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Thanksgiving 2020

2020 is a very turbulent year, with so many challenges for so many people. Though it is a difficult year, on this occasion, I still find reasons to be thankful.

I am thankful for the gift of family.

Val and I welcomed our little bundle of joy this year. Giving birth in the middle of the first surge of the pandemic with Val overseas was not the easiest but my birthing team, my parents, and my siblings have been very supportive through the challenges of raising our little boy during his first months and helping me recover from wonky postpartum hormones imbalances and baby blues. They also take over taking care of him while I sleep in during the weekend because I write during the middle of the night when everyone else at home is asleep... as a result, I only log in two to three hours of sleep during the weekdays. Because I take care of the little guy most of the time, my parents and my sister have been cutting me some slack in the house chores department (I just run the dishwasher at night). I am grateful that Biboy and Barbara have been lending Gabriel's clothes to our son; I minimise shopping for the wee one's clothes as we jointly build a collection for future nephews and nieces. They have also given a lot of tips on gadgets to buy. I am thankful for my cousins, uncles, and aunts who send over gifts to the wee one even if they haven't met him in person yet. 

I am thankful for the gift of time.

If we were not required to be sheltered in place because of the pandemic, I probably would have gone back to working full-time and our son is most definitely enrolled in daycare already. This will surely result in me missing a lot of the wee one's milestones. But because Val and I decided that I'll focus on raising our child hands-on while he's establishing attachments and checking off each milestone with rapid succession (which is particularly important because I'm the only parent around until the pandemic has ended), I have the privilege to see the little one grow daily. I admit that it's difficult to accept that I'm a full-time stay-at-home mom in the meantime because I've been working since I graduated from college. However, I also know that what I'm doing now is one of the most important tasks I'll do in my life; this stage in our son's life goes by so fast that one day, he'll be in school and I can go resume my career. And that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

I am thankful for the gift of friends.

I don't have a lot of friends and I am slow in making new ones these days. Staying at home because of my baby and because of COVID-19, I didn't really have much opportunity to make friends. But the ones I have are golden, indeed. Two of them, Karla and Ester, also gave birth to healthy boys around the same time I did. I am very thankful that because of them, I don't feel so alone in this parenting journey.

I am thankful for the gift of health.

COVID-19 is a big bummer for the whole world, scaring a lot of people (including me) from going outside the house to have some fun. I do go out for doctor's appointments but I rarely go outside for anything else these days. I try to insert some time to bring Donan to the park, but with my painful knee, just going up and down the stairs is already a challenge. My mom has been working at home, as well as Val (albeit on the opposite side of the Pacific). Anna, Daddy, Biboy, and Barbara all work onsite because they are essential workers. I am thankful that they have not become sick and that their offices have started to test employees for COVID-19. I do hope that everyone manages to keep his/her guard up and not get sick.

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