A is for Beautiful

My friend Merritt tagged me for this Husband Meme. I’ve finally gotten around to doing it.

Where did you meet? On the steps to the dining hall just outside of Lee Hall.

What first attracted you to him? Seriously Merritt stole my answer. He’s an incredible listener. I used to always tell him when we were “just friends” how amazed I was at how well he remembered things from our conversations. He always listened to me ramble on and on which made me feel special and I’d never met anyone who listened that well.

How long did you date? Four years and ten months by the time we married.

How old is he? 31

Who eats more? Sadly, me. Although if this question was, “Who eats more butter?” clearly Jonathan would win.

Who said “I love you” first? Is it sad that I don’t remember? I know where and when it was and I know we both said it, but I don’t remember who actually said the words first.

Where was your first date? dinner at Annabelle’s and then off to see Scream 2

Who is taller? Jonathan is taller.

Who sings better? He does by far. I used to beg him to sing Barenaked Ladies anything.

Who is smarter? Another point for the hubs.

Whose temper is worse? Certainly me although he does have a little temper but never really acts on it.

Who does the laundry? Mostly me. Sometimes on the weekends he throw in a few loads, but I always end up folding it.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Looking directly at the bed, I do. I like to have my left leg sticking out of the covers.

Who pays the bills? I pay most of them, but he makes the money to pay ALL of them!

Who cooks dinner? Me. And Mi Pueblo and Chick-Fil-A and Mellow Mushroom and Qdoba and K&W and wherever else we happen to go…

Who drives when you are together? Mostly Jonathan.

Who is more stubborn? Me. I’m as stubborn as a mule.

Who kissed who first? Jonathan kissed me.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Jonathan does almost always. I’m stubborn, remember?

Whose parents do you see the most? Mine since I try to help them with work and they are retired. Jonathan’s parents both work.

Who proposed? Jonathan finally did on March 9th, 2001.

Who is more sensitive? Me again.

What’s his best physical attribute? That’s easy! His eyebrows!!! (inside joke from when I used to say I could never pick a favorite part of him that I loved them all equally)

Who has more friends? In college, I definitely did. I was social and he was not. Now the roles are reversed and he has more friends by a landslide.

What are you most proud of him for? Being a person of integrity that everyone respects.

Who has more siblings? He does.

Who wears the pants in the family? Jonathan. He and I both love to act l like I do, but really he’s the head of our house and I usually default to him.

Thanks for reading!

I’d like to tag Kelly B but I don’t know her blog address! I’ll get it up later.

First, I want to say, “Happy Birthday” to the hubs. He’s 31 today and now officially one year older than me (again) so if you see him don’t forget to tell him “Happy Birthday!”

And Booger, I’ll be home all day so if you need to call me for help when you’ve fallen and can’t get up I’ll be happy to come to your rescue. Hee.

Also, if you guys have a minute today, tomorrow, or the next day please go here and vote for my mom (Marilyn - with the butterfly picture). I’d love for her to win this contest and she only has to be one of the top five vote getters so it’s a pretty good chance. I’d appreciate your vote! Thanks!

Dear Julianna,

Yesterday you turned two years and one month old. I almost didn’t write this letter, but I just couldn’t help myself. I started thinking about all that you’ve done over the last month and I wanted to make sure I got it documented somewhere. It still blows my mind how much you can change in one little month!

You now ask to “draw” the ABCs often. This means that you want Mama or Nanna to help you hold the pencil and write the alphabet. You can recognize almost every letter now pretty consistently. I don’t know how you learn so fast. You can be found reading your stories “to the class” almost every day. It’s the most precious thing.

Jules, you’re also officially a member of the Terrible Twos. I frequently think that your behavior could not get any worse. You embarrass me in public by thowing temper tantrums, grabbing things off the grocery store shelves (like that pack of gum you ripped open in haste the other day), and having meltdowns when I tell you it’s time to leave. You slap at our faces when we tell you that it’s time to take a nap. You disobey us pretty regularly by whining and getting down out of your chair or carseat when you know you’re not supposed to. But we know that this is just a learning and testing phase. It helps to know that we will all get past it. We know that you are grasping for some control in your life and we cannot blame you. After all, your Daddy and I are probably THE biggest control freaks in the contintental United States. It also helps to know that we’re going to be paying a friend to come spend time with you for two or three hours a week so that Mommy an get some sanity back work done.

You’ve become quite a little helper this month, Jules. You help mommy make dinner and you help mommy wipe off the counter. You even help clean the toilets! You love to swirl the brush around in the toilet bowl somtimes making a bigger mess than we started with, but helping nonetheless. If I could just keep you from “helping” when I’m not cleaning it would be so nice. And I need to figure out a way to keep you out of the baby wipes. I’m still working on that one.

Just the other day I noticed you going down the stairs without holding on to the railing. You jump and run all the time. You’ve come a long way physically. You’re 37 inches tall and you weigh a little over 30 pounds. You’re still waaaayyy off the charts for height and in the 95th percentile for weight. Your head circumfrence is staying in the 50th percentile. They say that if you double your height at 2 then you’ll get your height as an adult. That would make you 6′4″ tall which is kinda outrageous because I’m only 5′6″, Daddy’s only 5′11′, and there’s hardly many people in our families who are over 6′ tall. Anyway, you’re a growing girl

You are growing the most beautiful blonde hair. I keep waivering back and forth on whether to get it trimmed or not and I always decide not to. It’s pretty easy to pull back. You’ve got the slightest little bit of curl and it’s so pretty. When you wake up from your nap in the afternoon you have these two little wispy curls that stick straight out above each ear. I bury my face in them when I pick you up.

You have your Daddy’s smile. Lucky me. I get to see it every day in him and in you. And ohmygoodness do you love to dance or what?

Untitled from c525600 on Vimeo.

You’ve made a habit of saying, “so-and-so’s my best friend I love him” and filling in the so-and-so with whoever happens to be nearby at that time and you’re quite taken lately with your stuffed animal collection. Each morning you announce, “I wake up! Sun come up!” and then you bring all of your “friends” [stuffed animals from your bedroom] packed in your arms into our bedroom. You struggle to pile them up one by one and call them all your friends. Then later you insist on taking each friend downstairs with you and sometimes even in the car when we leave in the mornings. Your Mamaw gave you a giant stuffed Elmo as a gift one time and you sleep with that thing every night. Among all of your “friends” in your bed each night we sometimes have a little bit of trouble identifying which one is really you. It occasionally reminds me of ET. The funniest nights are those when we check on you and you’re either laying right on top of Elmo (your head on his head, your feet on his feet) or when Daddy comes out of your room and announces that tonight you weren’t laying on Elmo. Instead, Elmo was laying on top of you.

Doodlebug, although I would really, really, really, REALLY love to have you a baby brother or sister on the way, I stop to write letters like these and I realize all over again that you bring so much happiness to our lives that I don’t know how we could have any more. You’ll always be my baby. I love you.

Love,
Mama

Congratulations to Jerri on winning this game/contest/giveaway by a landslide! She obviously knows how to speak some Toddlerese as she managed to get 3 out of the 6 song clips correct. Here were the answers:

1. Up On The House Top (Reindeer Paws)

2. Let’s Clap Hands for Santa Claus (from the Wiggles Christmas Video)

3. Zacheus Was a Wee Little Man (for I’m going to your house today) and Pop Goes the Weasel (All around the mulberry bush the monkey chased the weasel). This clip was interrupted in the middle by some quick dialog about her two favorite stuffed animals, Big Lucy and Little Lucy, and then a quick demanding scream, “Turn my music back on, Mama!”

4. He’s still working on me (Over the mountains and over the sea, back where my heart is longing to be, please let the light that shines on me, shine on the one I love. Repeat.)

5. The Wheels on the Bus – two verses – First: the money on the bus goes clink, clink, clink all through the town, Second: the horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep all through the town

Jerri, you can pick any item from my Etsy shop and I’ll send it to you just for playing. Leave a comment regarding which item you’d like and I’ll get it out to you as soon as possible. Thanks for playing!

Yesterday was a really bad day. It started out with this sewage problem:

combined with a nice, official way for my body to point out that I’m not pregnant (AGAIN),

followed by a toddler who didn’t want to nap,

a late trip to the park to meet a friend that ended up getting cut short because I was late to meet my MIL to drop off said two-year-old.

Not only was I late, but then I got turned around and went the wrong direction for about ten minutes

and then got caught in a five o’clock traffic wreck mess.

——————————–

At least my hubby loves me

(either that or he took pity on me)

and the day ended with this:

and this:

and even better still…. this: