We're 100!!!

Congratulations to us - we've reached the 100th blog post!  So what should it be about?

Should I discuss the ways that I've found to make regular ol' cheap tilapia taste pretty darn amazing?  Like the dill-herb butter that you can sautee it in?  Or what we did tonight - a marinade of olive oil, honey, garlic powder, and lime juice, and then a quick dusting with whole wheat flour and "fried" up in a pan?  {Yes, we were infatuated with that one!  Pinterest WIN!}

Should I list all the funny recent Claire-isms?  Such as:

• I got just the thing...
• Why?
• Let me think... {puts finger up to cheek and taps on it}
• But how do you open that garbage?
• Why?
• Dad, just relax. {while Mike was watching football}
• Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom.
• Why?
• I'm tired. I want to cuddle with the iPad in my bed. {excuse to watch shows on the iPad}
• Oh bummer. Bummer. Bummer.
• Why? But why?
• A little help here...
• "Oh I just can't WAAAAAIT...to be keeeng!" {a la Lion King}
• Her strange pronounciations:
• Compianyo = piano
• Gobanya = banana
• Lello = (you guessed it) yellow
• {many things with exaggerated Southern accents...no idea where that came from!}

I could post a bunch of adorable pictures of Claire with her new-found cheeseball smile (lower jaw protruding with a gigantic fake grin), of our day-to-day adventures, of some crazy thing I saw the other day or how to get all the arils out of a pomegranate in ten seconds (it's mind-blowingly simple!).

But no.  I won't do any of that.

This 100th post will be about giving thanks.  Not only are we in the month of Thanksgiving, but I've found a number of things this past week or so that have made me step back and really reevaluate.  The husband of my mom's best friend was struck by a car about two weeks ago and suffered traumatic injuries.  It will be a long road to recovery.  Just yesterday, a friend from college lost her 19 month-old son to leukemia.  They fought so hard over the last nine months and, unfortunately for his family and friends, God just wanted that baby with Him too much.

As a result, I have tried to step back and realize how much I take for granted.  I am so thankful for my health and the health of my family.  I'm grateful for the home over my head, a vehicle that works, a job to go to.  But have I ever given thanks for all the times Claire has asked, "Why?"  How often have I gotten frustrated that she'll say, "Yo!" and, "Yuck!" but won't say, "Yellow?"  How many weekends in the fall do I get annoyed at college football from 9 a.m. to midnight and my seemingly absent husband as a result {okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration...not the time part, though!}?  I realize that I need to be enormously grateful for the fact that my little girl and husband can ask questions and get fired up over college football.  That I can hold my child and kiss her and hug her; that I can walk with my husband and have conversations with him, share a bed and a home with him; these are things that my soul is nourished by and my heart is forever thankful for.

So the next time I'm ready to pull my hair out while chasing a half-naked Claire around the house and trying not to be late for work; the next time I have to show Mike exactly where in the fridge the butter is; the next time...  The next time I will pause, remember those who have had heartbreak and heartache, and remember how much I have been blessed.

Here's to 100 blog posts over the last three years - and here's to hundreds more!