October 18th, 2009 Matt took off work a day and a half before our scheduled due date and followed it up with a week off. Tomorrow morning he will be headed back to work. And I will be sad. And lonely. I love him. He keeps me grounded and laughing. He puts up with an awful lot. Like finishing that horrid to-do list I had for him last week (including rearranging everything we own, mopping the entire house, and grocery shopping for us.) He listened to 9 full months of whining and crying. He calmed my fears and cracked jokes to keep it all in perspective. He never does just “enough”, when he comes home with the must-have groceries it always has my favorite snacks and the kids’ best loved treats. He bought my 2 favorite scented candles and has kept them burning to please me.
He live-blogged the birth at my request (upon moving to our recovery room and closing the laptop down he said with a smile, “I’ll never live-blog another thing.”) He held my hand through the whole process. And then gave me the sweetest “you did the best job ever, you’re an amazing woman, I’m so proud of you” speech just after the delivery room settled and we cuddled our newborn. He has done dishes, floors, laundry, diapers, dressed children, recorded kid movies at just the right moment, took us for ice cream when I could no longer take being trapped inside from a week of rain. He has played “robot” chasing the rowdy stir crazy kids around the house. He has challenged the boys on the Nintendo DS and found them “cheats” online. He’s watched more princess movies than he ever thought he would.
The other day when my emotions were completely out of control and I was crying inexplicably sitting at the computer, he came over with this lunch (chicken with pasta topped with tomatoes and olives, the bubbly is Cream Soda!) with the words, “This is as close as I can come to Ashley’s at the Capital on a zero dollar budget.”
(And don’t you love the huge germ-x bottle in the background?)
He has cuddled his new sweet baby, played the stick-your-tongue-out game with him, sung songs to him, and made a first thing in the morning run for diapers when I absent-mindedly told him, “I don’t know how I didn’t notice we were out of diapers this soon.”
I absolutely love this man.
September 2nd, 2009 The kids titled this “Thumbelina”. There’s a reason I’m crazy, people. Really.
 Photoshop At Its Worst
July 23rd, 2009 TheOldest (and all the rest of ‘em) caught us!
Really caught us!
June 29th, 2009 It’s funny that y’all mentioned trust in the last post. I didn’t see it initially. The thing I loved most about those pictures on first look is my husband’s face in the second pic. Just look at that. Could he be any happier? Could I love him any more for it?
But when y’all said “trust” it got me to thinkin’. This is the child and the daddy that had me heart-broken 2 years ago. This is the baby that wouldn’t go to his daddy. Ever. If Matt picked him up he cried. And cried. And cried. If Matt (or any other adult person besides me, for that matter) even looked at him he screamed. Uncontrollably, until I swooped in and rescued him. It was this way from day one. The moment he came out. And it continued this way for well over a year. Just a few months ago if I attempted to leave him at home with his daddy for a brief outing to the store he wailed until I returned. That’s my fault, some of you will say. And you’re allowed to say that. Just as you’re allowed to be wrong. He is the fourth, remember? And by now I’ve learned every one of these little boogers has their own personality. From day one. Coddle them, carry them, pick them up, abandon them, leave them, “train them” at 3 months, whatever, sure, you can have an effect. However, you can have an effect on who they already are, not on a blank slate. I didn’t create this child to be attached. Thankfully, he was my fourth, and as I said as I was going through it, it was a season. I stressed some on it, because who doesn’t want to see the daddy of their child cuddled up in a naptime with his newborn infant? But, having seen the scale of the others, and seeing them grow over the years, I knew that they would turn into toddlers that would discover how great Daddy could be and slowly pull away from the comfort of my Mama’s hand into the fun filled Daddy one. I’ve watched all 3 other children make the shift from “I ont Mama!” to “No, Mama! Want Daddy!”. All of them. Without fail. Began to choose their Daddy over their Mama. And I rejoiced then, just as I am rejoicing now. It’s his season. And I love it. Not one ounce of me is sad to see the shift. Who could be, when looking at this picture?
So, Mamas out there who happen to have babies like this little guy who never seemed to “bond” with their Daddies, hang in there. Trust. Because one day it will happen. They will shun your hand and turn to his. And in that moment, all the guilt and worry you’ve had will wash away with joy.
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