Five years? Really?
(This is the part where Jake sighs and says, "Five LONG years," then grins and says, "I love you!" Ha ha.)
Five years and three kids later... here we are.
That makes it sound even crazier, but when you do the math and realize our oldest is seven, then clearly there is more to the story. I blogged about our love story in a three-part series last year, now it's time for a little reflection... so here I go.
I've learned...
Your wedding day is NOT the best day of your life. Being in the throes of labor, deciding to be superwoman and forgo the epidural, screaming at the top of your lungs while your husband tries to do what he can to comfort you, and pushing out your third baby girl after nearly 17 hours from your first contraction pales that in comparison. You're not as pretty that day, but that moment is more amazing than the kiss after the "I do."
Your husband will tell you that you need to brush your teeth. You will tell your husband he needs a shower. But it's good that you can stink together.
You'll roll your eyes when your husband can be nothing but sarcastic when you need him to be serious. He will roll his eyes when you tell him for the thousandth time that you have nothing to wear... never mind that the closet in your bedroom only houses your clothes. (It's a small closet, in my defense.)
You will both try to stifle laughs when your three-year-old unknowingly uses her middle finger to point at EVERYTHING, and even more so that your seven-year-old has no idea what it means either.
You will both cringe at each other's driving. Your husband will be able to sing off-key to the songs on the radio, but it just so happens his pet peeve is people singing along to the radio. Never mind that you can actually sing.
You will join a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group for support and friendship and have your time away from the house and your job. Your husband will have his Thursday night out with the guys. And you're always glad to see each other when you get home.
Your husband has a chance to take a service trip to Estonia (which can only be described as a God-story), and even though the trip is over your daughter's and your birthdays, you want him to go because you know that it would be an incredible opportunity for him. (And he wants to go back.)
You will worry about your children, about your parents, about each other. You'll get grumpy with each other even when you know better. You'll snap at each other, get annoyed with each other... but one of you will always break and apologize. It's not always easy, but you work through it.
One of you will be the hard @$$ when it comes to certain issues in parenting, one of you will be the softie. Sometimes that role reverses. And your children will know how to play you when you're the softie.
Your husband will never fill up the toilet paper holder. You will never empty the vacuum. Yet somehow you manage to keep your house at a minimal disaster area (it helps that we're trying to sell the house too).
I never imagined after we met nearly 19 years ago that we would've ended up here, but it's been an incredible ride... even when it involves icky chores like cleaning up the sink after he cuts his hair, and him unclogging the bathtub drain, my hair being the culprit.
But at the end of the day, I am blessed beyond measure to live with my best friend. Happy anniversary babe!
Friday, April 26, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
A Week That Was...
If you were to read some of my teenage journals, you may find a couple pages drawn with high hills and deep plummets to mark the "rollercoaster" of my life, each peak and trough marked by an event (most of which had to do with boys... stupid boys). I know that being married with children leaves you open to all sorts of unpredictability. This past week was sort of a mini-rollercoaster of events.
We started off Monday coasting up a hill with the prospect that the home we placed a contingent offer on was back in our court after being snatched away by people, who turned out to be unable to get financing. With spring FINALLY arriving, we thought we'd get some traffic through our home. Alas, the contingent house was just not meant to be as it got snagged away a day later, this time for real. Go figure we should end up getting two showings this weekend. And I'm not sure how much we care since the viewers will probably complain about our low ceilings, as have 98% of the people who've been through our home. We're content here (and also really picky when it comes to selecting another home), but sometimes it sure would be nice to have a bigger kitchen and bedrooms. At this point, we're just waiting it out a couple more weeks to see what else comes on the market (and hoping those short people who don't like to cook will find our home a perfect fit).
Thursday brought surgery for Kelsey for her mycobacterium infection that just won't go away. (If you don't know the story, and are interested enough to learn about this, I've blogged about it before... maybe last September?) However, she'd been fighting a cold, so we knew it might not happen. She walked into the same-day surgery center with confidence until her ENT marked her jawline with a pen... and then mommy and daddy heard, "I want to go hooooommmme," for 20 minutes afterward. After the pediatric anesthesiologist listened to her, she assessed that we postpone the surgery until her cold is gone. On May 9th, we'll get to do it all over again. Maybe now that she's had a trial run, it won't be so bad next time...
Thursday also brought Jacey's 9-month checkup. As I plopped her onto the scale and saw she only weighed 14 lbs. 14 oz. (a gain of only 1 lb. 5 oz. in three months time), the nurse said she's sort of falling off her weight curve. I'd planned to discuss my concern over her still spitting up (like a fountain at times) now that she's eating solids, nursing and drinking formula. Her pediatrician said she's not wasting away, and it doesn't appear to be a food allergy or reflux. The kid doesn't projectile vomit or cry when she spews (she's seriously one of the most content babies ever), and although she's got a good appetite, something just isn't quite right. So he ordered a GI scan, which frankly, after all the puking she's done today (it hardly seems like anything stayed in her belly), April 19th can't come soon enough.
It's not been the worst week ever (by far), but it's not been a stellar week either. My natural pessimistic attitude sometimes overshadows how I feel about these situations (and frustrates my hubby), but in beginning a new week, I hold fast to the wisdom of James 1:2-3... "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." I see the pure joy of Averey's enthusiasm, Kelsey's boldness, Jacey's sweetness, and approaching nearly five years of marriage to my dear husband... as a family, we'll get through these hiccups (and baby barf), look back and see how God orchestrated it all.
We started off Monday coasting up a hill with the prospect that the home we placed a contingent offer on was back in our court after being snatched away by people, who turned out to be unable to get financing. With spring FINALLY arriving, we thought we'd get some traffic through our home. Alas, the contingent house was just not meant to be as it got snagged away a day later, this time for real. Go figure we should end up getting two showings this weekend. And I'm not sure how much we care since the viewers will probably complain about our low ceilings, as have 98% of the people who've been through our home. We're content here (and also really picky when it comes to selecting another home), but sometimes it sure would be nice to have a bigger kitchen and bedrooms. At this point, we're just waiting it out a couple more weeks to see what else comes on the market (and hoping those short people who don't like to cook will find our home a perfect fit).
Thursday brought surgery for Kelsey for her mycobacterium infection that just won't go away. (If you don't know the story, and are interested enough to learn about this, I've blogged about it before... maybe last September?) However, she'd been fighting a cold, so we knew it might not happen. She walked into the same-day surgery center with confidence until her ENT marked her jawline with a pen... and then mommy and daddy heard, "I want to go hooooommmme," for 20 minutes afterward. After the pediatric anesthesiologist listened to her, she assessed that we postpone the surgery until her cold is gone. On May 9th, we'll get to do it all over again. Maybe now that she's had a trial run, it won't be so bad next time...
Thursday also brought Jacey's 9-month checkup. As I plopped her onto the scale and saw she only weighed 14 lbs. 14 oz. (a gain of only 1 lb. 5 oz. in three months time), the nurse said she's sort of falling off her weight curve. I'd planned to discuss my concern over her still spitting up (like a fountain at times) now that she's eating solids, nursing and drinking formula. Her pediatrician said she's not wasting away, and it doesn't appear to be a food allergy or reflux. The kid doesn't projectile vomit or cry when she spews (she's seriously one of the most content babies ever), and although she's got a good appetite, something just isn't quite right. So he ordered a GI scan, which frankly, after all the puking she's done today (it hardly seems like anything stayed in her belly), April 19th can't come soon enough.
It's not been the worst week ever (by far), but it's not been a stellar week either. My natural pessimistic attitude sometimes overshadows how I feel about these situations (and frustrates my hubby), but in beginning a new week, I hold fast to the wisdom of James 1:2-3... "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." I see the pure joy of Averey's enthusiasm, Kelsey's boldness, Jacey's sweetness, and approaching nearly five years of marriage to my dear husband... as a family, we'll get through these hiccups (and baby barf), look back and see how God orchestrated it all.
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