This Man Deserves An Award...Or Does He?

Daddy has been working a lot of hours this week. His project at work is at a very critical point and besides working extras hours, he is also is "on-call" every other night until things settle down. And you know what it means when Daddy works extra hours...Mommy works extra hours at home! Now, we are fortunate that Tater is at Papa and Mimi's - that means one less child! So the past two night Daddy has worked past Bruiser's bedtime, has missed dinner, and only got the occasional G-Baby cuddle. Award-deserve so far, right? Just wait!

Last night, I headed to bed around 10:30, exhausted from playing Mommy all by myself. G-Baby settled right down and all was good until about 4am. G-Baby started to fuss and nothing seemed to settle her (by morning, I discovered she had a little bellyache, but that wasn't apparent at 4am!). An hour into trying to settle her (5am), I developed a full-blown migraine. I had no choice but to wake Daddy and ask him to take over so that I could sleep away the headache and still make it to work in the morning. And the response I got? In his own words..."I didn't come to bed until 2am and I have a 9am meeting. I have to sleep."

Yes, that's right! He did say just that! Now, you might think he was up until 2am because of work...not so much! He chose to stay up that late! And a 9am meeting? What about the 22 5- and 6-year-olds that would be waiting for me at 8am? There might have been a bit of yelling that followed and then I continued to soothe G-Baby...God forbid, we interrupt Daddy's sleep! Award-winning Daddy, don't you think!

But there's more! By the time I got up, I was still a bit irritated...to say the least! I got ready, headed out to work, grabbing my keys off the hook by the door, where I always hang them and Daddy never does. I was at work for about 30 minutes when I looked up and saw Daddy in the doorway of my classroom. Daddy NEVER comes to my school. And don't get excited...he wasn't there to apologize. Come to find out, he had decided to hang his keys on the hook as well - on top of mine. I grabbed his keys, which had the only key to his car. So before he could leave for work, he had to borrow the sitter's car and come swap keys. He actually asked if I had done it to get back him! and, even though I didn't, it sure would have been a great idea!

Oh, and that 9am meeting? He missed it!

Toddler-isms

This weekend we have had the pleasure of visiting with Mimi and Papa. Tater got her "Papa Fix" and Papa and Mimi got to spend time enjoying all three grandchildren. Perhaps the best part of the weekend was that Mommy and Daddy got to go out to a fancy dinner and stay away overnight - what a treat! As we were getting ready to leave on Friday evening, I came down stair in my dress (probably the first one I have worn in six months!) and Tater stopped in her tracks when she saw me "Momma, are you going to the Stars?" (aka Dancing With The Stars). After I enjoyed her flattering praise, I began to search the house for appropriate shoes - Mommy shoes were not going to cut it for this dinner! I tried on a pair of HIGH heels, walked down the hallway and told Daddy there was no way I could wear those because they were killing me. Tater walked down the stairs and told Papa, "Mamma's not wearing her tappin' shoes - they're KILLING her!" We laughed about it the entire night!

A Love Dare

Usually I post about our children but today I want to shift gears and share an awesome movie we saw this weekend. It really impacted our marriage - and, as we all know, without Mommy and Daddy, there would be no Tater, Bruiser, or G Baby to entertain you and make you smile!

On Friday night, we put the kids to bed and looked forward to our favorite weekend pastime - a Redbox movie! You see, with three children and no family nearby, we don't get out much! So, for a few months, I had been hearing about this new movie, Fireproof, with Kirk Cameron and a Christian message. What an powerful movie! I don't want to ruin the movie because I want to encourage you all to see it but I'll give you the basic idea. His character, a firefighter (hence the name!), is in an unhappy marriage and about to divorce. His father dares him to wait 40 days and to follow a guidebook during those 40 days. We were so impressed with what happened that we couldn't wait to get a copy of the book, The Love Dare. Now, don't worry - we aren't on the verge of divorce, but we feel this will help to make our marriage stronger, which is always a good thing (No comments, Mimi!).

So, we are on Day 4, and each day gets a bit tougher. Today we had to call each other with no hidden agenda, just to see how the other is doing and if they need anything. A bit scripted, but you get the message. Yesterday, we had to buy something for each other. I took the practical route and bought C a snow scraper for his car - something he has needed all winter. Below is the picture of what he got me - aren't I lucky?