Meet my Prince Charming

I know that blogs are really all about people bragging about how great their lives are (when in reality, they only tell the good and the days they don't blog or don't have much to say are the days when they are swearing at their kids, burning the Hamburger Helper and turning on Dora the Explorer and calling it Pre-school). I try really hard to not be amongst this group of bloggers, but sometimes things happen that make you want to tell everyone just how fabulous you have life.

I really slacked in cleaning the house today. I tried to do dishes until Rowan pulled a KNIFE out of the silverware rack and I called that duty quits until naptime. I tried to straighten the living room, but Niev and Rowan pulled out more toys than I could put away. Niev was also yelling at me the whole time telling me that those were her toys and she was playing with them. I tried to fix delicious meals, but I was just too tired. I tried to be a good mom, but then my sister called. Sorry, when there is a new baby in the family it kind of takes precedence. Plus I was avoiding doing all previously mentioned tasks. I did manage to take Niev to storytime today and even had Rowan in tow. This rarely happens because my husband works from home so I can put Rowan down for a nap and then leave Rowan with Ian with a monitor (you should all try having your husband work from home. It is great. I highly recommend it!) So in that realm I really felt accomplished. But I had a meeting tonight and when I left the house, it was a disaster. I mean dishes everywhere, toys strewn about, dinner still needing to be put away, floors littered with everything imaginable (and a few things you probably didn't want to imagine!).

Enter Prince Charming...

I come home from my meeting and the floors are vacuumed, dishes are done, house is completely straightened, closet doors are back on their hinges!, a load of laundry has been done!, dishes have been put away!, our bedroom is clean! I am speechless. I knew I married good, but this is insane. I love my husband and his unselfishness. He had tasks he wanted to get done tonight. He had an agenda, but he put it all aside for me. For this, I am eternally grateful. He is so thoughtful. Thank you Ian for always making my life so much easier (and way more FUN!).

two more reasons why I love him

MIA from the internet world, back in time for Halloween

Yes, I do realize that I haven't posted for almost two months, but I'm pregnant. Doesn't that cover anything you are lame about doing?

I will first tell you that my husband is amazing a did a really great job in Brazil. He was very nervous about his presentation, because he was the only English presenter of the entire art conference. Luckily, they translated through headphones so the feedback was pretty immediate. He got several compliments (one girl paid for the conference just to hear Ian--she had been following his work for quite some time!) and many people told him that he really saved the conference for them. They said that most of the speakers either talked over their heads or were giving useless information, but Ian was funny, personable and gave great tips/hints/ideas of how to make their talents useful. We were very glad to see him get home safe though. Niev was shocked when he would be in the same house as her and exclaim, "DADDY!" as if to say, "What the crap are YOU doing here?!?!"

I enjoyed spending time with my family and learning how to be a real Mormon mom: canning pears, peaches, jam while cleaning my mom's house and of course eating out with Mom and Grandma. I have realized that my mom is a powerhouse and works all day. Every day I was there she definitely outworked me, but I'm pregnant, right? Don't worry that my mom is well into her 60's and can pile drive me into the ground.

Ian and I had been talking about having Niev be a dinosaur for Halloween. We have this philosophy that Halloween costumes should totally be creative, homemade, and something random/fun/interesting. I had read somewhere last year about doing a dinosaur and cutting sponges for the spikes on the back. I thought, "I can do that!" Come to find out, it is a lot harder making a costume than anyone would have you believe! I hope Niev appreciates all the work that went into it. My mom helped me sew the tail and Ian helped out quite a bit. (I do have a great husband.) He did the eyes and the teeth. She turned out pretty cute, but the tail needed to be a bit higher on the costume, but I was too lazy to rip one of the sponges off of her back. So here she is...our Niev-osaur...drum roll please!
I was nervous that she wasn't going to keep the hood on (as you can see she has gained a bit of an attitude), but as soon as we told her she had to keep the "hat" on if she wanted to go T-O-T, she was more than willing! It was fun to watch her.

Ian thought it was hilarious that the dinosaur was actually eating Niev!

We went trunk-or-treating at our church building (which she had a sneak-peek at when we were in Atlanta--another post another time!) so she recognized how this should go. Every car that we stopped at she would say, "Trick or teet" and then quickly say "tank ooo" because she knew mom would take away some of her candy. Anytime anyone would just drop the candy into her bag, she would reach in until she felt candy, just to make sure that she really did get some! She had a great time!

Niev and her friend, Olivia, who we do MANY playdates with!

Thanks Grandma Weber for making the perfect Trick-or-Treating bag/pillowcase! She got TONS of loot!

Now I am married to an old fart

Today is Ian's 28 birthday. Can I just tell you how hard it is to be married to an artist? Creative things just seem to ooze out of him where as for me they are a struggle and something I stress over for as long as I know about them. And of course, what does Ian want for his birthday? A cake that requires me to be creative.

For Mother's Day, Ian bought me a quilt for Niev's big-girl bed. It has an alien theme which you might be thinking, "Okay, that is really bizarre and next you will be dressing up Niev as a gothic maiden", but seriously it is really cute. Ian and I both thought this could make a really fun kid's room.Back to Ian's birthday...he wanted one of the aliens on his cake. Now you have to understand for most moms who quilt, cook, sew and can get any stain out of clothes, this would be...a piece of cake. I am not one of those moms. When I was teaching, Ian had to come to my classroom and do my bulletin boards so that they looked good (and of course I left them the same all year long!). I am not one for presentation. Who cares what dinner looks like as long as it tastes good! (Please forgive me, Melinda, I know this goes against everything you stand for!) I stressed about what to do with his cake from the moment I was told about it until I got it done this morning. I had never done a REAL birthday cake. Remember Niev's???
And I was pretty excited about her cake and how well it turned out (for me and my skills!). Anyway, I knew Melissa (my sister) would understand my conundrum and would empathize with me and the demands of my husband. Her words--"Does he understand what a tall order this is?" Exactly the right thing to say! As soon as Niev was down for her morning nap, I set to work. Voila!
I do have to say, I am pretty proud of myself!!! I was almost in tears when I saw the finished product because I knew Ian would be so proud of me.

For the record, he did tell me last night that I didn't HAVE to make a "special" cake for his birthday. But how could I disappoint a man on his birthday! And I knew it would make him super proud and very happy.

Enough about me. Ian is a fantastic father. He plays with Niev so well and has so much more energy (and patience) with her than I do. I feel so blessed to have him as my husband, best buddy and greatest love. He truly has made me so happy being married to him these two and half years. He is a hard worker, a great provider and a fabulous confidant. My greatest times are spent talking to him and making each other laugh until tears are running down our faces. I look forward to many more birthdays together. I hope you always know how much I love you and adore you, Ian!