursday!  I’m so excited to welcome a sweet new baby into our family!
2. I’m thankful for great mama friends who help me make it through the long days of motherhood!  On Friday, we had lunch with Amy and Roland and on Monday, we spent the day at Lindsey’s!  I’m happy I have good friends who have sweet children that my kiddos are becoming buddies with!
3. I’m thankful for a little warmth after a lot of cold!  We had temperatures in the 60s on Friday and it was a really nice break in between cold snaps!
4. I’m grateful for a husband who is a great handyman!  He’s always doing his best to fix things around the house so we don’t have to pay someone to do it!
5. I’m grateful for coffee!  I wake up every morning looking forward to the smell and taste of it and the caffeine definitely helps with the lack of sleep I’m getting due to middle-of-the-night feedings!

Have a happy day!

Hello and happy new year!  I meant to post last week but life is busy!  I’ve been trying to remember to be grateful and to teach my boys gratitude as well but nothing beats writing it down to really get in the gratitude mindset.  Here’s what I’m thankful for today:

1. I’m thankful for my job, my boss, my coworkers, and the amazing working environment they all create together.  Going back to work after having Auggie, while a bit sad, wasn’t very hard at all because of the people and place I came back to.  Everyone was so welcoming and being back feels almost like I wasn’t gone for 4 months!  Also, I’m so thankful to my work for the more than standard maternity leave with 4 months with Auggie and 6 months with Carter and Morgan.  I’m so blessed to work here!
2. I’m grateful for my husband who is quickly learning how to manage 2 toddlers and a baby by himself so that I can, on occasion, have “me” time.  I was able to go to dinner and a movie with friends last weekend and happy hour this week!  I feel like having that time really helps me recharge and be a better mommy.  Thanks Ben!
3. I’m so thankful for a break from the super cold weather we’ve had.  The temperature is in the 50s and 60s today and tomorrow.
4. I’m grateful for my 3 boys whose hugs and smiles always make me feel loved and bring me back to what’s important.
5. I’m grateful for my new work desktop and laptop.  They are making doing my job so much easier!

Happy day friends!

Well, it’s been a while since I last posted but I have a very good reason!  My sweet baby boy, August “Auggie” Asher Davidson was born a month ago! So clearly, I’ve been very busy but I also have so much to be thankful for!

1. I’m grateful that my baby boy was born healthy and he and I both made it safely through delivery.
2. I’m thankful that I have an AMAZING doctor and many awesome nurses, doctors, and hospital staff who got me through almost 10 months of an unexpected pregnancy with lots of support, love, and expertise!
3. I’m so grateful that a very scary complication that arose 5 days post part-em was taken care of quickly by more amazing doctors, nurses, and staff and that I made it through safely.
4. I’m so very grateful for my in-laws, Peter and Phyllis, and my mom for all the help they’ve provided over the past very difficult month with childcare, meals, cleaning, and moral support as we have figured out how to become a family of 5 and dealt with health issues.
5. Lastly, I am so grateful for all of the kind words, support, and advice of friends and family on becoming a mama of 3.  It has been a rough transition, much tougher than I expected, and everyone’s support has gotten me through it in much better shape and much more quickly than had we gone it alone.
6. Bonus: I’m grateful for my husband Ben for all of his support and help with the toddlers while I’ve been recovering and trying to breastfeed!  I’m a lucky woman to be married to him!

Love you all and I’ll try to post regularly, at least while I’m on maternity leave!

Good morning and welcome to Thankful Tuesday!

One thing I’ve been trying to do to make sure I express gratitude more often or when I don’t have time to post on this blog is to write a few things down that I’m grateful for each day in a little notebook I keep in my purse.  I’d say I remember/have time to do this about 3 times a week.  I have noticed that it seems to help me think more positively and have a happier outlook on all things.  I’ll hopefully continue to do that along with updating my “Thankful Monday” posts on this blog and occasionally practicing gratitude with my boys by writing what we’re thankful for on our kitchen chalk board.

Here are just a few things I’m thankful for today:

1. I’m grateful that Charlottesville now has an Alamo Drafthouse and I’m also thankful for a fun girls night out with Sarah, Lindsey, and Sherry to check it!  We went and saw the Dark Tower and had dinner at the theater and I was so excited and impressed with the new space!  Any time we get something like this here that reminds me of Texas, it makes Charlottesville feel a little more like home! 🙂  Bonus:  the owners are from Beaumont, Texas!
2. I’m thankful for Ben watching the boys and holding down the fort (doing dinner and bath/bed time on his own) so that I could enjoy possibly a last girls night for a while since the baby is supposed to come soon.  Thank you Ben for helping me have some “me time”.
3. I’m thankful I’m still feeling relatively well despite being between 37 and 38 weeks pregnant.  After my first pregnancy, I really had low expectations for feeling good (and still being pregnant) at this stage so I’m very glad that it hasn’t been torture like last time.
4. I’m grateful I *mostly* wrapped up a big project I’ve been working on for weeks last week before the baby arrives.  I was nervous about getting this project done in time especially since I had put so much work into it so having it finished has been a big relief!
5. I’m thankful for a fun pool day with friends and for my mama tribe!  Saturday, the boys and I spent a fun day at the pool with Sarah, Lindsey, and all the kiddos!  I probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable taking the boys to the pool by myself this late in my pregnancy so I’m glad Sarah and Lindsey were up for a fun play date to help us get out of the house.

Have a happy day!

Hi friends!  As usual, I have sooooo much to be thankful for!

1. I’m beyond grateful that my cousin Shelly delivered a healthy baby boy yesterday and both she and baby are doing well!  I’ve said many prayers for the two of them over the past few months and I’m grateful that they were answered!
2. I’m thankful my baby is still cooking!  I was having some seemingly early labor symptoms starting last week but luckily, it looks like he’s due to stay put for a little while longer.
3. I’m thankful for my amazing doctor!  Not only is she down-to earth, always available, and takes great care of Ben, the boys, and me, she also has been so responsive during my pregnancy.  She has commiserated with me and been acknowledging and supportive of the fact that I had a very traumatic pregnancy, pre-term birth experience, and post term experience last time and she’s been right there all along the way to calm my fears and go above and beyond to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to make this time around a much better experience for all involved!  I’m so grateful I found such a wonderful family doctor and I hope she’ll be with my family for many years to come!
4. I’m grateful for my husband and everything he does for us!  I nag him to do a lot for me and the boys, especially when pregnant, and I complain about him not doing things for us too much but he really is our knight in shining armor and has helped out so much.  I’m especially thankful for all that he did to get the house cleaned up this weekend to appease my nesting instincts and for getting out of bed last night to wipe up the floor and table from dinner after he’d forgotten.
5. I’m grateful for the opportunity to teach my boys gratitude and the joys of doing things for others.  This weekend, they got to pick out a gift for their baby brother to bring to him when they first meet him.  We also made brownies and we took some to their grandparents’ house to share.  And lastly, they wanted to color and play with stickers this weekend and on their own, they announced they were making their pictures to give to their grandparents.  Sometimes I worry that my attempt to teach them the good things is going in one ear and out the other and also being negated by the example of my bad habits that I’m always trying to make better, but then they do sweet things like this that make me feel like maybe we are all doing something right. 🙂

Lots of love and gratitude to you all!

Hi Friends!

I’m checking in for a dose of gratitude!

1. Today I’m thankful that this baby is still growing inside of me!  I’ve been pretty terrified about a repeat of premature birth from the beginning of this pregnancy so I’m extremely grateful that I’ve already made it 3 weeks longer than I did with my first pregnancy.
2. I’m grateful for a promotion!  I totally didn’t expect it, but my boss told me I was being promoted yesterday afternoon!  It was great to get good feedback on my performance and be reassured that I’ve been doing a good job at work!
3. I’m thankful for my mom.  She’s always there when I need advice and knows the perfect way to guide me.  I really hope I can do the same for my children.
4. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to work at an amazing place with awesome people.  As a team building activity on Tuesday, I got to experience the Cville Escape Room with some coworkers.  Not only was it challenging and fun, but I was able to get to know some of my coworkers better outside the workplace.
5. Lastly, I’m grateful for life.  Sometimes I get down, but lately I’ve been thinking that I’m just lucky to be alive and get to experience a good life.  Even if things aren’t going my way, I can usually find something to look forward to and be grateful for.

Have a great day!