Thankful.

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of great times with friends and family! We have so much to be grateful for and I am thankful for all of my many blessings (like my ever thoughtful husband but that is a post for another day) but today I am especially thankful for my healthy baby. While we were living in London last year Matthew and I went in for my 20 week ultrasound hoping to learn the sex of our sweet baby. We did indeed find out that Isabelle was a she, but we were also told that something looked wrong in the ultrasound and that Isabelle was at high risk for having down syndrome. We already loved our little girl more than I ever dreamed was possible, it was never a question of wanting or loving her, but we were scared for the health of our baby. Fast forward a year later and we have a perfectly healthy nine month old who is absolutely perfect in my eyes and I am thankful. I am so grateful to be her mother. She teaches me so much every day and I feel blessed to have her love and be a part of her life.

On a less serious note we had the greatest Thanksgiving week! At almost 25 years of age this was my first ever Thanksgiving away from home and Thanksgiving is a BIG deal for my even BIGGER family. I knew that I would be homesick and feel like booking a last minute flight to Oregon so it was wonderful to have Matthew's brother Ben with us. Isabelle was thrilled to have him here. She loved spending time with Ben and did not need time to "warm up" at all. She was all giggles and snuggles for her Uncle Ben.

This was probably the most mellow Thanksgiving of my life in a lot of ways and yet more stressful in others. I definitely missed my Mom and her skill with a whisk this week, but everything turned out beautifully. After surviving our first Thanksgiving on our own, I feel like we are officially grown up. We spent the rest of the week eating leftovers, chasing Isabelle, making ornaments and playing games in our pajamas. It was a great week.