Thankful Thursday

I feel like this baby is already taking over our lives and home. This week, we've had to do so much baby related stuff, and I don't see it easing up in the coming weeks, either! Anyway, I hope you're having a good week!

"America the Beautiful" Quarters
These suckers are a lot more elusive than the 50 States + Territories quarters!! I never really collected the States ones, but bought a little folder when I heard that these National Parks quarters were starting to come out in 2010. As of now, I only have 3 out of the 5 that came out in 2010, and 1 out of the 5 that came out in 2011. I did have a heart-wrenching moment yesterday when a friend used one I didn't have (Vicksburg) from 2011 right in front of me -- we just all had exact change and I couldn't buy it off him!! I actually even went back to my office, grabbed a quarter, and went back to the cashier to trade it, but it was already gone. =( But it's fun to keep an eye out for them, and I guess it's more fun to find one when they're rare. =) Maybe this doesn't count as something I'm thankful for because I didn't actually find one? Oh, well. Too bad.

The one that got away. [source]

Jell-O Pudding Cups
I'm on a big Jell-O pudding kick, the chocolate and vanilla swirl cups. Yeah, I know I could just make it myself, but the individual cups are so handy, especially to take to work, and the foil lid is perfect for resting my spoon. Plus if I made a batch, I'd probably eat the whole thing in one sitting, with the bowl sitting right on my belly. But you know what I really miss? Jell-O Pudding Pops!! Remember, with the commercials with Bill Cosby?? (Or was he an overall Jell-O spokesperson?) Man, those popsicles were so yummy.

Popcorn on the belly, but it could just as easily be pudding!

Cell Phones
I used to be of the mindset that cell phones should just stay cell phones -- that the email feature was pretty sweet, but why in the world did my cell phone also need to take pictures and video, store my entire music library, and be my sole source of entertainment for every spare minute of my life? But I've loosened up a little, and am now very thankful for at least the photo/audio/video recording capabilities of Todd's and my cell phones. Thanks to them, I've been able to very easily send pictures of the nursery and my belly bump, the sound of our baby's heartbeat, and just yesterday, a video of my belly moving around like some sci-fi movie as the baby rolled and kicked like crazy! Of course a camera or our Flip video recorder could have done the same things. But if I had gotten up to grab either of those, I'm sure the baby would have stopped moving. And it's so easy to email directly from the phone. With family so far away, it's nice that I can still easily share these types of moments with them.