Much to be thankful for part 1

November and December have been two of the craziest months I've had in a long, long time.  Most of it was the good kind of crazy, and there have been a lot of special moments I haven't properly absorbed or recorded.  

So here we go!

My niece, Savannah Jane was born November, 5th and she is beautiful.

Here is Savannah with big sister, Autumn.

Not sure if I've mentioned it, but I've been reading virtually with two of my nieces (Autumn and Harper) every week for several months now.  Reading with my nieces got me out of the 2020 muck, which is too mucky to talk about here.  Reading with them has also helped me feel close to them even though they live far away.  I love them both dearly and reading with them is the highlight of my week.

I love this picture so much.  Autumn is reading, and in the background you can see my brother, Scott holding Savannah.

Here is Harper and her bunny, Cuddles Cocoa, who sometimes reads with us.

Something else has helped me get out of the 2020 muck, and that's eliminating dairy from my diet.  After years of digestive and sleep issues, I barely crawled into 2021.  I was so sleep deprived I was struggling to get through the day.  I was a total wreck.  I have spent 2021 undergoing a baffling number of medical tests and procedures and am getting close to figuring things out.  The biggest change was eliminating dairy, which was part of a larger food testing experiment.  Eliminating dairy has dramatically improved the quality of my sleep and mellowed my digestive issues.  I'm still working on the digestive issues, but life is SO much better.  I can't even begin to describe all the tiny and big ways I feel better.  I have struggled with sleep paralysis since my teens, and I haven't had an issue with it since June.

Going dairy-free hasn't been as challenging as I thought it would be.  Though there is dairy in a lot of things (The wasabi powder on nuts! Salad dressings!) There are so many dairy-free options it's a little ridiculous.  Robert has also been super supportive.

At the end of October, I was able to play a little ukulele for my dad, who was proud as punch.  And Robert captured a video.  Playing the ukulele is hard!  I'm not what you would call musically-inclined, so this has been a workout for my brain.  But it's also surprisingly cathartic.  I hope I'm a part of in-person storytimes when my library has them again, because I am ready to rock on (Old MacDonald had a Farm style that is).

Part 2 coming tomorrow!