thanksgiving and giving thanks.

i haven't written in a whole week almost and it feels like tons of stuff has happened.  i felt much better by tuesday afternoon and mike and kim brought gumbo over for dinner.  even though mike isn't from louisiana, he makes a delicious gumbo and it was awesome for me to have an appetite again.

fortunately, emme was no worse for the wear with my being sick.  she is continuing to be more and more alert and awake every day.  wednesday, jb got off work around 2 and we had special visitors.  my neighbors from childhood, jessica and lauren, and jessica's adorable daughter harper were in town from kansas city and they came by to meet emmeline and introduce us to harper.  it was so awesome to see them - jessica and i haven't really had a chance to catch up since what feels like high school.  it's amazing to see people you've known your whole life as adults.  anyway, after they left, marilyn, justin's mom, arrived from kansas for the holiday.  it was her first time meeting emme, who is her second grandchild.  emme had a great time napping on her gram for much of the weekend.

thursday brought thanksgiving day and my mom and dad into town.  they brought my grandmother (gg for great-gram to emme) with them, and my uncle came down from dallas to meet everyone.  gg and parrain left on friday morning, but it was great to see them while they were here.  justin smoked a turkey and did one in the oven, both of which were delicious.  my mom made cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, and squash casserole.  they also brought tasty rolls.  marilyn made a sweet potato casserole and pumpkin and pecan pie.  it was a splendid feast, made even more amazing for the fact that i didn't do a thing in the kitchen....emme took naps on various family members and i think she went a span of over 5 hours at one point of just sleeping contentedly.

friday we decided to avoid the shopping madness for the most part, but mom and dad and i did go to target in the afternoon to pick up a few things.  by that point, the black friday mayhem had died down and it was actually really pleasant.  later in the afternoon, mom, dad, justin, and marilyn went on a little trek to anthropologie, book people, and r.e.i. and i stayed home with the little niblet.  friday night, the grandparents babysat and made delicious turkey and sausage gumbo while justin and i went on our first date night to see harry potter.  it was fantastic - the best yet of the movies, in my humble opinion.  it was kind of hard for me to be away from her for that length of time, but i knew she was in great hands, so i was able to enjoy some time spent with my husband.

saturday, we decided to take advantage of the extra hands to put up our christmas decorations.  i didn't decorate for thanksgiving or halloween this year for obvious reasons, but i really wanted to put some stuff up for emme's first christmas.  justin and dad tackled the outdoors with jb putting lights on the roof and dad raking leaves and getting the yard looking better.  mom and i put stuff out indoors while marilyn held emmeline and helped us eyeball where stuff should be placed.  in the afternoon, all six of us took a ride to the christmas tree place to pick out our tree.  emme was asleep for all of it, but i think she enjoyed the trip.  we got the perfect tree!  i'll post about that in a bit.

saturday night, some friends came over for some of mom's delicious gumbo.  we make turkey and sausage gumbo only once a year - the day after thanksgiving with the leftover turkey - so it's a special treat.  genna and john made the trek from near dripping springs, and mike and kim came over to taste mom's gumbo in comparison to mike's.  emmeline took more naps and just hung out.  i think it's a lot for her to take all the new people, so she looks around and then falls asleep....

and then there was sunday.  the little miss was 3 weeks and we didn't take one of our usual photos, but this one is a pretty good show of how big she has gotten.  i also love this cute little outfit wendy and david gave her as well.

the grandparents all had to hit the road on sunday morning, and we were sad to see them go.  it feels like it's much harder to say bye to my parents now that emme is here - just because i am enjoying their relationship with her so much and i appreciate them and their parenting skills on a whole new level now.

anyway....sunday we watched some tennis (go roger federer!) and decorated the tree and took a stroll with the little miss.  it was a low key day and then wendy and david brought over turkey tetrazini for dinner and it was super tasty and of course awesome to have dinner just arrive.

sunday night was a big night because it was the first time emme slept not on/next to me.  i had no intention of ever co-sleeping, but that's just been the way it's worked out.  she doesn't want to be in her crib yet (she doesn't sleep in there and i don't sleep when she's in there), and i just haven't really been able to be apart from her for any length of time.  but, last night jb set up her pack n play with the bassinet insert thingy and she LOVED it.  she slept a nice four hour chunk but mostly it was just nice to know she was in a happy, secure place.

so i guess that wraps up the update for last week.  this was a fantastic november in so many ways.  we have received countless blessings and are so thankful for all our friends and family and their invaluable support during this incredible time.  i know i will look back on this period as among the happiest of my life, due in no small part to the love that surrounds us.