Gratitude, Part 1:

Today, I am grateful for Thomas. Here are a few reasons why.

Before Shane and I were married, I wrote in my journal that if we got married, I felt like we would have a son first. Four years later, Thomas joined us. He is so much like me; we butt heads all the time because we are both so stubborn and so determined to do things the way we want. This alikeness presents challenges that I try (sometimes not so successfully) to use to help me grow as a parent.

Thomas is a pleaser. He will do things just to make others around him happy. This can be good and bad, but it shows me what a good heart he has and how much he loves others. He also never wants to miss out on anything. I could never cradle him as a baby; he always had to be held upright so that he knew what everyone else was doing. The curiosity always gets the better of him, and he will run to any situation going on in the house just to be in on the fun (or not so fun, as it sometimes happens!) I am grateful that I can understand these things about him.

One of my favorite memories of Thomas happened on his first Christmas Eve. When he was born, he had a club foot, which meant each week he got a new cast that would stretch his foot into a better, straighter position. We had expected 6-8 weeks of casts, but he had a stubborn foot, and by Christmas at 4 months old, he was still in the middle of his treatment. On that particular morning, I got completely fed up with having a baby with a cast. Going off information from a girl I met at the pediatrician’s office, I grabbed a bucket from the garage, stuck it in the sink and filled it with water about a dozen times as I soaked off Thomas’ cast! It took about 45 minutes of propping him up on the side of the bucket, but I finally prized it off. For 4 days (of course, he had to go back to the doctor, and another cast was put on!), I had a baby with no cast on his foot, no plaster to keep dry as I bathed him. Shane thought I was nuts, but I was so happy to have my baby and feel all his little limbs under my fingertips. I am grateful that those days are over, and that he has a wonderful working foot.

I took this picture that night; it is one of my favorites of him, ever!

Thomas is my experiment child. Since he was born, I have been figuring out things as I go, and bringing him along for the ride. The six years I have spent with him have been filled with so many wonderful moments: the sweetness of him as a sleeping, well-nursed baby, heavy in my arms; the joys of all his first teeth, first steps, first words, first days of school, first lost teeth (as of last night!); the excitement of watching him learn to read and write and spell and add. It has such a wonderful thing to be his mom. I miss the time that we used to spend just together; since Ben was born, the moments for being with just Thomas aren’t as many. But I am grateful for his kind heart, enthusiasm, and excitement for life. They say your firstborn is your best foot forward, and he has been all that and more.

The morning after he was born.

Playing with Ben on his cousin's 4-wheeler.

I love you, Thomas!