Five years

Only five years married - but a lifetime of knowledge.
Growing together. Becoming friends, then becoming a bit more than friends, and then friends again.

Sharing the same taste in music.
Enjoying a beer on the back deck, listening to Zeppelin and basking in the warm sun.

Sharing the same goals.
A cottage, a dock, a boat. Listening to Otis sing about this very thing while we watch our kids jump, run and play.

Sharing an upbringing.
Content with a suburban life, happy to leave the hustle/bustle behind and raise our children in a similar environment that we enjoyed as kids.

Sharing the fundamentals.
Both only children - understanding the difficulty of sharing, understanding the comfort and selfishness and spoiling and loneliness of being one all at the same time.

Sharing hobbies.
Golf (well, someday we'll be able to do this together again - maybe when the girls are 18). Concert-going (again, someday...). Movie-watching, BBQ'ing, outside-backyard-enjoying, gardening, reality-tv-loving, weekend-lounging.

Sharing temperaments - but not too much.
I bring you up, I add the loudness. You ground me, you bring the sanity.

Sharing a future.
A long one.

xxoo.S

There's another 950 feet in our future...

We had rain this past weekend. The kind of hard torrential rain that transforms the streets into rivers and creates massive puddles on your lawn. The kind that homeowners with leaky basements dread...

So after the massive rain, I wander down to our basement to grab something from the pantry, and I step in a puddle. Uh oh. The leak. The elusive, can't-figure-out-the-cause-of-it, leak - is back. I call the Hubs and give him the good news, and restate my campaign for calling in an expert. Let's stop trying to fix this ourselves. Let's get someone in that actually knows something...

And for once? The Hubs agreed. He'd reached his breaking point. He was willing to call Uncle. Whatever it was - I was happy. So the specialists were called in. They were explained the issues that had been haunting us for 3 years. They had a few diagnoses from just that phone conversation, but insisted they must come and do a site visit to give a proper estimate. That site visit would cost $250, but if we had them do the work, it was all credited to the invoice.

Fair enough, right? So we did it. The specialist came. He looked. He examined. Inside and out. He sprayed a massive amount of water at the "spot" we thought was causing the leak. He looked again. He examined. He ripped down insulation and really looked.

And..... nothing. There's no crack. There's no hole. There's no leak.

It's all condensation.

Yes, seriously.

So turn up (down?) your humidifiers (40 is optimal apparently). Open your basement vents (for both air-con and heating). Turn the humidifier on your furnace off (even in the winter). And get that air flowing. Because apparently condensation can actually accumulate to the point of puddles.

Yes, seriously.

Good news? This only cost us $250 to learn. And $0 to pass on this lovely wisdom...

Finished basement... here we come.

xxoo.S

If it works, use it...

Scene: the Hubs is clearing up the dishes from dinner. I'm sitting on the couch, burping Katie. Maddie is running around creating chaos, like only a toddler can.

Maddie: Oh! Gotta go potty Mommy!

Me: Oh good! Mommy's feeding Katie, but Daddy will come with you - run and go like a big girl and Daddy will come help.

[Maddie from the bathroom - "I did a poop Daddy! I did a BIG one!"]

Hubs (after returning from potty duty): That's the 3rd night in a row. Is it just me or does she go every night when you're busy feeding Katie?

Me (shoving Katie's sleeping face closer to my boob so it totally looks like she's nursing): Yep - I agree. The timing is uncanny...

xxoo.S

Dramatic? Me?

Driving in the car on the weekend:

Maddie: My's tummy's hurts...

Me: From drinking too much juice probably, you juice-monster.

Maddie: My's tummy hurts from too much juice! Owwwwww. It hurtssssssssss.

Me: Rub it. That will make it feel better.

Maddie: I needs a band-aid for my tummy. Owwwwww. My's. Tummy's. Hurtsssssss!!!!

Me (to Hubs): Seriously? Have you ever heard someone be so dramatic?

Him: Yes. YOU.

Me: [Silence] Har har...well, now there's three of us. What are you going to do about it?

Him: Golf. A lot.

xxoo.S

A day late and a present short...

So, Father's Day was yesterday.

Let me tell you, I had big plans of writing a sappy post about how awesome of a father the Hubs is. And I had big plans of making a card with Maddie and being all crafty.  And I had big plans of surprising him with a new golf bag + box of balls and a blessing to take off for 9 holes. And I had big plans of actually getting some Father's Day cards out in the mail on time to the Grandpas in our life.

And I failed... Because even being off for the entire week wasn't apparently enough for me to get my ass in gear and prepare for any of the above "plans".

Instead the Hubs got some last-minute purchased cards, a promise of a golf bag in the near future, and a 2 lie-ins this weekend. Oh, and Grandpas? Your cards should arrive today... Promise.

But just for the record? He is a pretty awesome Daddy...

xxoo.S

Still my baby?

It's no secret that Miss M is a Daddy's Girl. The pure bliss-joy-excitement she gives him when he gets home from work I rarely get to experience (when it's me walking in the door), in fact, I'm usually lucky to get more than a cursory glance up. Which means I instead swoop down to her and hug and kiss her until she tells me "No more kissing Mommy!".

When Daddy isn't around, she asks where he is. When it's time to go to daycare she always begs for Daddy to do drop-off. And whenever I'm trying to get her to do something (crazy, mean torture things like get dressed or put on shoes) that she's stubbornly refusing to do, she immediately acquiesces upon Daddy's request to "please do what Mommy is asking you to do".

She definitely "pushes" me more than anyone in her little world. And don't worry, I know that it means she's feels most comfortable, feels most loved, feels least threatened by me. At least if the experts are to be believed... But it can still be mind-stunningly annoying and frustrating on some days that she can't just Give.Me.A.Break.

And none of this matters really, because at the end of the day, I'm the one she wants when things go wrong. When she's breaking down. When she's tired, or sad, or sick.

She's my "baby". My first-born. She's the reason I fell in love with motherhood and thought maybe (just maybe) I could do this again. Expand our family. Give her a sibling, a playmate, a partner in crime.

But a girlfriend of mine (who just had her 2nd a few days ago) said something that really resonated with me because it summed up the terrified feeling I've been trying to ignore for the past 8 months. She said, "I never realized how much it would affect me realizing he [her 3-yr-old son] wasn't the baby anymore."

And this isn't to take away from the excitement I'm feeling about Sproggy #2 - I can't wait for her to get here and join us. But that's not to say I'm not anticipating a bit of fall-out from #1. Will she resent the baby initially? Will it make her even MORE of a Daddy's girl and will she be angry with me? I know she will seem GIGANTIC in comparison to the new baby - but does this immediately rank her into "child / not baby" status for the rest of her life?

I don't know. I suspect not. I assume all children are always viewed as being their Mom's "baby" forever and ever and ever.  At least, I hope so.

xxoo.S

Reason #54 why he's such a good daddy

Maddie has been up coughing the past few nights. She doesn't complain about it and she's been fine during the day, but the coughing is heartbreaking to listen to. It's that barking, dry, painful cough - you know the one. I know it too well, as I have it right now too. Going on 2 weeks of being sick and we're all getting a little tired of it I think.  This is one nasty virus/cold/mutant-bug-of-something-or-other.

She's been a trooper (as always), but it's starting to wear her down a bit.  I think we were both awake from 5am onward from all the coughing from both our bedrooms, so not only was she coughing her little heart out this morning, but she was tired and CRANKY.

Here's where the Hubs earned his right to watch as much playoff hockey as he wants to tonight.... 

(At the breakfast table, after a particularly loud meltdown over a benign offer of a banana for breakfast)

Hubs: I don't think she should go to daycare today.
Me: Well, I have meetings downtown, so unfortunately, she's going.
Hubs: No - I meant, I'm going to stay home with her. Hopefully a quiet day inside and a long nap will help her get over this.
Me: You're going to work from home? Are you sure?
Hubs: Yeah, I'll try to get some work done, but I'm only worried about taking care of her.

I left them snuggling on the couch, watching Dora, while she ate a popsicle and was already in a better mood knowing she was having a "Maddie/Daddy Day".

Jealous.

xxoo.S

I caved - he didn't

On Tues night, around 8:15pm, my resolve caved.

Me: Okay, let's just do the 3D ultrasound and find out the sex.

Hubs: Nope.

Me: ???? What? I thought you were dying to find out? I thought you were annoyed that I wanted to keep it a surprise?

Hubs: We decided to keep it a surprise, so that's what we're doing. Anyways - isn't it too late to do it?

Me: It's ALMOST too late. The ideal time is before 26 weeks, but we could still do it.

Hubs: Nope.

Me: (whining like a 5 year child at this point) But why??? I've changed my mind - I thought you'd be happy.

Hubs: You convinced me a surprise would be fun. Don't be so convincing next time.

And so... hrrrrumph.

xxoo.S