Thanksgiving... Then and Now

Last year on Thanksgiving Day, I woke up in the morning at a bed and breakfast in Middlebury, Vermont, and peed on a stick (ok, several sticks!).

And this year, I sat at the Thanksgiving table, surrounded by pretty much all the same people as last year, with one new addition - Jordyn was on my lap. 

What a difference a year makes! 

I didn't cry as we went around the table to say what we're thankful for (my six-year-old cousin always insists on doing this!), but I reminded everyone one that last year I'd found out I was pregnant, and that this year I had my baby. And that I was very thankful for that. And then all the usual stuff, like being thankful for my family, and our health, and that my mom's a great cook... But I don't like getting all sentimental in front of my family, and no one else was doing that, either.

But inside... I just kept thinking about how very, very thankful I am that my dream has come true. And that I have a baby, and that that baby is Jordyn. And how amazing the difference is between last year and this year, and I was sentimental. Just not "publicly". :)

What did we do today, on Jordyn's first Thanksgiving? Well, she woke up early, at around 6:15, and we somehow managed not to fall back to sleep while I nursed her (we usually do). So, we were the first ones up (we're staying at my parents' house), and we spent some time playing together before her first bottle. She's always so happy in the morning! She watched her first Ma.cy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I got some great pictures of her with my dad and my aunt. Lots of smiles! She tried out an exersaucer-like thing for the first time, and liked it! She really likes to be in the upright position. Later, she met our pseudo-cousins (not biologically family members, but third generation family friends, and basically family at this point) when they got here, and then some of us went swimming. It was Jordyn's fourth time in the pool, and she seems to be liking it more and more. She doesn't totally light up and get all excited, but she does seem to enjoy it. She had a bath after the pool. We hung out with everyone, and then had dinner around 4:30 or 5:00. Jordyn didn't get to eat the meal, of course, but she did have a bottle at the table (my dad fed her), as it was time for her to eat, too. She got cranky in the evening, as usual, but she took a couple of cat naps and hung in there until almost 8:00, when she had her last bottle and went to sleep. It was a good first Thanksgiving, I think!