The man I love

Whew! What a weekend! Kevin's birthday (31!) was on Saturday and we had a smallish gathering of family and friends over for breakfast. Kristen made crepes, Mikelle made pancakes, Nicole brought muffins, and we had all the toppings you could hope to devour. We also had a little hot chocolate bar. Everyone wrote a poem for Kevin and it was really fun to hear each person read theirs. Some were SO funny! We took a lot of pictures, but it seems there was trouble uploading them, so I'll let post them if I can find them.

It was heaven.
Being with Kevin.
All the fun.
We stayed up 'til 1.
Then had to wake up and Seven.
(don't worry, my real poem was a little better than that=)

Can I just take a moment to tell you about Kevin? I don't write much about him on here and it's usually just a short line like "Kev and I laughed a lot." I don't feel that I've adequately portrayed Kevin, because where do I start? Do I start at the beginning and tell you about the easy connection, the butterflies, the excitement, the discovery? Or do I jump to present day and write about the real, day to day love that I have for that man I married.

The first option would definitely be simpler....He was my brother's roommate, we knew each other for a few years, we went on our first date Feb 13, 2004, we both knew where it was going within the first month, we were engaged in June, married in September...there you have it in a nutshell.

But as much as I love looking back on those days, they're nothing when compared to what we have now. The trouble is, I can't do that part justice in a little blog post.

Within a month following our wedding, I was expecting Jack. There was no "adjustment" period, no time to just enjoy the two of us. This is just how we wanted it, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Technically, we did have 9 months. But I was pretty emotional and didn't feel like myself much of the time. I learned during that time what a patient, understanding, and compassionate man I had married.He doesn't fight. He talks, he listens, he'll stay up all night to talk (mostly listen) if it will make me feel better. He's kept our marriage in a very safe place, never crossing lines or saying something he'll regret. For that reason, I don't look back on the early days of our courtship with any sort of longing. He's as nice to me now as he was to me then, and what we have now is real and substantial and comfortable.

You want to know what real love is? It's getting up in the middle of the night with a son who wet his bed, yet again. Cleaning him up, changing the bedding, getting him settled, returning to bed only to have another son wake up from a bad dream and hour later. It's caring for that son in a gentle and reassuring way, laying in bed with him until he drifts off to dreamland. After going back to bed for just a few hours, son #3 wakes up at 6:30, ready to start the day. It's rolling out of bed, yet again, so your wife can sleep for another hour, then being sympathetic when your wife describes how rough her night was with the baby.

It's coming home to a trashed house after a long day at work and asking "what can I do to make this a good night for you?"

And he's not just nice and thoughtful. He ALSO a lot of fun. He loves games and we play them often after the boys are in bed. Big Boggle, Yahtzee, Pandemic, Rummikub, darts, badminton...I like that we're pretty equally matched at most things we play. I love being on his team because he's smart and he's a great sport. He likes going on little outings as a family, to the park or wheeler farm, or up the canyon, he even gets excited about long road trips. He genuinely enjoys being with our boys. He's game for anything and loves when our house fills up with people I've invited over.(this is NOT how he really smiles, he was just being funny)

Often when we're getting ready to go somewhere, I'll get a little frazzled because we'll be running late. I'll be combing the boys' hair, he'll be loading them in the car, I'll be grabbing the last minute things, trying to look presentable, etc. I'll come rushing out to the car where they are waiting. "This Old Man" will be playing in the background. I'll throw what we need into the car, jump in, shut my door and he'll just look at me with a happy, loving smile and say "Hi." before pulling out of the driveway. I know it doesn't seem like much, but to me it says "it's okay we're late, you look great, we made it to the car, you can relax now. I love you."

I'm beginning to see why people resort to simple lists when describing the love they have for their husbands...I could just go on and on. And I will, in future posts. I'll share snippets of my love for Kevin, but this is all time will allow today. And if you read it all, good for you! This was a longer, wordier one, meant more for me and my boys. May they one day be like their dad. I couldn't ask for anything more.