the place to be.

The place to be during Sunday School if you are a baby girl?

Carly's blanket.

~

We have a lot of baby girls in our ward. The last few Sundays I have been putting Carly on the floor with some toys so I can try to catch some of the lesson. Afton and Ainsley toddle and crawl to join her and see what kinds of goods she has. Carly just stares at them walking and crawling like "hey, how do you do that!" She is starting to attempt getting up on her hands and knees. It results in a face plant every time, but I'm sure it won't be long before she is crawling along with the girls.

Yes I snapped a picture during Sunday school. Couldn't resist.

We had a fabulous weekend. Saturday we took a long walk at our park and then in a nearby neighborhood that had gorgeous houses. Carly slept the whole time and it was so nice to have an extended conversation with Chris. We talked about all sorts of things, and analyzed which houses we liked and why. We are excited to be first time homeowners (fingers crossed).
Saturday night we headed out to dinner using a gift card Chris's mom sent us for V-Day (thanks!). And you know what? Carly slept through that too. We didn't even know what to do with ourselves.

And today was a great day at Church followed by a relaxing afternoon with a beautiful and happy baby and a successful webcam visit with my parents (the webcam doesn't always cooperate). Carly is in bed and now we are watching the bizarre closing ceremonies and eating hamburgers (healthy 10 pm snack, don't you think?). Do we have to go back to the real world tomorrow?

~

A few other snippets:

~

I'm so sad the Olympics are over. There are few things as fabulous. Chris asked me if there was any sporting event I would watch over the Olympics. Nope, nothing. He said the World Series if the Cubs were playing. Sounds about right.

~

I love etsy. I just discovered it. Why didn't anyone tell me about it? I'm not a buyer, just a looker, but I see a lot of things on there that I would love to try to copy someday. Something like this will be first.

~

Did y'all watch the gold medal hockey game. It was high quality entertainment. I was torn as an American but a Penguins and Sidney Crosby fan. In overtime I said, "Wouldn't it be cool if Sid made the gold medal winning goal?" And 10 seconds later he did. We jumped and screamed. It reminded me of this night. We jumped and screamed then too. But Carly was inside the womb back then and didn't get quite as frightened.

~

I liked this. Its a nice thought before we head into swimsuit season.

~

Good night.

ketchup.

Sometimes when I think of something I want to blog about I write it down on a post-it by the computer and get to it whenever I have time/want to. I was thinking I should do a little “catch-up” post, so I wrote it down on a post-it. Chris was at the computer and asked “Why does this post-it say ketchup?” I had written “ketchup” instead of “catch up”. We will blame that one on mommy brain.
~

Chris is writing his thesis full-time this semester. And when I say full-time, I mean full-time. These past few weeks have been especially hectic. It seems like if you have a whole semester to write one paper, it should be easy. But turns out it’s a really big, really hard paper. He works so hard staring at a computer for 10 hours and then comes home and I tell him to do a million things. He is our superhero. And guess what? He got accepted to Michigan State this week. Its one of the best programs in the nation in his field, thank you very much. We are waiting to hear back on an assistantship to make our final decision. But hooray for getting in!! How come Michigan State isn’t in . . . Hawaii? Chris also got called into the Young Men’s Presidency. We thought it would be fun to both be working with the youth, but turns out it’s very hectic. Mutual night isn’t the daddy-daughter time/mommy’s escape that it once was. But we are blessed to be able to serve, and we have a fantastic bishop who tells us we can do whatever we need to to make it work. Chris will be great with the Young Men, though he said he is used to working with missionaries as Ward Mission leader and from his time at the MTC, so he will have to adjust to being surrounded by teenagers instead.
~

Carly has a thing for hats. Look at those long arms. We always say she is like "go go gadget arms!".
I am still always two steps behind Carly, it seems, but she’s cute so it’s ok. My current biggest test of patience is trying to get her to eat solids. We are on week three and she still fights to the death. I have to pin both of her arms down and sing “I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and bananas!” really loud in order to distract her enough to shove food in her mouth. Oh, man, it causes me to lose my patience so quickly. The other day I gave up and said “Fine, but you’re the one who is going to be embarrassed when you have to take a bottle of formula to prom.” Other than that we have fun together. I looked at my list of goals the other day and realized the Spiritual ones were the only ones I have kept up with. That’s good I suppose. Haha. But I went to the doctor last week and am 2 lbs shy of reaching my pre-pregnancy weight. Maybe if I actually start working out I can reach my ideal weight.
~

Trying to simultaneously suck her thumb and eat.
Speaking of weight, Carly had her 6 month check-up last week. She came in at a petite 14 lbs 10 oz (21%) and 25 inches long (30-something%). She got immunized, which is what caused our fever all-nighter. The next day she was taking a nap and I heard her whining through the monitor. I was asleep too, so I waited hoping she would fall back asleep. She didn’t and when I went in to get her I found her covered in vomit (not spit-up) and shivering from being wet. She started to heave right then and I picked her up and turned her over so she could puke all over her mattress without it going down her throat. I was terrified. I called the nurse and she said it was probably caused by the fever, but to call if it happened again. I gave her a bath and miraculously her fever broke by the time I took her temperature after the bath. It still hurts my heart to think about her heaving and throwing up all over herself and her crib all by herself. Why didn’t I just get up and go check on her? I should have been holding her and kissing her forehead while she went through that. I want to cry whenever I think of it. Anyway . . . we have had a healthy baby for about a week now, and I’m a big fan.
~
And I wanted to say thanks for sharing your stories. My mom texted me and said she wished she had the same networking we do as a young mom. In a strange twist of events, Carly started nursing again on Monday after a nearly 3-week strike. I’ll take it as long as it will last, even though now I’m struggling because I was emotionally prepared and even excited to stop. The grass is always greener, right?
~

We have started reading a lot of books. Carly mostly likes to play with them.
That’s it for our little C family of three.

All that jumping is hard work. Yes, she is asleep.

we went to a park today.

We live on a busy street.

I hate going for walks because it is loud and

hectic and smells like noxious fumes.

I decided we needed a park.

So I assigned Chris to find us one.

It needed trees,

grass,

and a paved walking trail.

Those were my only requests.

He found a wonderful one.

And the best part is?

Its a 2 minute drive from our house.

I'm a big fan.

But not only did this park have trees and grass and a paved trail.

It had baby swings.

So Carly went for a swing.

I can't get over this last picture.

Its so Carly.

Its her "this is fun but also weird and scary" face.

Yum.

how to be crafty when you're not really crafty.

tip 1. start small. I want to sew things. Two problems: 1) a sewing machine doesn't fit in our budget right now, and 2) I don't technically know how to use a sewing machine. So I decided to start small and work my way up. Carly has a few cute flower headbands all given to us by others. So I decided to try to make one with a slightly smaller flower since Chris isn't a fan of the massive flowers.


tip 2. cheap supplies. Remember how a sewing machine isn't in our budget? Well, neither are craft supplies. So I went looking around what we already had. Carly had this headband, but whenever I put it on her she looked like Olivia Newton John singing "Let's Get Physical" so she didn't get much use out of it. I then journeyed to JoAnn's and found fake flowers on sale, so I got some pink daisies for a dollar. I just popped the back off and had layers of petals.

tip 3. strategize. I was making it up as I went along, so I decided to hot glue the petals together and then sew the flower onto the headband. mistake #1.

tip 4. don't be afraid to learn new things. I found out that dried hot glue is very hard to push a needle through. After many holes in my finger tips and a bent needle, I finally got TWO stitches through. I called it good.
tip 5. know your materials. The final cute accent was to be a white button in the middle of the flower. So I once again manned my hot-glue gun and fired. Turns out hot glue is hotter and runnier and stickier than I prepared for. My punctured fingers were soon covered in a layer of burning glue. And the button meant for the headband ended up glued to my finger instead.

tip 6. have extra supplies. That was my only button. And it was now covered with unremovable dried hot glue. I went searching through my random messy storage containers and found some fake pearls that I used at New Beginning last year. Perfect.

tip 7. take pride in your work. Consider finding a better place to show off the final product than your husband's Aaronic Priesthood manual.tip 8. the customer is always right. Comfy adorable headband without petals that hang in her face? Yes, indeed.

The Girl Who Cried Wean.

Warning: this post is about breastfeeding. I will avoid giving you TMI, but it is still an “earthy” subject, as my mother says. Know you were warned.
~
Disclaimer: I do not care how you feed your child. I know every parent does what is best for their situation, and that is great. I am also fully aware of the benefits of breastfeeding. If I wasn’t, Carly would have been formula fed after about 3 days. This is just my view, my experience. I’d love to hear yours.
~
I can’t believe its taken me six whole months to write a post on something that has been a bit consuming for me since Carly was born. Oh, the adventure of breastfeeding. And the girl who cried wean? That’s definitely me.
~
I once thought everyone breastfed. I thought it was stages: breastfeed, formula, baby food, real food. I also thought breastfeeding was easy. Pop the baby on, she eats for a bit, and then is good for several hours. Then I got pregnant and started reading all sorts of stuff on how very wrong I was. But I also read about the extraordinary benefits of breast milk. I never really considered not breastfeeding. I knew it was good for mom and for baby. I heard it was hard, but I knew that having a baby would be hard.
~
I seriously can’t remember if I breastfed Carly right away after birth. I mean, I know I didn’t when she was all slimy. But I can’t remember if I did before they took her away to get checked out. Seemed like she would have been hungry, right? And I told them no bottles and no pacifiers. So maybe I did.
~

The first few times I remember breastfeeding Carly were no easy task. Her first day she was not interested in food. She wanted to sleep (sounds like her mother). The nurse would bring her in and Carly would latch on and take a few drinks and fall asleep. I could not get her to stay awake. The nurse would jab her in the ribs and she would eat a bit more then fall asleep. I was so freaked out that she would starve to death. They have all these rules about how brand new newborns need to eat, and I’m sure they are important, but in hindsight babies cry when they are hungry. They don’t sleep. Babies demand what they need. So next time around I won’t be so worried about the rules.
~
I remember when we took Carly to the doctor for the first time when she was two days old. We were late and she of course wanted to eat. I was in pain and having a hard time adjusting to breastfeeding, so it was something I just couldn’t face. I had a little pumped milk that I had pumped to relieve pressure (oh, when the milk comes in. Isn’t that wonderful?) so I heated it up and poured it down her throat using a medicine spoon. Can you believe that? I was desperate and I had been told if I introduced a bottle too early she wouldn’t nurse. But she fell right to sleep. Should have used that trick more often.
~
I was told to try to avoid offering a bottle until she was three weeks old. I remember the night before her three week mark I was exhausted and she wouldn’t eat and we were both crying and it was like 4 am. Chris finally convinced me to give her a bottle of breast milk and I was terrified she would never nurse again. She took it. And slept. And nursed the next morning. Guess that one day didn’t make a difference.
~
Carly was a good breast feeder early though. I was lucky. I mean it was painful for a good 6 weeks, but that’s normal (whoever says 2 weeks is setting new moms up for disappointment). There was never chewing or colic or reflux or gas or any other of the million problems babies can have. She just wanted to eat ALL the time. Like 20 minutes to an hour apart. I was going insane. The situation was worsened by the fact that she started to sleep through the night at 4 weeks old. A blessing, for sure, but she had to make up for lost eating time. It was hard to get used to. I just sat on the couch for two months feeding her. Every day I texted Chris with something like “I can’t do this anymore. Lets just switch to formula” or “I’m going insane. Why is she always eating?”. Chris was very supportive and said he knew I could do it, but was fine if I wanted to stop. He is a great support. What kept me going at first? My pediatrician. She would tell me how great it was I was breastfeeding and how much Carly would benefit from it. But she never said it like I would be a loser if I stopped. I don’t know what it was. She was just gifted about subtly cheering me on, and after every visit I was like “Yeah, I can keep going!” But I’m pretty sure there was not a day in four months that I didn’t consider switching to formula.
~
But somewhere around 3 months I realized things were evening out and calming down. She was still a frequent eater, but I was learning how to handle it. We were in a groove.
~
At 5 ½ months in I was loving the breastfeeding life. No bottles to wash, no pain, she was a pro, no preparation. We were good, she was sleeping through the night, and we were soon to incorporate solids.
~
Then it struck. The RSV.
~
Carly would not nurse for one second when she was sick. Complete nursing strike. I was pumping to keep things going and keep Carly on breast milk. There are few things in this world I hate more than pumping. To make matters worse, my electric pump gave out right then and I was hand pumping. Fabulous. (Medela sent us a new one for free. Isn’t that nice?) Anyway, with the hand pump it was impossible to keep up and she was getting about 50/50 breast milk and formula. She did not nurse for 8 days. By then, she had learned there were much easier ways to get milk. When she got better I tried nursing her again with decreasing luck. At first she wouldn’t nurse for more than a few minutes, and now she won’t nurse for more than a few seconds. Awesome. So at this time I’m pumping full time, and giving her one maybe two bottles of formula a day. I’m not sure how long it will last. Remember how much I hate pumping?
~
I haven’t yet started to miss nursing. We had an enjoyable 6 months, but when it comes to a baby eating or not eating, I choose eating. I think she is at a stage where we can snuggle and play and have lots of other experiences together so that the closeness you feel when you nurse isn’t quite as integral, though it is something I cherished when she was tiny. I do HATE having a bunch of bottles to clean every day. As if I don’t have a hard enough time keeping up with dishes. And I hate having to heat breast milk or mix formula. Seriously love the ready-made meals of breastfeeding. At this point I’m debating whether to just switch to formula instead of pumping. But if I can’t nurse her, I still like knowing I am giving her nutrition she can’t get anywhere else. I still try to get her to latch on a few times a day. Maybe she will snap out of if and start nursing again? Not sure I’m that lucky.
~Things I do like? I feel a bit freer. Not worried about if what I’m wearing is breastfeeding-friendly. I went wedding dress shopping and to lunch with some friends from Chris’s program today. I left Carly with Chris for FOUR hours. That is seriously the longest I’ve been away from her. It was a fabulous afternoon. Something I really needed. Minus the pumping, feeding her with a bottle is WAY faster than breastfeeding her. It only takes like 10 minutes to put her to bed now when it once took almost an hour! And she has been sleeping longer. Ten to twelve hours! And I’ve actually been getting her to take naps. Goodness, maybe I should have been pumping this whole time!
~
Well that is my adventure. I’m grateful that I’ve been able to nurse Carly. It really is a gift only a mother can give. And I think next time around I’ll be more prepared for what to expect, though I have no idea how I’ll manage nursing with little-girl Carly running around!
~
Now a request for advice. 1) We use Dr Brown bottles and really love them. We received a set as a gift so we only have a few and I’m constantly washing bottles, so we need more. But they are SO expensive. Do you think if Carly shows no signs of gasiness then an regular old bottle would work fine, or do you think its best to stick with what we know works? 2) Any tips for make bottle/formula feeding quicker/easier? Like if Carly wakes up in the night, how do I quickly feed her before she wakes up too much. I used to go in and pop her on the breast before she got too alert. At this point I prefer giving her a warm bottle, though that may change if I switch to formula.
~
The end.

there once was a boy named brady.

Last night my little brother opened the most exciting piece of mail a soon-to-be 19 year old boy can open. Yes, he got his mission call.
~
I’m not sure at what point Brady became old enough to get a mission call. It seems that even though I’m getting older everyone else should be frozen in time. Such is not the case.

~
Guess where he is going? Indiana Indianapolis. Isn’t that crazy? Chris’s hometown is in that mission. His parents live in that mission. We visit that mission a few times a year. And if we move to Michigan, we’ll just be a few hours away from that mission. Crazy. Brady is going to be a fabulous missionary though. We love him and are very proud of him and grateful for his willingness to devote two years of his life to the Lord. It is no easy task, I’ve been told.

I remember the day Brady was born. I was 4 ½. I remember waking up and finding people other than my parents there. My parents were at the hospital to get the new baby. I don’t remember ever having a hard time getting used to him. It seems like he was meant to be there all along. Brady was a ridiculously cute baby. Cutest baby ever in my book until Carly showed up (sorry, Brady). My earliest memories of Brady involve him running across our large tile floors pushing one of those baby walkers. He used to zip all over on that thing. He also learned to ride a bike without training wheels at the ripe old age of 3. He had this tiny neon orange bike that my dad took the training wheels off of and he would cruise on that. He looked funny being so little on that little bike. It was adorable.
Brady is quite the athlete. When he was a little boy he used to play football with himself. He would throw the ball down our yard and run and catch it himself. Pretty amazing, huh? And really cute to watch. Since then he became a baseball all-star. He played from t-ball up through his senior year. I loved spending summer days and evenings at the ballpark watching him play. That is something I have really missed since leaving home. Nothing says summer like a baseball diamond. Brady and I had a few years of being at home just the two of us after our two older brothers went to college and missions of their own. They are years I cherish. I remember being across the hall from him. He was a hip middle schooler and I was a less-than-hip high schooler. He would blast his cool music and I would blast some combination of Backstreet Boys and Tim McGraw. The hall always smelled like some sort of manly smell, Axe or Hollister or whatever the kids are wearing these days. It still does outside his bathroom whenever we go home. I love that. That’s home.Brady and I had quite the little experience together when it was time for me to leave home and head to BYU. We packing my little car up and my parents little car up and we started caravanning to Provo. Brady was with me, my parents following behind us. I had undiagnosed Celiac disease at this point, and wheat made me sleepy. After staying up until 2 the night before and a large wheaty breakfast, we headed down I-15. Brady was asleep and shortly after we entered Utah Kenny Chesney lulled me to sleep as well. The car veered down into the median set on cruise control at 86 (yes, fast, I know). That’s not what woke me up. What woke me up was Brady yelling “Erin!”. I wish I had slammed on my breaks. Instead I tried to get back on the road. The car over corrected, turned 180 degrees and rolled off the freeway, flipped, and landed right-side up on the dirt. Kenny was still singing. There were sparkles everywhere . . . shattered glass. I remember that as soon as I realized I was conscious I was terrified to look over at Brady. What if I had hurt him? How would I ever forgive myself? I looked over and he looked back at me, a bit stunned. I’ve never been so grateful. We were both wearing seatbelts. Brady wasn’t much of a seatbelt wearer at the time. I’m so grateful he was that day.Brady is a loving uncle. It’s cute because he is so cool. I was never that cool. But he is cool and he still loves Carly snuggles. And she loves him. She took to him with such ease over Christmas. And she isn’t a big fan of people she isn’t familiar with.

I’m not a super expressive person. I have a hard some expressing myself speaking out loud (which is why I’m a fan of writing). It’s a hazard of growing up with boys I suppose. But, Brady, I love you and I’m grateful for you. You are a wonderful brother and I miss seeing you and living across the hall from you;-). I’m so excited for you and this next wonderful step in your life. You’ll be so great. Chris, Carly, and I will be cheering for you and praying for you every step of the way.
Yay for missionaries.

it's 4 am

it's 4 am and I'm sitting here with miss shmarly.
miss shmarly with a high temperature.
yes, I believe I'm about to pull my first all-nighter with a fevered child.
immunization side effects are lame.
~
we pulled the computer open to find some tips on helping fevered babies.
but I wanted to remember this.
~
I wanted to remember how I spent the first half of the night grumpy.
How I kept going in to sooth her for a few minutes or seconds and hoping she would fall asleep on her own. That's how it usually works.
I wanted to remember how I prayed a little prayer of patience and went in and picked her up.
How her hot little hands felt on my cheeks.
How she pressed her fiery forehead to my neck and whimpered.
~
I wanted to remember how we snuggled in bed (since I forced Chris to get some sleep on the couch around 3) and how she held my hand and smiled. She takes sickness so well. Always smiling.
~
I wanted to remember how her warm cheeks melted my hard heart.

drudgery.

I feel a bit like I don't have much to blog about.

Chris returned on Saturday night to an adoring crowd of 2.

We were so happy to have our man home.

I do not sleep without Chris next to me.

I miss him.

And I get afraid of murderers hiding in the closet.

Carly slept great despite his absence.

~

On Sunday I taught in Young Women's.

I'm not much of a teacher, and usually I get more out of each lesson than the girls do.

Such was the case this time around, I'm sure.

My lesson contained this quote:

~

“No matter what you read or hear, no matter what the differences of circumstances you observe in the lives of women about you, it is important for you Latter-day Saint women to understand that the Lord holds motherhood and mothers sacred and in the highest esteem. . . This is the great, irreplaceable work of women.

“Much is said about the drudgery and the confinement of the woman’s role in the home. In the perspective of the gospel it is not so. There is divinity in each new life. There is challenge in creating the environment in which a child can grow and develop. There is partnership between the man and woman in building a family which can last throughout the eternities” (“Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters,” Ensign, Nov. 1978, pp. 105–6).

~

How about that was put in the lesson especially for me.

I love that he uses the words "drudgery" and "confinement".

What great diction.

Drudgery is the perfect word to describe what motherhood sometimes feels like.

Divinity is the perfect word to describe what motherhood really is.

~

Oh, how I love our Carly.

She is too much.

I've been taking a million random pictures the last few days.

So here's a look at my "drudgery".

~

Carly ready to go to Target for the 3rd time in 4 days. Hey, Chris was gone, its freezing out, and we needed to get out of the house. And Target is 5 seconds away.

Taking a 5 minute nap. Its the only kind she takes.

Mama kisses. Mom, that's our new $6 lamp glowing in the background.

Can't decide where to put it.

So right now its right next to the other one.

Enthralled by the Superbowl.

This exersaucer has been making its way through the ward and it finally landed on us.

I'm very grateful.

She will actually stay in it for like 6 or 7 minutes.

6 or 7 minutes of bliss.

The green beans didn't go over as well as the peas.

But you should have seen her down the sweet potatoes.

Little beauty on Love Day.

We spent it eating leftovers, talking with family, and being grateful we were back together.

Remember how I said she takes 5 minute naps?

That's if I'm lucky.

Usually there is screaming and I find this.

I'm working on creating a "naptime routine".

Read her a book, fed her, rocked her, in crib.

We tried it on Monday.

She fussed for a while, then slept a whole hour.

I didn't even know what to do with myself.

And because she is just so beautiful:

And finally, Carly got a doorway jumper for Christmas.

Before now she would just sit in it and cry.

Lately she has been jumping on our laps.

So this was her first real go at it.

Not bad for a rookie.

(it does work, despite the blackness)

Oh, how I love this drudgery.

the best two weeks.

I am a genuine lover of the Olympics.

And I just might love the Winter Olympics more than the Summer.

{gasp!}

The Olympics are sports at its purest.

Very little flash and ego.

These people [mostly] don't have Nike contracts and million dollar bonuses.

They don't even get paid to play.

And what do they get when they win?

Nothing but a medal to wear around their neck.

But the medal means more than a million dollars would.

And that's why I love the Olympics.

~

What else could get me screaming "GO, BABY, GO!!" at a cross country skier?

Who yells at cross-country skiers?

Who cries with fallen skaters?

Who jumps for women's hockey?

I do. Once every 4 years.

~

There are two things I love the most about NBC's Olympic coverage.

1) Olympic commercials.

2) special segments about athletes or teams or countries.

Both yield goosebumps, and occasionally tears, from yours truly.

~

But seriously, the best part about being on the Olympic team?
The wardrobe.

The Polo horse is a little massive for my taste, but I'm in love with the moose hats and must have one some day.
~

Now if you'll excuse me, snowboarding just started.

the one i fancy.

Like Carly's festive kicks? I thought they were appropriate.

I met the one I fancy in September 2005.

I was 18.

I thought I had felt love before.

Turns out I hadn't.

Until I met him.

We're going on our 5th Valentine's Day together.

We're not really Valentine's people.

1st year. I heart attacked his car (we were dating, obviously)

2nd year. Provo restaurants packed. Not-so-great Korean food.

3rd year. He worked late at the MTC. Pizza picnic in our living room.

4th year. He was gone at an academic conference.

But he did bring me back a cute Gap maternity dress.

5th year. He's gone to the same conference.

Maybe I'll have him make me my favorite corn chowder tomorrow.

I'm not one of those anti-Valentine's people.

I hate when people get on Facebook and complain about Valentine's day.

Then the next year they're in love and love the holiday.

~

No, I love the idea of Valentine's.

I just kind of think every day should be a little Valentiney.

Every day you should make an extra effort to show how much you love each other.

Every day you should be romantic.

Every day should be Valentine's Day.

Notice I said "should be".

With a 6-month-old and a masters degree to earn, we are far from

the greatest example of slowing down and appreciating each other.

Well, Chris is wonderful. I'm working on it.

We got married when I was 19.

I was going to study abroad.

I was going to get a Masters and a PhD.

I was in no hurry to find a husband.

Chris once asked if I feel like I missed out on anything, getting married when we did.

My answer was quick.

Never.

This is the best life I could ask for.

(As my baby screams for attention).

I love Chris for his humor. Oh, how he makes me laugh.

I love him because he works hard. Oh, how hard he works.

I love him because he thinks I'm beautiful in the mornings.

{I promise you, I'm not.}

I love him because he does dishes and makes dinner and takes the garbage out.

I love him because he is sensitive and considerate.

I love him because he is a people person.

I love him because he is talented and smart.

I love him because he lives close to the Spirit.

But most of all, I love him for this:

Carly is so very lucky to have him as her daddy.

And I am so very lucky to have him as my husband.

Happy Valentine's Day.