Saying thanks: 5 things I’m grateful for this year

It’s Thanksgiving this Thursday, and yet again, my parents will be having a little get together at their house. Theo and I will be sleeping over at their house so that I can relax and enjoy the festivities without worrying about waking him up to get home after dinner. Last year I couldn’t really eat much due to insane pregnancy heartburn, so I am VERY much looking forward to stuffing my face. Between the main and the dessert(s), we usually go round and everyone says something that they are thankful for. This year, there are a fair few things on my list including…

5. Having my family so close by. It’s been lovely this past year to spend more time with my parents, as they’ve come over at least once a week to help with Theo since he was born. But now I’m especially grateful, as they are great babysitters and most excellent child carers, helping us out every Wednesday and saving us an absolute fortune.

4. A big thank you to Peter, who is always there for me, and usually manages to talk me down from the ledge whenever I get worked up about something. There have been many of these moments over the last year. The man has the patience of a saint, I swear.

3. My work. I was really looking forward to going back to work, but I wasn’t sure if I was being delusional. Like, I’d spent so long just talking about babies, I was looking forward to reclaiming my other identity as a normal, human woman in London. But I was really worried that I’d get back to the office and I wouldn’t be able to do it – my brain would have stopped working or I would have lost interest or people would be horrible about me being part time. Luckily SO FAR (this is week four), it’s been pretty awesome. I feel super motivated because I’m part time – I know I have lots to do, but I also know I need to get the 5:11 train or else I miss bedtime. So I spend my days Getting Shit Done and feel super productive at the end of it – a great feeling!

2. My friends. I haven’t seen my friends as much as usual this year, for fairly self explanatory reasons. But whenever we get together, I just feel like I’m in my happy place. So relaxed and open and they make me laugh so much. And because I don’t see them as often, I feel as though we’re making a bit more of an effort when we do see each other, you know?

1. Of course, the number one thing on my list has got to be Theo. Two years ago, we didn’t know if we were ever going to be able to have a baby, and now here we are with an almost-one-year-old. Pregnancy wasn’t very fun, the birth was horrendous, the first two months were bewildering as I figured out what was going on, but throughout all of it, I always felt so so grateful that he was there. Now he’s growing from an adorable baby into such a lovely little person. He’s so funny and fun and usually ready with a smile.

That’s my list. There are approximately one million other things I could add to the list, but those are the core things I’m grateful for.

What’s on your list this year?

(I should probably also add that I am thankful that I’m not a professional blogger. I was planning to only take a week or two’s break, and here we are, three weeks later. Being at work has clearly taken its toll! I think there might still be a lack of recipes on the site for a while – I’m really struggling to find the time to cook and take photographs with the early nighttimes. I’m hoping to do a bit of cooking this weekend, but we’ll see how it goes…)