Happy To Be and Writing About It

I was inspired by Steph to join in her 32nd link-up called Insta-Gratitude Week..! She does one every Wednesday and today, I decided to join in on the fun!

 I feel grateful for most things people feel gratitude for; my family, my friends, what I've accomplished, who I have become. But, this link up focuses on the week before. So I will narrow it down to a few things..

//5  I am grateful for people that I don't know- that reach out and are kind. I have two lovely ladies that I haven't officially met through blogging.

Noor was the first person (besides myself) to follow me on Bloglovin'. She is one of those young ladies that just .. stands out among the rest. She is kind, so sweet and has encouraged me to write, write, write..! I really respect Noor and hope to keep in contact with her throughout our years of blogging.

*I started blogging eight years ago and I had a little group of ladies that I followed and followed me. I have since lost contact with ALL of them. I looked everywhere for them.. all of their blogs are abandoned. So I do hope to keep in contact with some of my newer acquaintances. I think it's a bit easier with all of the social media buzzing around though!!*

Areeba is another young lady that I admire. She was the first person to help me out by telling me that I was a "no-reply" blogger  and I really appreciated the tip! I need girls like her to keep me updated with Blogland these days. Like I mentioned, I joined up eight years ago and took a big break in between. She encouraged me to get back on Twitter and to start tweeting my blog updates. She is also like her twin sister; a sweetheart.

 I am grateful to these young girls for encouraging me and supporting my re-entry into Blogland. Without their support I'm not sure I would have stuck around and gotten involved with it!

//4  I am grateful for the milestones Alina hits every week!! Last week she ATE rice cereal for the first time ever!! It was so much fun scooping the little spoonfuls and shoveling them into her confused mouth..! Alina is a smiley, happy baby.. so of course she had a big grin on her face while I was pushing wet mush into her gaping smile. I could see the food pooling on her tongue and finally she realized what I was doing. She ended up with more on her bib and her face than in her tummy the first time. But since then, she has taken to it quite well. She gets pretty excited when she sees me mixing the milk and cereal powder together. She even opens her mouth for me to feed her, which to me, is sooo cute!! I feel like a little girl feeding her dolly. No seriously, I do. I take a lot of joy in feeding her every morning. I am looking forward to starting her on it twice a day. Yah for progress!

During the first feed..

After she had eaten.. All smiles!

//3  Alina not only learned how to eat last week, but she also learned how to roll over!! Rob just happened to be working in town that day. He came home for lunch and I put a blanket on the table so she could lay there while he ate. He always loves to be around her when he's home, so it was a win, win! She ended up rolling over with a tiny bit of a push from her eager dad. But after he showed her how to do it once, she was rolling over on her own, over and over again! We were so excited. Then, I realized that my days of leaving her to quickly run and do something were over. The very next morning I had her laying on her play mat. She has little toys that dangle over her that she can reach for. It's my way of getting to shower, while she plays for ten minutes. I placed her there and then went to grab a towel. When I returned, she was on her tummy! It just takes a wee bit of adjusting but we now have a new "mommy showers and baby plays" routine figured out!

Right after rolling over!! Yah!! I couldn't upload the video from my phone.. (I didn't know how!!)

 //2   This one is the gift that keeps on giving and giving. I am so grateful for where we live! Rob was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario and I was raised in Hinton, Alberta. Neither one of us is from British Columbia and we remember to thank our lucky stars on a regular basis for putting us here. We love Vancouver Island and now after eight years, consider it home! The beach is less than a five minute drive and there are lakes that we can camp at all around us..! Last week we visited the beach a few times and over the weekend we went on a little adventure to a lake we had never been to before..

Unlike her folks, Alina was born here. Can you tell? A real beach bum.

At the lake, getting into her bathing suit..

Getting ready to go for a dip in the water.

//1  This is another one of those.. gifts that keeps on giving..!! I am grateful for Rob's quirky, goofy sense of humour..! That man is always, and I mean ALWAYS making me laugh. It doesn't matter where we are, or what we're doing.. he is always doing something funny.

As you can see Alina is already used to her dad and his goofy ways..

Rob texted this picture to me last week. It read: "Obviously a shitty rescue place. All the dogs died."

 

 There it is everybody! Those are the top 5 things that I am grateful for last week!! I am also grateful for these link ups because they give me inspiration for new posts!! Thanks for having me.