Thanksgiving

This year has had its trials.  It is not in competition for one of my most challenging years, nor has it been easy.

But here, tonight on Thanksgiving Day, I feel more thanks than I do "wishing".  My cup definitely seems 1/2, well more like 3/4 full. 

My 'plan' of teaching Pyrope the academic skills he needs at home so he just needs to learn how to pay attention is working.  He is ahead academically and is comfortably staying that way.

Obsidian is growing.  After 6 months of hGH that did not work, IGF-1 is clearly working. 

I'm glad I'm at peace with Jet and my relationship at this moment.  There were parts of this year that I could not say that.  And I just don't like that.

I'm thankful for close friends.

I'm thankful for the family I have that I am close to, that I can rely on.  Not everyone is so fortunate.

I'm thankful that my view of life is still "There is always someone significantly worse off than me, and my family.  People die from a lack of love, whatever my problems might be, that is worse.  And that will never be my problem."

Better than Christmas

This spring I started using this book,  Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, with Pyrope.  Tomorrow we will finish lesson 60.  While the directions for teaching the lessons are clear, I would not say that they have been "easy" for Pyrope to learn.  He eventually gets what is being taught, but it has not been easy.  For a while, it was both of our most dread portion of the day.  It has got significantly better.  Tears are no longer a daily occurrence with each lesson.  And it has been a long time since I've had to put him in time out if he refused to participate.

However, the gains he has made have been incredible since he started.  Everyone has noticed.  He is legitimately reading now.  When I started this, I thought there was no way that he would be reading at a "solid 2nd grade level" by the time he finished as the introduction said he would.  Now, I'm thinking he will be.  Or will be darn close to it.

It started a few weeks ago, but Pyrope started to put together that reading is a way to convey information to people.  In the last couple of days, he has started to grasp the extent of it.  And is in awe.

As he was going to bed, he looked at the window fan.  Obsidian was with him, and I was in the bathroom, listening:
"Listen Obsidian.  I will sound this out.  ooooo-fffff.  Off.  Lllllll-ooooo-wwwwww.  Low.  Hhhhhh-ooooo. No, not right.  Hhhhhh-iiiiii (short i sound).  I try again Obsidian.  Hhhhh-iiiiii.  Hi." pause "Obsidian!  These words tell you what the fan will do!!!!  Let's try!!"  Squeals of delight ensued when the fan did what the switch said.  "Mommy!  Come fast!  Look!  You can read what it will do!!!"

When he got his new scooter for his birthday, very soon after getting it he questioned Jet.
"Daddy, did you put this together?"
"Yes."
"Did it come with instructions to read?" said with wonder and awe in his voice.

At the zoo:
"Mommy!  Look!  Menus!  Read them to me!  They have too many words that are too long for me to sound out.  I think the menus will tell me about the animals." (He meant signs.  He never has been interested in them before, so I think "menu" was just the word he found that was most appropriate.)

At a restaurant:
"Daddy, why do they have so many words for each thing?  There are more words than they are?  Why?" (Looking at the description of each item on the menu)

Incidents like this are repeated over and over thoughout the day.  Each time, a joy and awe is there when the message is discovered.  There are written words, some of which he can figure out on his own, that are all around him.  Telling him things.

While he is beginning to grasp the power of the written word, it is just the tip of the ice burg.  I love reading.  I have always hoped to pass that on to my children.  Pyrope would sit and listen to me read, and generally be content if not happy.  But he never really engaged.  He wouldn't look at the pictures and tell me a story.  He rarely was able to answer simple questions about the story.  Rarely, if ever, was he able to come up with some prediction of what was going to happen next in a story.  I was concerned but knew there was nothing I could do other than keep reading to him, and have him see me read for my pleasure (and information).  I hope that he continues to discover just how powerful reading and writing can be.

Now I love watching my kids experiencing new things.  To catch a glimpse of the magic that I no longer see.  Or have no longer been seeing.  I love watching kids (mine and in general) experience things like Christmas.

Watching Pyrope discover the power and magic of reading, it is far better.  While it is taking me longer, sometimes significantly longer, to do everything right now (from turning on a fan, to draining the tub (did you know that above where the lever is for draining the tub a word is stamped in the metal?  I didn't until I had to help sound it out.), to shopping, to walking around the zoo, I will gladly do it.  He has started to read himself, Obsidian, or his toys books.  Sometimes reading the words, other times by looking at the pictures.

To see Pyrope discover reading is awesome.  This magic does not seem to grow old for me.

Thankful Thursday

• Turbo Tax.  It makes doing taxes so much easier.  (Yes, I know there are free online ways of doing it, but I'm a creature of habit for some things)
• The majority of this round of Obsidian's doctors appointments are done.  One last second opinion, and then it won't start again until this summer.
• Obsidian's had an easy adjustment to GH injections.  He whimpers while it is happening, but it doesn't start before and as soon as the needle is out, he is zipping his jammies up and running off.
• How pretty the world is after an ice storm.  It is the only redeeming quality.  Sometimes it is so beautiful it almost makes the storm worth it.  Almost.
• In 1-2 weeks, recycling should get easier.  Our city will now take cardboard, I won't have to sort the types of recyclables, and I can just toss them in a big bin instead of putting them in clear blue bags.
• The perks of both Jet and I having a common employer (one of them). And sometimes being in the same building, but different employers on the days we are in the same building.  How is that for confusing?  If we are working on the same day in the same building, we are working for different employers, but we do both work for the same employer (but then each have a different job that is for different employers)
• Jet and I both having some level of flexibility in our jobs that one of us can come in later than the other or leave earlier to match the schedule of the kids, and we can even change what we are doing part way through the day.
• That we had a breath of spring.  It was refreshing while it briefly lasted.

Thankful Thursday

• The improvements we've seen in Obsidian.  His energy is improving, it is much closer to other kids his age.  It isn't there yet, but it is closer.  And he jumped for the first time this week.  He has desperately wanted to be able to jump for 9 months.  He has tried daily.  And this week he did it.
• For supportive co-workers.  We were behind the 8 ball this weekend, and everyone worked together (as we should), and things worked out well.  Or as well as possible.
• Finding a good gluten free bread.  And the tasty grilled cheese sandwiches I made with it.
• For being covered in smooches.  Sometimes for no reason that I can figure out.  Maybe there is a reason, maybe not.  I'll take them.
• Thick, warm, dry socks.
• Steamy hot showers.
• Going shopping alone.

Thankful Thursday

• Obsidian is not having that terrible of a time adjusting to daily shots.  He cries, tells me no, and tries to get away when he sees me with it, but as soon as it is done, he resumes whatever he was doing as if nothing happened.
• That the process from when it was decided Obsidian would start GHT to when it first started was short (16 days)
• Obsidian seems to have more energy since starting GHT.  He has a black eye to prove it.
• Playaway books from the library.  You just plug in your headphones and start the book.  The device is thicker but short than an iP0d Nano.
• Tween boy family members that love playing with my boys
• Rich hot chocolate laced with Baily's Irish Creme
• Slow cookers and the fact if you throw all of the ingredients of stuffed green peppers in it (including rice that is uncooked and the proper amount of water), that it comes out tasting the same (but just not as visually appealing) with a fraction of the work
• Pyrope's advances he has made in speech as well as some of the concepts he has really started to "get" recently
• The "forced" date nights Jet and I have, we buy season tickets for a series of plays.  Then we "have" to go.  Most are good.  A few are excellent.  Twice we have left at intermission.  Once we didn't make it to intermission.  Not bad for this being our 5th season.  So far this year, we haven't even left at intermission.
• The number of sitters we can call on when we do go on date night
• How healthy my kids are.  They get normal colds and virus', but knock on wood, are really very healthy and don't need any interventions apart from home remedies.

Wordless Wednesday

Tea Party

If anyone was wondering what you need to host a tea party if you are a 4 year old boy:

1. Hot Chocolate with marshmallows (this occasionally changes to juice)
2. Little 4 oz cups (like you find in bathrooms) to serve the hot chocolate in
3. Sugar cookies in the shape of the letters of the names of each of the people attending
4. Nerf guns

Thankful Thursday

• Obsidian's MRI is done and that all is "normal"
• That things are moving fairly quickly forward on the medical issues with Obsidian, by early next week, he will have started on growth hormone
• For at least the next year, Obsidian's growth hormone therapy shouldn't cost us anything out of pocket after we reach our deductible (which I think we already have)
• How much my kids love my mom, and how much my mom loves my kids
• J&J Soothing Vapors Bath and cool mist humidifiers
• The big leaps Pyrope has recently been making in speech and some concepts
• Co-workers that pick up my slack on the days I really need it
• Friends who listen to my worries and not minimize them
• Finding out Rick Riordan's new book is going to be released May 3rd, I've pre-order it already

Pearls

What I love about the idea of pearls are that they are a completely unexpected treasure when you find them.  Hidden inside a rather gly object f a clam, you find something so beautiful.  Now you know there is the possiblity of finding one, but no gaurtentees.  And you definately don't know if you are going to find a particularly beautiful one.

Shortly after Pyrope started walking, I started him in a gymnastics class at our local rec center.  I really liked the instructor.  She was great.  She was great when Pyrope had some difficulty transitioning to the classes that are without parents.  She was great when I asked her if I could sign up Obsidian for the baby class even though he couldn't walk, and that is the prerequisite for the class.  He was in the class for 6 months before he could walk.  I actually only signed him up for one legitimate session of that class because he started walking between week 1 and 2 of the one session, and there was only one full session before he aged out to the 2 year old class.  Obsidian really really wanted to go up to the class without parents and that got to do a craft at the end. This is now the 2nd or 3rd session of the "big kids" (meaning parents don't stay) class.  He missed the first week due to a doctor's appointment.  The second week, a little girl looked at him and said "He can't be in our class, he is just a baby."  The teacher matter-of-factly said "He is just as old as you are, he is just small.  He is part of the class."  The little girl then said "Here is an empty carpet, sit next to me."  in a tone that sounded completely accepting of Obsidian.  So many people don't look past Obsidian's size, or his gross motor delays.  This teacher recognizes his gross motor delays (he can't do what the rest of the kids can do a lot of the time, she just changes the activity for him, helps him, or has another child help him) but also recognizes that socially and cognitively, this is where he belongs.

A pearl.

Thankful Thursday

• For a friendly guy who will come to my house to fix my computer problems and charge a reasonable amount so my computer gets fixed with minimal effort and stress on my part
• Peanut butter crackers... you know the orange one that are squares that come in packages of 4 or 6.  Obsidian loves them, and it fixes just about anything for him
• Indoor playgrounds.  I don't mind going out and playing in the snow.  I don't mind playing even if it is raining.  I don't "do" freezing rain/ice/sleet/slushing (or thunderstorm, but I don't have those this time of year).  Irregardless of weather, my kids (particularly Pyrope) needs to run around daily.
• The people in my life that are willing and I trust to care for my kids at a moments notice.  Even if it is inconvenient for them.
• That every morning is started with Obsidian getting within 2" of my face, and using his index finger pushes on my nose and says "Boop".  Not sure why he does this but it is sure a more pleasant way to wake up than an alarm clock, or a screaming child, or a lot of other ways to wake up.
• The large selection of programs (movies, documentaries, TV series) I can watch through my Wii on Net.flix
• That I found my long handled ice scrapper.  Pyrope did not put it back where I do and it was missing for a while, and I'm short and scrapping the middle of my windshield without it is a pain
• That Good Earth Caffeine Free Original Tea is just as good as the version with caffeine.
• The thoroughness of procedures before Obsidian's MRI next week to try to make sure there are no problems during it.  And how quickly it is going to get done (10 days after we agreed to doing it.  If it was an "emergency" MRI it would have done that day, but this is considered "elective" so it has to go through normal scheduling).

Thankful Thursday

In no particular order:

• My front loading washing machine
• The "sanitize" option on my dish washer
• The flu shot (while we all got sick, very consistently the people who did not get it were much much more sick and it lasted a long time)
• Specific people in my life and my children's lives that have the knack of saying and doing just the right thing at just the right time
• Having an occupation that lets me have a wide variety of options, that I can fairly easily execute if I choose that path
• PBS kids shows, and BBC kids shows on Net.flix
• Heavy comforters, I just love curling up under them during the colder month

Thankful Thursday

• That I am a touch typist, and that I used to be a fairly good one at that (I just would have to practice more to get my wpm up again)
• This beautiful weather we have been having, Pyrope is still riding his bike to school, which is amazing where we live
• That I'm a person that doesn't mind change.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes I don't like change, but for the most part I can roll with it, and in many cases I like change.  In particular at work lately I've been reminded that this is not the case for everyone.
• Books.  I've been needing escapes lately, and I've had a series (both as in a series by the same author and as well as multiple unrelated books in a row) of good reads lately, and I'm thankful I can get lost in someone else's world so easily.
• My mom.  She has really been watching Pyrope and Obsidian a lot lately.  Both boys love her and I'm so grateful to know that they are being well cared for while Jet and I are not around.
• To have the chance to hold infants recently.  I don't particularly enjoy the infant stage of my own children, but I LOVE holding infants (it is just the not sleeping, crazy hormones, crazy glucose values, recovering from pregnancy, and the complete 24/7ness of newborns/infants I don't enjoy).
• Pyrope and Obsidian love playing pretend as much as they do

Thankful Thursday

1. Our new windows.  We turned on the furance this week.  It has not turned on nearly as often as it would have before we got the windows.  Cosmetically the windows didn't do much for the house (or me) but thermal regulation they seem to be making a huge difference
2. Getting a great deal on Pyrope's new bike.  He really didn't need one, but he had been really wanting a bike with a flame job (think hot rod cars or motorcycles).  I found one that was used that was advertised as his size.  It wasn't, it was the next size up.  Not surprisingly, he figured out very quickly how to ride it just fine.  He is over the top happy about his new bike.
3. Being allowed to park "on site" for work.  There is a lot of construction at work and as a consequence, not everyone can park "on site" (you still have a fair walk, but it is in walking distance).  The idea of having to take a shuttle (which sometimes they are full) to a remote lot just is not fun.  Particularly because this is going to be like this for a year.
4. My mom and her baby sitting of my kids. It is awesome to have family that I trust to leave my kids with when I'm working, out on a hot date with my man, or doing something one-on-one with one of the kids.
5. My slow cooker.  I love having meals ready for me when I come home from work.  On days that I am home, I just love how the house smells when I'm making a meal in the slow cooker all day.
6. Sweatshirts.  They are my favorite article of clothing, and it is the time of year I get to wear them.
7. Pyrope's laugh.  He has a great, infectious laugh.  Even when he was a baby and his nickname was "Stoneface", he always had a great laugh.  One day when I was dropping him off at preschool another mom stopped and made him laugh "because she just loves his laugh". 

Thankful Thursday

Today I got to thinking why I do "Thankful Thursdays".  For a good portion of my later teenage years on, I have made a conscious effort to see what there is to be thankful for.  Partly to see the good God has put around me, but mainly because I feel better when I'm seeing something to be thankful for.  The benefits are exponentially more when the exercise is most difficult to complete.

I went into work today for a couple of hours.  I was in a bad mood for multiple reasons by the time I walked into my department.  My department as a whole was in a crabby mood, for a couple specific reasons.  I could feel myself getting to be in a worse and worse mood.  However, when I was walking to treat a patient, I did my normal mental prep work.  This includes if I'm having a bad day and I'm crabby, to try to turn it off at least enough that my patient(s) won't see it.  I started listing things that I'm thankful for, the first one or two came slowly and were excessively difficult to think up.  I did come up with them.  Less than a minute or two later, I'm stepping off the elevator at my destination and I've decided that I really do feel better in general now at this point and I'm making much better decisions.  Among other things prior to this, I was thinking of all of the ways I could get at the person who I share a desk with because she wouldn't let my sunglasses sit on the desk because they were in the way (keeping in mind that she has so much stuff on our desk that generally I can't write at it because there is no surface to write on and too much of her personal junk sitting in our chair I have no where to sit including when she is not even there); I was now thinking that her behavior was annoying, but really doing something that would instigate an all out fight is probably not worth it over a pair of sunglasses...  So here is my list for this Thankful Thursday

1. The weather is finally cooler.  I'm not a huge fan of heat, my favorite weather involves wearing sweatshirts, and we are just entering into it.
2. The fall activities have officially started.  This past weekend we went to a pig roast and we went on a hayride and had a campfire while we were there.
3. Listening to Obsidian talk.  Pyrope was/is not much of a talker.  Obsidian is.  Since I'm not used to listening to a very small person's views of everything, it is even more amusing listening to them.
4. Lazy Sunday afternoons.  This past one I spent listening to Pyrope playing and laughing with my cousin (who is 13) while Obsidian was taking a nap on my uncle's chest.  It was a very laid back, quiet visit.
5. Seeing the leaves on the trees just starting to change color.  It gets back to I love the fall (but I love this enough that it is its own specific item).
6. My sister got me drinking a new type of tea.  I don't drink coffee but I love a good hot beverage in the fall, winter, and spring.  I hate having to put sugar in things, this tea I can drink without sugar.  It is almost like drinking a liquid cinnamon red hot candy heart.  Except there is no sugar involved, but it still tastes sweet.  It comes in caffeinated and caffeine free varieties.  I did find it comes in different flavors as well although right now I have no interest in expanding into a different flavor.  I love this tea.
7. I found where I can buy above tea locally to me (my other options were having my sister buy me some or buying it off of Amazon, both fine options but ones that require forethought when I'm running low).  I didn't even have to go to a lot of different stores to figure it out, a simple status change on Facebook, and I then found out where I could buy my tea.  Yum.

Wordless Wednesday

Breath taking

As a senior in college, I went on a canoeing trip for spring break.  It was on the Green River, in a fairly remote region.  It was a 6 day trip, and after the first day or so, if we needed help, either someone would have to go to our destination, we would have to paddle upriver, or would have to hike up river along the banks.  Knowing my dad and how he worried, particularly with my diabetes in mind, I neglected to tell him of my spring break trip.  I was well prepared, and carried supplies that my trip-mates could help me in a large number of situations.  I took all of the precautions I could, but I decided that it was a risk I wanted to take to go on the trip.  It was a great trip, I'm glad I did it.  My dad (and family in general) never found out about it until my husband was showing my dad pictures, and pulled out that album and to look at.  My dad shook his head, but didn't say much (my dad finding out about the trip is chronologically after he had cancer).

A little over 5 years after my canoeing trip, my dad was diagnosed with a pretty deadly form of cancer.  He made it through a surgery that bought him some extra time.  A consequence of the surgery was he was then diabetic and needed to take insulin.  What his goal was after the surgery was to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon again (he had done it once before, maybe a couple years earlier).  Before he was even allowed to drive after the surgery, he was having my sister drive him to the Y so he could walk on the treadmill and exercise so he could take the trip.  That winter he worked out all of the time with that goal in mind.  Early that spring, he was visiting Jet and I (we were living in a different state at the time), and I asked when he was going to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  His jaw dropped.  He asked me how I knew.  I was slightly confused.  He was leaving the next day for a routine "business trip" (this was the whole story everyone was getting, including my mom).  My dad then elaborated about the details of his business trip.  He was traveling for work, but before the work portion was to start, he was hiking down, spending the night at a camp at the bottom, then hiking back up to the top.  Apparently, many people had been telling him that he either couldn't or shouldn't try.  His oncology doctor and I were the only two people who supported him with this goal.  He asked his endocrinologist how to adjust his insulin for the hike.  She refused to give suggestions of how to do this because she didn't think he should do it.  So he simply made the decision to not tell anyone before the trip.  He was amazed I figured it out (I really didn't connect his business trip with the hike, but I was just asking how he was doing getting to his goal).  Less than a week later, I received a post card from him.  He sent it from the bottom of the canyon, and it started its trip being carried up by mule.  Others got cards as well.  Friendly ones to my mom and each of my siblings.  A thank you one to his oncologist for supporting him, both on his cancer journey and believing that he could do the hike.  And a postcard to his endo that simple read "Ha. Ha. I did it."  My dad was so happy about the trip, and proud of the fact that he hike down and back up 6 months after his surgery.  Jet was once again around when my dad was explaining the postcards he sent when my dad and I were talking about his trip.  Jet dully observed that the apple doesn't fall from the tree (mainly in regards to the "Ha. Ha." card).  3 months after his trip, my dad passed away from the cancer.

It is now 6 years later, and the immediate sharpness of losing my dad has faded, but occasionally things happen when I'm least expecting it that remind me of him.  Sometimes they take my breath away.

Last week, I was reading Post Secret.  The last post card was from an oncology nurse.  She sent in a post card from the Grand Canyon.  A patient of hers that had cancer and her promised each other that whoever got the the Grand Canyon first would send a post card.  The nurse made it there, but the patient had passed away, so she sent the post card to Post Secret.  It took my breath away for a second.  I was sad about missing my dad, and sad that this other person never got to see the Grand Canyon while walking this earth.  I also thought about the "Ha. Ha." to the one doctor and the "Thank you" to the other.  I thought about how deeply as health care professionals we can touch people, and how our patients can touch us.  I dug out my postcard.  I showed it to Obsidian.  He said "Big hole."  I told him that when he is older, we might go there (the closest I've been to the Grand Canyon is the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers).  The tree to apple grown into a tree, to the next apple have to connect somehow.

Tonight on Facebook, I saw that friend posted that her mom who had terminal cancer was released from the hospital and that tomorrow she and her two children were going to fly to see her.  2 hours later she posted again, her mom had passed away.  While my friend knew her mom had terminal cancer, she was hoping her mom would still be here in the spring when she is due with her 3rd child.  I missed my dad some more, and wished he could have met my kids.  My due date with Pyrope was exactly the 1 year anniversary of my dad passing away.  One of my dad's last lucid thoughts was that he didn't want the day he died to always be a day to be sad and mope.  I've tried to honor that, and when I found out my due date it took my breath away, but it seemed appropriate.  I've been thinking tonight, maybe I'll try to hike down there with the boys when they are older on the anniversary (I would have to look into what the weather conditions are generally like that time of year).  I've been thinking of the first days after my dad passed away and the sharpness, I would not have been able to take seeing the Post Secret card with the peace that I did in those early days.  I've been thinking about the breath taking moments my friend will have.  And I'm praying for God to carry my friend and her family closely right now.

Thankful Thursday

Despite, or maybe because, there has been so many things happening this week, I've been finding a lot to be thankful for.

1. Jet's willingness to help fix up mechanical things.  For anyone.  He is willing to put in a lot of time, and even more time teaching while he is doing it.
2. Our neighbors to the north.  They don't mind us, I think they might even like us.  There are many reasons that they could not like us.  The kids toys always straying into our yard.  Pyrope riding his bike into their rose bushes.  The constant cars being worked on parked in our driveway which is right next to their patio.  The noise from working on... things.  Jet leaving on his motorcycle at 6 am.  Periodially seeing Pyrope 'watering the grass'.  The list goes on and on.
3. My mom living close enough, being able, willing, and watching the boys when I need help.
4. Obsidian's smiles.  They make up for the stare downs we get into.
5. Despite many near misses, the fact that we have not had any really serious injuries.
6. The fact that although my one job is looking like it is drying up soon, other jobs are always presenting themselves.  It is just a matter of applying and going through the motions.
7. The internet.  It is incredible the amount of information (and misinformation) that is a few searches away.  20 years ago, the amount of time and research to get a fraction of the information was so great.

Wordless Wednesday

Thankful Thursday

This week I have been finding many things that I'm not thankful for.  Some weeks, it is very easy when Pyrope, Obsidian and I say our bedtime prayers to list things I'm thankful of happening in my life.  This week it was really a struggle at times, but at the same time, those are the weeks I really need to remember the good with the bad (or bitter with the sweet as I was told frequently as a child, "Ruby, you can't understand and appreciate the sweet unless you also have the bitter).  So in no particular order, here is what I'm thankful for this week.

1. Friends that have a sense of humor.  I was at a meeting and trying to balance money we collected for some events.  Things were not balancing, we kept trying and it was not coming out (this should have been the last "easy" step, as each event had balanced and now we were just making sure the totals were correct).  I then realized I was literally sitting on an envelope with money in it (I had put it there because it was the first event that was done, and I wanted to remember we had already completed that event).  We laughed.  Others would have been mad at me (as we had just spent the last 10 minutes trying to figure out what was happening).
2. Quite time for me.  Pyrope started preschool and Obsidian naps during the same time.  So I'm as close to "home alone" as I have been in years on a regular basis now.  And I'm loving it.
3. The physical location of my home.  When Jet and I were looking for a house, we wanted it within a mile of a library and at least a convenience store.  We are within a mile of those two, as well as being a 1/4 mile from the K-5 school our kids will most likely go to, slightly over a mile to two different grocery stores, 1.25 miles from Pyrope's preschool, a couple different playgrounds, a bike path, and a very nice park are also all within a mile.  Just as importantly, there are sidewalks that I can safely bike with the kids to do these.  So many people I know live where they are not within a reasonable distance or there is no safe way to travel that distance (although this was a very conscious decision of our as there were MANY houses we eliminated solely for the reason they were either too far from "things" or there was no sidewalks/safe way to access those places if you were not in a car).
4. Access to good medical care.  Obsidian's cut through his lip was a pain to deal with but if it was 100 years ago, neither the ability to stitch him up so he wouldn't have problems with closing his lips for the rest of his life or the antibiotics to protect him from infections while he was healing existed as they do now.  While this was an annoyance for a brief amount of time, it will soon be a fading memory, or just a story to share.  In the not that distance past, it could have been a life threatening or debilitating event.  To this day, in other parts of the world, this would be much more serious than it is.
5. The new Radian car seats I just got.  Car seat safety is a soap box of mine, so good car seats is always something I'm thinking about.  I also drive a smaller sedan, and really don't want to get a mini van.  I don't need the space for the most part.  I hate using more gas to move a vehicle the same distance just because it is bigger when I don't need bigger.  However, I'm starting to car pool more, so I've been needing to put 3 kids across the back seat.  And 3 car seats were not fitting across with my old ones.  I can do it with Radians.  As an added bonus, both Pyrope and Obsidian like the Radians.
6. My MIL's colonoscopy came back clean.  This is the first time since the first cancer diagnosis came that a new medical problem has not come up during a screening or procedure.
7. There were 3 days Pyrope and Obsidian slept in until 8 am.  This never happens.  I get excited when they sleep until 7.  Both of them sleeping until 8, on the same days, multiple times in one weeks is unheard of.  I have never been huge on sleeping in, but it has felt wonderful.