I am thankful for...

So I have been spending a lot of time surfing around, looking at photo sites and whatnot. I have been doing some of the Pioneer Woman's photo challenges, but I need MORE to keep me moving, and challenged. Not that her stuff doesn't challenge me, but sheesh...she has so many people following her and some AMAZING photographers, it's sometimes depressing to see how pitiful I look against the others. I am pretty sure that the I ♥ Faces crew has just as many outstanding picture takers, but it's something new to me so I'm on board. Hooray!

This week's contest/challenge isn't so much of a contest, but a chance to share your story in pictures. I figure for me it's a chance to learn how to submit a photo to I ♥ Faces and make sure I know what the heck I'm doing. I have some pics I took a few days ago that I haven't posted, so I'll simply use them. Not that it lessens the thankfulness part, mind you.

Here is Owen. Being true Owen. This little guy has made me crazy, angry, exhausted, emotionally drained yet so exhiliratingly happy (is that a word?). We waited so long for him. I don't think I will ever forget the hurt of not having him when we thought we should...not that I simply didn't get what I wanted, but the hurt of needing to feel those little baby arms and smell that little baby breath and feel those little baby fingers and toes.... we weren't prepared for a trial of several years waiting and pregnancy loss. I wasn't prepared to NEED and ache and cry and feel my heart being ripped open by others' unplanned, unwanted pregnancies. That really doesn't sound exactly like I meant, I have a hard time describing how it feels...but it's an ache that will always be echoed in my soul.

I see him on a daily basis and sometimes I still can't believe he's here. So I am grateful for him. And for being blessed with the job of being his mother. I'm grateful that the scab on his nose (and the two on his forehead that are hiding behind his hair) is only a surface wound. I'm grateful that when he pulled the refrigerator tray out, he wasn't injured. I'm grateful that when he climbed into the kitchen sink he didn't fall and break some body part. When he pulls the cat's tail, I'm thankful that she only nips at him. I'm thrilled that the tv is covered in handprints, b/c it's keeping him from falling when he climbs up to reach the high shelf of DVD's. I am thankful that he likes yogurt and fruit (because he doesn't like anything else!). And I am even thankful that he poured a bottle of oil on the couch, because that means he is HERE and he is OURS and he gives the sweetest kisses and says 'yotes' for yogurt and lets the dog out of her crate when I'm sweeping up broken glass and he loves his 'wubby' (brother). I am thankful for Owen.

And the dog. Yes, she has definitely added some insanity. But Zach still misses Elmo so much, he was wishing the Halloween Candy Witch would trade him a puppy Elmo for his candy instead of money. But Elmo is in doggy heaven, we have Holly, and Zach loves her. So she will stay.

So there, the pics I took a couple of days ago, and why I am thankful for them.