Thankful Thursday!

One of my blogging friends, Christine, who blogs over at Life on Manitoulin, started a #ThankfulThursday link-up. Christine blogs about her family, farm life (she used to be a city girl, turned farmer) and her awesome recipes (she posts daily pictures on Instagram of her daughter’s bento box lunches). Christine’s a beautiful person inside and out and most recently, she shaved her hair to help raise money for cancer patients.  You should really follow her blog if you don’t already.

But back to Thankful Thursday… I really love the idea of sharing some of the things you are thankful for and I thought I would follow along. It’s not too often I take the time to sit back and reflect. I know I have a lot to be thankful for but sometimes, it’s hard to pin-point what it is exactly you’re thankful for at the moment. So here goes… Five things I’m thankful for at the moment.

1. Our health. My husband recently experienced a minor tear in his calf and my dad just went through eye surgery. Luckily, neither one is detrimental to their overall well being but they have each been put out one way or another.  I know people always say this, but it’s true… the most important thing in life is your health. Life is short and there’s so much I want to do and experience with my husband and family and without our health, all of those dreams would be cut short.  So today, right now, I’m thankful for our health!

2. My husband’s job.  My husband has a job that he loves (which in itself is amazing), pays well, and he gets to work from home.  Him working from home (except for when he goes to NY once a week) means when he’s done work, he’s done. He’s home… I don’t need to wait another hour or so for him to get home and pass the kids off to him so I can have a few minutes (or more) to myself. It also means I get to sleep-in. Since he doesn’t need to spend a lot of time getting ready to head out or spend any time on the road, I can sleep-in a little. Since I’m still nursing at night, this extra sleep-in gives me the energy required to be active with my boys throughout the day. Oh ya, also through my husband’s job we’ve gotten the opportunity to travel to Hawaii for the past five years. Not too shabby, eh?

3. Living in the city. My husband and I bought our house 9+ years ago. We were young and jaded and we totally lucked out with what used to be a crappy duplex. We rented out the rooms to our family and friends until we got married and I kicked everyone out. We were smart enough to renovate before our first son was born and the rest is history. We live in a walking neighborhood on the subway line and in the district of one of the best schools in Toronto.  Our neighborhood feels like a little community and we live within 5 KM to all of our friends. Except for the fact that the kids can’t play ball hockey on the street, we couldn’t be luckier!

4. My blog. Call me naive but when I started my blog three years ago, I didn’t realize the extend of how amazing blogging can be.  I started writing about the pains and ups and downs of becoming a parent because I felt that not enough people knew about the “other-side” of parenting, the parts that no one talks about. I love receiving e-mails from individuals letting me know that my blog has ‘normalized’ their life and running into strangers at programs who tell me that they’ve read my blog for product and travel reviews. What I didn’t realize is that my blog would be read by PR reps and brands and individuals that want to work with me. What started out as an outlet and a hobby has turned into a passion and now I get to review cool stuff… like wine! I mean, I’m getting paid to taste test wines! How cool is that?!?! So ya, I’m thankful for that.

5. My parents. I pretty much owe everything to my parents. They moved to Canada to give my brothers and I a better chance at life while completely sacrificing everything they had, including their jobs and leaving their family and friends behind. They pushed me to study harder and work harder. Because of that, I got into an amazing program in University which helped me get a job at IBM which is where I met my husband. But truthfully, I’m mostly thankful for all of the support they’ve given me the past four years since my first son was born. Even though my mom is recovering from a stroke and my dad cares for foster kids, they have given me the best gift of all – their time. They’ve come over weekly to help me out, sometimes for a few hours a day and sometimes for a few days at a time. Without their help I wouldn’t have survived the past 6 months with three kids, schlepping my kids back and forth from school and to various programs while feeding my newborn. I can never repay them for what they’ve done and I’m forever thankful for them.