Grateful

I am grateful that our family has friends to hug and friends to share the wonders of life with. I am fortunate that I have wonderful friends whom I deeply care about. I can't imagine a better circle of friends for myself or my children. I am grateful that I can ask these friends to help watch either Kate or Charlie for an afternoon (or 3 days) and that not only will they do it but they will do it with love. And I am grateful that I can do the same for their children. It takes a village and I love my.

I am grateful we have mornings like these. Where the sun shines and we get to enjoy our breakfast and coffee together. Blissful mornings and evenings with all 5 of us may be few and far between but when we have them....when everyone is in a good mood and laughter fills our house I feel grateful.

I am grateful for Kate. She is a constant reminder what pure joy and raw emotions really look like when they are not covered up. She is so silly and real and loving yet strong-willed. She is a delight to be with until she is not, and even then I adore her.

And I am grateful for the relationship that Adam and I have foster and watched grow. I truly love him. We make each other laugh, support each other in times of stress, and perhaps most importantly right now in our busy lives we do our best to be selfless yet aware of what we need to stay balance, happy and healthy.

I am grateful that my sister and brother are such huge parts of my kids lives. My brother has watched Kate and Charlie weekly while I work, and my sister drops everything when she has a free moment to garden, play hide in seek, and just be present with my kids. I am also grateful that the grandparents help so often, but I don't have a picture to go with it :)

I will forever be in awe of the big brother Charlie has become. He loves Alex more than I could have ever imagined. He plays with him, cares for him, teaches him things, and their bond is incredible. Charlie also spent most of his summer playing so nicely with Kate. Nothing brings me more happiness than this.

And I am grateful that Alex is growing and developing so well. He has over 40 words and is starting to put two words together. He is signing less due to increased language but I am hitting the signs hard again because I think it is a mistake to stop signing once they start talking. He still can't say all that he thinks and feels but at 15 months he is at the perfect age to sign his emotions.

And I am grateful that Charlie has a great tennis community. He loves playing with his friends and he has two of the best coaches, plus a dad who will drop everything to hit balls with his son