In no particular order:
I am grateful for a daughter who has sensed that big changes are coming her way. For an almost two-year old she has been incredibly understanding of my limitations and sometimes inability to meet her wants. She knows that Mommy can’t carry her, so she just asks that I “hold hand” when we walk down the stairs. When I am laying down she will run all over the house getting things for me and sometimes even picking things up for me. She likes to steal my chair, but always moves when I ask. She will be a great big sister. She is already a great friend for her mom.

I am grateful for two other daughters that have decided to hold out on making their entrance into the world. It has given me some much needed time to not only get our house physically ready for their arrival, but to prepare myself mentally for the changes in my life (at least somewhat.) I am almost 36 weeks now, and even though I feel like I am going to burst I keep reminding myself that everyday I don’t go into labor makes the babies that much bigger and stronger and healthier.

I am grateful for friends who have stepped in to bring me meals, to babysit Annika, to cut my hair, or just to call and talk. Thanks. It has meant the world to me.

I am most grateful right now, for an amazing husband who has taken the last few weeks without complaining and only a little bit of teasing. He works hard and then comes home and works even harder. He has cleaned the house, cooked dinners, washed laundry, done the grocery shopping, played with Annika, and finished his project of refinishing and painting our kitchen table and chairs. He has bought me peanut m&m’s just because he knows I love them and listened while I shared all of my fears (many of them irrational) about the babies coming. He puts up with extra pillows in the bed at night and extra messes around the house that I don’t have the energy to clean up. Yesterday we drove to Trier to buy Annika some birthday presents before the babies make it extra hard to get out. We hadn’t planned on taking pictures, but at the last minute decided to do an impromptu maternity session to document a size I hope to never be again. I am grateful for a husband that makes me feel beautiful even when I waddle and look like I swallowed a watermelon and by my own admission resemble a beached sea lion when I try to get off the couch or out of bed (at least that is how I feel!) Even though we both laugh at the impossible size of my belly he continually reminds me that I am beautiful, and for that, I am grateful. (Plus, he is a great photographer, no?)