Valentine

While it has been six months since I've posted on this blog, it hasn't been nearly that long since I thought about it. Married life with an infant is definitely different. I'm not even sure what I want to write here at the moment.

As I've left my job and transitioned into the role of Stay-At-Home-Mom, I have enjoyed wonderful support from Jesse, as well as others in my life. There are days that I miss working with college students, miss planning for expansions and improvements, miss socializing with the variety of co-workers. But as I nurse TGM, read books with her, and mark her accomplishments, I can't imagine any part of that I would want to give up. I've tried to imagine what it would be like to go back to work--full-time or even part-time. And while the work part doesn't seem impossible, I can't imagine being away from her for that long and missing all the little things she smiles and laughs at during the day.

But this blog isn't about the newest love of my life, it's about the man who is my best friend and so much more. It's about the man who is supportive of my desire to spend all my time with TGM and works to make it possible! He doesn't complain about all the suppers I haven't made or the cleaning that hasn't been done. He listens to my long, rambling narrations of her activities. He accepts my concern about a rash or my frustrations at the end of a fussy day. And then he gives me a hug and plays with TGM while I work on what needs done or just takes break. I really have a great husband!

And today we did Valentine's day--our style. We took a collection of gift cards for Barnes & Noble and headed book shopping! We passed TGM back and forth, as we each browsed in our own favorite sections. I finally picked up my own copy of the Baby Name Wizard, revised edition! (A big thanks to SJ for lending us her copy at the critical time 7 months ago!) I also picked up a couple more board books for TGM. JM picked up a book that he wanted. I also made a list of books that I'm hoping I can borrow from the library.

After the afternoon at B&N, we stopped at Applebees on the way home for supper. As we ate, we relaxed and talked. We were actually between lunch and dinner hours, so we took our time there, without feeling rushed by crowds.

When we got home, Jesse decided to work on a project that we'd talked about earlier in the week. The washing machine hasn't been working perfectly--with every load it either gets out of balance or doesn't wring the clothes out thoroughly. While it still works, we are thinking we may go ahead and see about getting it serviced. Unfortunately, the positioning of the washing machine and the dryer behind the toilet in the half-bath leaves maybe a foot of clearance in front of the machine and only a couple inches of wiggle room on the sides--no room for access to completely remove the machine and very limited access to take the machine apart. It appears that if we were to trade the toilet in the half-bath with the toilet in the main bathroom, we would be granted about 3 extra inches of space in the half-bath. That would be enough to make it possible to remove the dryer, and subsequently the washer, when needed.

So Jesse began the process of removing the toilet in the main bathroom. Who knows when the toilet in the bathroom was last removed, and the bolts and washer disintegrated as soon as he tried to remove them. Removing the toilet also pulled out some of the tiles in the main bathroom. But as we were planning to re-tile the bathroom anyway, we decided to take the opportunity to do that too.

So currently, the main bathroom has no toilet and probably needs the board (the one under the tiles) around the toilet replaced. We removed the baseboard tiles, most of the floor tiles, and the floor vent. The half-bathroom also has no toilets. We have two toilets sitting in our living room by the front door. And, oh yeah, we have a guest coming in less than two weeks, as well as Jer coming next weekend. So in less than two weeks (and it would be nice if it were in the next week), we need to have at least one of the bathrooms put back together for our guest. But I expect it's good to have a deadline for these sorts of projects!

What is the point of all this rambling? That I have the most fabulous, wonderful, patient, loving, and supportive husband in the world! Happy Valentines Day, my Valentine!

Home-owning Husband

I think my wonderful husband has taken to home-owning much better than I have!

Since we bought the house, he has:
- Fixed the poorly sealed area under the shower door of the master bath.
- Torn out the walls around the tub of the main bath.
- Contacted the city to get the water turned on.
- Dewinterized the house.
- Turned on the hot water heater (which took some investigation and finagling, with the heater locked in behind the washer and dryer in the back of the downstairs half-bath).
- Called the locksmith to change the locks on the house. (Thanks, David, for being around when they came.)
- Called to have Internet scheduled for connection to our house.
- Diagnosed and fixed a leak in the shower drain of the master bath.
- Cleaned up the mess of tearing out the walls around the tub of the main bath.
- Positioned two of our three bookcases in the living room.

Since we bought the house, I have:
- Watched his family move all our large items (beds, dressers, couch, bookcases, etc) from the old house to the new house.
- Watched his family gather and move all the boxes of stuff from the bedrooms (and some other areas) in the old house to the new house.
- Rearranged our bedroom furniture in the new house, making a mess of all our clothes and leaving them piled on the floor.

And in the midst of all this, he still bought me flowers and surprised me with them already in a vase. :-)