You know this girl, right? The feisty one? The willful child? The sweet baby doll who likes to shout, “Hi, Mommy!” and “Thank you, Daddy!” The very kiddo who prays for Elmo and her friends and diapers and her grandparents before bed?

Yep, her.

Well, even though she measured in the 75th percentile for height and weight at her last appointment with the pediatrician, she didn’t start out quite so hale and hearty.

She started out like this:

That’s right. If you’re new around here, you might have missed my long, drawn-out telling of the whole story last fall. Long story short: Annalyn was born seven weeks early because my health was, well, not so healthy.

But despite being born so early and weighing less than 4 lbs., my stubborn little girl never had a problem. She spent two and a half weeks in the NICU, but she never even had to be on oxygen. And when she’d had enough of her feeding tube, she pulled that sucker right out and decided to drink from a bottle from then on!

She was a fighter.

But she was still tiny. And early. And cold. And wrinkly. And cute. But tiny. And she’s okay today because of the grace of God – and the years of research that told a whole hospital full of doctors and nurses how to take care of my teeny tiny baby.

I was due to have Annalyn two years ago tomorrow (also known as Thanksgiving Day – what a lesson in giving up on perfect that would have been!). So when I found out that November is Prematurity Awareness Month, I was excited to learn more about other teeny tiny babies. Here’s what I found out:

• Nearly 13 million babies worldwide are born prematurely each year, and more than one million die.
• One in eight babies born in our country is premature. That’s more than 1,400 babies each day, more than 543,00 each year.
• The rate of premature birth in America is higher than that of most other developed nations.
• In fact, the rate of premature birth increased by 36 percent between the early 1980s and 2006.
• The cause of premature birth is unknown in 40 percent of cases, but studies suggest that there may be four main routes leading to spontaneous premature labor: infections/inflammation, maternal or fetal stress, bleeding and stretching.
• The March of Dimes funds promising, innovative research into the causes of prematurity. In 2004, the organization created the Prematurity Research Institute, which has already awarded nearly $11 million to 30 grantees.
• Research funded by the March of Dimes demonstrated a potential new approach for diagnosis and treatment of preeclampsia, which is a serious form of high blood pressure that can lead to preterm birth – and what caused my own early delivery.
• The March of Dimes’ NICU Family Support program provides information and comfort to families with newborns in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). In 2008, the program served 84 NICUs and more than 50,000 families.
• You can support the March of Dimes by joining their advocacy efforts and donating to the organization. And I actually learned last night that in November and December, MasterCard is doubling online donations, dollar-for-dollar, made with a MasterCard card!
• You can learn more about premature births and the March of Dimes on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Youtube.

Did you know all this?! I sure didn’t. All I knew is that we are so very blessed that Annalyn is healthy. And I knew that many other families have experienced much more difficult struggles with premature births.

This post will be linked up to OhAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday and Musings of a Housewife’s What I Learned This Week. And I’m going to take one more look at my tiny baby.

Who’s not so tiny these days!

Do you know anyone who’s had a baby early? Were any of your children born prematurely? Were you born prematurely?

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See, here’s the thing. The only catchy “winner” phrase I could come up with was, “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.” And I hate that phrase.

So, instead, the Oscar and the Giving Up on a Perfect Thanksgiving prize goes to … [envelope, please - or Random.org results, as the case may be] … Commenter #11, which was Mandi at It’s Come to This!

Congratulations, Mandi! Please e-mail me your address, so I can get your fun stuff in the mail! And a big thank you to everyone who joined me for Giving Up on a Perfect Thanksgiving. If I haven’t gotten to your comment or post yet, hang tight. I will! (I was out of commission for most the weekend but am back now!)

Also – stayed tuned for Giving Up on a Perfect Christmas, which will take place on December 18. Also known as my birthday, in case you need to know that!

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Don’t even tell me if you’re only interested in the giveaway part of this here carnival. Just go ahead and skip to the end. But you should really read the whole post. It’s touching. And thought-provoking. And I talk about cats. And Cracker Barrel.

If that’s not enough to make you keep reading, well, I just don’t know what will do it…

You know how it’s so hard to get out the door some days? Especially when you have to be somewhere at a certain time?

It’s those days when you can’t find your keys or you have a fight with your husband over something stupid. Corralling your kids is like herding cats . . . and keeping your cats out of the garage is like herding kids.

But once you finally get into the car? Whew! You can breathe a sigh of relief.

Sure, you might have to deal with traffic or snow or ice, the kids might be whiny and the car’s defrost might smell like mildew, but at least you’re on the road.

And then you arrive. It’s Thanksgiving, and all the family has gathered to celebrate the holiday. You pile into the house, take off your coats, say your hellos and make the first round of hugs. And then you realize…

You forgot the turkey. At home. Over an hour away.

Now what? Well, if you’re my family a few years ago, you simply brown up some hamburger and have tacos for Thanksgiving dinner. Because, really? It’s not the turkey that matters.

(And that stressed out family that forgot to pack the turkey in the chaotic mini-van now has dinner for the next week!)

Have you ever had that kind of Thanksgiving?

I wish I were a little more on top of things. Then I would have remembered to dig out and scan a picture of my family on Thanksgiving a few years back. In Florida. At a Cracker Barrel.

It wasn’t exactly anyone’s idea of the perfect holiday, but my great aunt needed help moving to a new home. And so my mom bought us all tickets and we flew south for the winter – or, at least, for the Thanksgiving weekend.

I won’t lie. We didn’t have a whole lot of fun that weekend. There was a lot of family stress (Some might even say “dysfunction,” but of course I wouldn’t. Nope, not me.), and the weather wasn’t even that impressive. You’d think Thanksgiving in Florida would be fun – beaches and sunshine and all that, right? Um, no. Not that year.

But here’s the thing: We were there for family. And that was the last time we got to see my Granna, my Great Aunt Anna. And I wouldn’t trade that for all the homemade turkey dinner and Missouri weather in the world.

So, let’s give up on the idea of a “perfect” Thanksgiving. It’s okay if your turkey isn’t golden brown. Don’t worry if you have to celebrate on Friday instead of Thursday. And if someone forgets to put the sugar in the pumpkin pie, let her off the hook (ahem, Shelly).

Because it’s not really about the gourmet food. Or the beautiful presentation. Or the autumn decor.

It’s about spending time with those family members you only see a few times a year. It’s about taking a moment, an hour, a day to thank God for all that He’s given us. It’s about old and new traditions that have special meaning to our families. It’s about the Yahtzee games and the green punch and the Plaza lights and the wishbone and the kids running around and drawing names for Christmas and breaking out the china for the girls and letting the guys watch football – or whatever is important to your family.

Tell me about it. What REALLY matters for your Thanksgiving? When did you have to give up on perfect? What are your plans for next week? Let us have it – in the comments and in your own posts.

That’s right! Don’t forget – playing along with today’s carnival gives you a chance to win one heck of a Thanksgiving prize! One lucky – and, I’m sure, thankful – reader will win this cool stuff:

• An autographed copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl
• A matching adult and child’s apron from Dayspring’s Life Collection
• A limited edition (read: I got it at the book signing) Pioneer Woman Book Tour t-shirt

How can you enter this awesome contest? Simple.

• Leave a comment telling me a Thanksgiving memory – perfect or otherwise.
• Or subscribe to this blog (and leave a comment telling me you did it).
• Or become a fan of Giving Up on Perfect on Facebook (and leave a comment telling me you did it).
• And yes, if you are already subscribed or a fan, that counts. Just leave a comment telling me.

Comments made by midnight on Saturday, November 21, will be eligible. After I consult Random.org, I’ll announce the winner on Sunday. Or Monday. Because I’m giving up on perfect, too, remember!

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Image from The Legacy Builder

Last week, I was all set to tell you about the funny little things I’d thought about over the past week, small blessings that I was truly thankful for. But then I watched the Compassion Bloggers chat from El Salvador and was torn all to pieces.

I didn’t think I had the right to be thankful for the little things. I didn’t think it was okay to focus on the trivial parts of my abundantly rich life. I didn’t think it would be nice to talk about how blessed I am when so many are suffering.

And so I told you about how I pray with Annalyn every night, and we thank God for a place to live and food to eat (and Elmo to play with). And that was true. We do that. I keep it simple, so she can understand and start developing a true sense of gratitude.

But that’s not the end of the story.

See, we’re going through the book of Genesis at church. I’m not even sure what prompted my thoughts on Sunday – perhaps a reminder that God made every living thing on this planet – but I found myself feeling so convicted.

I realized, as I thought about the mountains and the trees and the rocks and the flowers and the birds and the dinosaurs (Just kidding. We did not talk about dinosaurs.) and the animals that God does amazing things. He always has, and He always will.

And He does them for us. So we can see Him and know Him and get a glimpse of His majesty.

Somehow, that thought brought another idea to mind: Maybe it’s okay to talk about how much I appreciate the little things. In fact, maybe it would be wrong not to be grateful for the little things. So, without further ado or deep thought, here are a few things I’m thankful for today:

• Good friends who make me laugh so hard my sides hurt.
• Finding Cinnamon Trident at the Target register a couple weeks ago. Red Trident has been missing for so long . . . and I have been missing it. So I bought two packs (one for me, one for my dad, who’s also been missing the red gum).
• Coupons to my favorite department store. Even better? Two coupons – one for $25 off and one for 25% off – that I can use together.
• Getting the opportunity to sing a great song at our Christmas program.
• The chance to write for (in)courage. I love the community and ministry that they’ve built at Dayspring, and being a part of it has really blessed me this fall!
• Meeting The Pioneer Woman at her book signing on Monday.
• A wonderful friend who not only agreed to watch Annalyn at the last minute but also brought her McDonald’s for dinner!
• And speaking of my daughter – Annalyn fell off her chair at Chipotle yesterday and hit the concrete floor. Aside from a bump on her head, though, she’s completely fine – and apparently able to turn a backflip. I’m so thankful for God’s protection (despite us feeding her fast food twice in three days!)!
• The fact that even when you don’t technically follow the recipe and the Rice Krispy treats don’t turn out exactly right . . . they still taste good.

So there you have it. Maybe these things are minor, insignificant, small. But they’re mine. And I’m thankful for them.

What are you thankful for today? Link up your thankful posts below or tell us in the comments!

(P.S. This post will be entered in Scribbit’s Write-Away Contest. You can do it, too. It’s not too late to enter. You have until Sunday!)