Wordless Wednesday 04 Feb 2009--Weddingness

(If you know me IRL, the photos that show our faces clearly are up on my Facebook album.)

Conversation with a Gentleman

Last night, I mentioned to DH that I had recently told a friend that I can only think of one time he has ever yelled at me.

"One time in ten years. That's pretty amazing," I said.

He smiled. "Well, at least it's the only time I yelled at you out loud."

"As opposed to yelling at me silently in your head--or in one of your heated shower conversations with yourself," I chuckled.

I thought for a moment. "When's the last time you felt like yelling at me? Today?"

"No." DH paused to consider. "Actually, it's been about a year. Right about the time you came down with mono."

That says more about him than about me, I think. Although it probably helps that I've been so sick for most of the past year that for the most part I've been unable to be anything other than grateful toward those around me.

Whatever the reason, it's nice to be in such a good place in my marriage. I'm blessed beyond measure to be married to such a kind, loving and gentle man.

I love my husband

I just wanted to say that. He's a really wonderful guy.

9 years ago today

I signed my life away.



And I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.



My Beloved, I'm so incredibly blessed to be married to you. I love you.

Eight Years

Today is our anniversary. I still feel that marrying DH is one of the best things I've ever done. I love being married to him, and can't imagine life without him.

The kids are sick. Baby E is still having GI and sleeping issues (which kept me up until almost 6am last night), though we're not sure if/what she's reacting to. We haven't gotten much sleep since Friday night. AJ was up in the night too last night with a headache and fever. Today the two older girls both have low-grade fevers and are mildly ill with headaches and sore throats.

So, instead of going out to dinner as we had planned, we ate dinner with the kids at home. I gave DH an anniversary card I made for him, which he liked. After the kids were in bed, DH and I spent the evening working on housework together and talking. Honestly, having him spend some time working on the house and talking with me and is one of the best anniversary gifts I can think of.

My mom let us borrow her new floor-cleaning robot, so we used that on the kitchen floor. It was fun to see the little guy work, and it did a great job on most of the floor. There are only a few places I'll have to go over again manually. It takes me a good two hours or so to scrub that floor by hand, so having the robot to do most of the work was another great gift of the day.

But the best gift is just being married to my Beloved--my best friend.

The Best

Me: Well, look at that! It looks like Daddy finally figured out how to get the rototiller to work!

AJ: Yes, he did. Daddy is a very, very smart guy.

M&M: Yep, he is. He's my favorite Daddy.

AJ: He's our only Daddy.

M&M: Well, he's still my favorite Daddy in the whole world.

AJ: Do you like him better than J's Daddy?

M&M: Yeah. I'll bet even J likes our daddy better than her daddy. Because our daddy is the best.

Pure Deliciousness

When DH got home last night, I was attempting to cook dinner and get the grease off the kitchen floor.

He had to work from home at 7, but in the hour before that he took the kids and played a game with them. Then he vaccuumed the family room where Baby E had taken a piece of bread, crumbled it into bits, and spread the pieces around on the sofas and carpet. Then he got out the steam-cleaner and shampooed the carpet where M&M had just tracked in mud.

No, I can't clone him. Don't you wish?

Baby E is still uncomfortable and fussy this morning, but better than yesterday afternoon.** Her biggest thing at the moment is that she does NOT want her diaper changed, will NOT use the potty, and does NOT want any clothes taken off or put on.

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Nothing should be changed. Nothing. The only change that should be taking place today, E thinks, is switching from one side to the other occasionally while nursing. (She says, "Side" and wiggles herself around to the opposite direction in my arms, and then grins up at me--very cute.)

That and she really thinks the fact that I have one hand on the computer instead of on her needs to change. She wants both of my hands and my full attention.

The way I managed to get her into a clean diaper and her pajamas last night was to tell her everything was a hat. We put a diaper hat on her bottom, foot hats on her feet, etc. That trick turned a flailing, screaming, death-grip-on-the "sirt!" tantrum into giggling cooperation, and made me feel like a brilliant Mommy for a moment. I'm about to see if it works again.



Breakfast this morning included homemade sourdough cinnamon rolls, made with raw honey and saigon cinnamon. Wow, they're good.

I have no idea whether I'll be able to reproduce them again, though. I've been inventing a lot of recipes lately, but not the kind I can post on my recipe blog. They're less of "one cup this, two teaspoons that" recipes and more of the "Hmmm, I wonder what would happen if I added some honey to this sourdough starter, and then mixed in enough spelt flour to make it into dough?" types of recipes.

I love experimenting with food. It's standardizing a recipe to make it reproducible that's challenging for me.

** I think I figured out what E is reacting to. Several days in a row she's gotten into the girls' bathroom (they are supposed to keep the door closed, but they keep leaving it open even RIGHT after I go and close it and remind them to keep it shut--argh). The moment she gets a chance, E makes a beeline for their bathroom. She opens the drawer, takes out one of the girls' toothbrushes, and tries to brush her teeth with it (a.k.a. sucks on the toothbrush--ick!). It happened at least twice yesterday.

This morning she had a tube of toothpaste, too. It just dawned on me that this is NOT the relatively-safe-for-Baby E toothpaste that I bought for the girls and put in their bathroom drawer. It is the little tube of toothpaste the dentist gave them, and which DH has apparently been letting them use. I was vaguely aware of this, but it didn't really click until today.

No wonder Baby E is having reactions, getting that in her mouth! Argh. That tube of toothpaste is now in the garbage, and I'll ask DH to get the girls new toothbrushes on his way home tonight. The girls are going to be upset, but since they keep leaving the bathroom door open I do not want that toothpaste in the house.

Conversation with my husband

DH and I got to go on a date tonight.

Since I'm eating eggs in limited amounts again now, I even found something I could have at the restaurant: an egg poached in water, with nothing added. Simple, yet tasty. DH had an all-you-can-eat fish and chips platter, and I sipped peppermint tea while we talked. It was nice being there together, just relaxing and talking.

On our way home, I reflectively said, "I'm guessing that most people probably wouldn't try to learn how to make sourdough, kombucha and sauerkraut, all for the first time, all in one week. It's a lot, but I'm enjoying it."

DH added, "AND starting a garden, AND homeschooling, AND doing a major household organization project, all at once. Most people wouldn't do that."

I chuckled, feeling a bit sheepish. "Probably not, I guess."

DH said, "That's because most people are sane."

Then he quickly patted my knee and said, "You'll do just fine, I'm sure."

Maybe I should try to pace myself a bit one of these days. Just maybe.

Jumping into life headfirst with both feet is so much more exciting. :)

My husband the miracle-worker

My wonderful, amazing, fabulous husband figured out how to recover the post I lost yesterday. He set up a script to capture the information the page was attempting to re-send to Blogger when refreshing the page. It took him a while and some fancy fingerwork, but there it was!

He is extremely talented with computers. No wonder his employers love him.

Thank you so much, DH. You're my hero.