Reality Check- One, Two. One, Two

Over this past Thanksgiving holiday while visiting my family in Houston I got a big reality check. It hit me like a ton of bricks for some reason, and I laid awake for a couple of nights pondering it in my head. As my husband and I made our way to Houston, in the four hour car ride, I started thinking about this past year and all that I had to be thankful for. As usual my thoughts went right to me being pregnant and this little life that was soon going to be brought into this world. Then it hit me; this was the last Thanksgiving holiday that I wouldn't be a parent. For the rest of my life I would be a mom to someone, and John and I would be parents.


I don't know why this reality hit me so hard. I've been pregnant for 5 months now and I've been preparing every way possible to become a parent. I guess I had never thought of it in that way before and it seemed to boggle my mind. The next thoughts to enter my head were the traditions John and I would set up for our kids. The traditions in our family are so wonderful. From my mom's cheesecake on Thanksgiving, to decorating the tree and making cookies with my nephews, to watching the Macy's Day parade in my pj's. What traditions would I pass on to my kid? What new traditions would we start? How would the holiday's change now that we would be parents?

All of these questions and more were floating around my head, and I almost couldn't wrap my mind around it. The closest thing I can compare it to was being on my own for the first time. For me that was college and getting my own apartment. I had to take care of meals on my own, I was setting my own curfew, paying my own bills, and doing what I wanted to do when I wanted to do. I felt like an adult at last, and that reality hit me hard too. I would never go back to being a care free kid again.

Now here I am with a husband, 3 dogs, a cat, a house and soon to be a baby. Wow! Even though that night in the car gave me a big reality check, I am so blessed and thankful for it. I wouldn't want it any other way, and I know there will be many more reality checks to come in my life. If it wasn't for these reality checks in life I don't think I'd be as prepared as I should be. So, I guess I can add that to my list of things to be thankful for. It lets me know I'm alive and living life as I should.

Me at 20 weeks