THANKSGIVING 2011!

November 24th is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.A. Across the country, families get together to eat a fabulous feast and give thanks for the good things in their lives.

This year, I want to write about what I'm thankful for. It's easy to forget your good fortune on a daily basis, or when things aren't going the way you want, so I thought this was the perfect time to reflect on that!

• What I'm most grateful for, of course, is our little son! His being born healthy and happy is probably the greatest gift of my life because it could have gone very, very wrong -- I'm diabetic, and pregnancy with diabetes is extremely high risk. My grandmother and great-aunt, also diabetics, lost babies to uncontrolled blood sugar, which wasn't monitored during pregnancy those days. I am incredibly lucky that today things are completely different: I had to go on a strict diet, inject myself with insulin several times a day, and be monitored twice a week, but it was all worth it! Devindra came into this world safely, and continues to bless us every second of every day!

(Baby D with a fauxhawk!)

• Which brings me to ... the staff at the University of California Davis Medical Center Labor & Delivery unit! They were amaaaazing! Although my OB-GYN wasn't on duty that day, the doctors and nurses who were there got me through the ordeal of labor (nearly 36 hours ... gaah!) and 4 hours of pushing. The fact that this happened without an emergency C-section, or using forceps or a vacuum extractor to pull the baby's head out, was all due to the crowd of doctors, interns and medical students who were there. They were a huge cheering section urging me to push, and their great encouragement is what gave me the strength to do it! They were beyond awesome!

(UCD Med Center, Sacramento)

(the wonderful doctors getting ready for Devindra's arrival!)

• The opportunity to stay home with Devindra during this, his first year. It hasn't been easy -- we had to move back with my mother and live off my husband's single paycheck, but being able to watch our little boy grow is absolutely priceless.
• Secondhand shopping! I'm a huge fan of buying secondhand and/or vintage: saves money, reusing is good for the environment, and it allows us to get great quality stuff we couldn't otherwise afford. All my furniture is vintage secondhand, as well as much of my wardrobe, but this year the parents at our preschool gave us many wonderful clothes and accessories for Devindra too! This is awesome because babies outgrow their clothes so quickly, and I didn't want to waste money on new things. We also got his stroller, carseat, and bassinet secondhand, as well as his gorgeous dresser from the 1930s. All thanks to local thrift stores and Craigslist!

(this beautiful patterned wood dresser from the '30s looks almost exactly like the one we bought for Devindra!)

• Sunflower Market! This natural food & drugs store opened in our part of town (which is the old part, so we've been going without a supermarket for years now), and it's really wonderful! We can get all kinds of foods and goods, from organic produce to handmade soaps and natural toiletries, at reasonable and affordable (i.e. non Whole Foods) prices. This has been a huge blessing for us all!

So these are a few of the things I'm thankful for this year? I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

What are you thankful for this year?