Rain, rain, and more rain!

Today it's raining for the second time this week...not just a light rain...rain that lasts from the time you wake up and doesn't stop all day or night. And the bonus today is that there was a scheduled power outage...so what would have only been a cold, dark, rainy winter day just got a little colder and a little darker. 

For the 4 or 5 hours that we were without power, I thought a lot about what it would have been like to have a baby before power...thank goodness her Jumperoo works on batteries, and thank goodness I could just turn on some warm water to mix with her formula rather than relying on the electric bottle warmer. And thank goodness it was daylight during the outage so we could still play with [battery operated] toys and read books, right?

But in all seriousness, having a day at home with no power made me introspective.... thankful for all that I do have. Thankful I didn't have to leave the warmth of my home to go anywhere...work...day care drop off... thankful that Alia is healthy and happy. Thankful that I get to be with her all day every day. I'm thankful that we live in a time of plenty, and if she wants something extra to eat before bedtime or anytime for that matter, it's no big deal. I'm sure my grandmother, having lived through the Great Depression knew what it was like to go to bed hungry. Alia on the other hand, is outgrowing clothes that are months ahead of where she should be age-wise.

And tonight, as Alia threw her last little tantrum, trying to tell me how much her teeth hurt, trying to tell me how tired she was, trying to tell me how hard it is to sleep when a) you're just a baby and b) your teeth are killing you, I felt gracious to have this time, to be able to hold her and comfort her and hum in her ear. As her screams quieted into quiet gurgley little protests, and finally her little body went limp, I tucked her in and again, felt so fortunate to have this time with this little person who needs me.