gratitude

How I wish I was one of those people who didn't complain so much. This week has been a hard one. Both boys have been sick, and needy, and barf-y, and mean. There's been a lot less sleep for Jeremy and I, and the evenings lately have found us parked on the couch, too tired to move, much less make [amicable] conversation with one another.

How quickly I forget the peace of knowing that our heat will come on during these cold nights. That we have some pretty great food in the refrigerator. That although the kids are sick, they are healthy and strong. We have blankets and cars and toys and each other. That's more than enough to be grateful for.

I'm reading a book called Loving the Little Years, Motherhood in the Trenches. It's pretty great, and in it she says that for fussy kids, "the antidote is gratitude". That goes for this mommy, too-- today.