Happy 4

4 years. I can't believe its been that long, but then again when I think of everything we've done in 4 years, it feels like maybe we should have been married for 6 or 7 years by now.

Our best friends (Stacey's and Dansie's) were over for dinner last night and as it is getting close to Christmas, somehow we got on the topic of our first Christmas together. And after recalling mine and Cortney's first Christmas together, I realized (what I already knew) that Cortney was committed to the long haul with me. Seriously. We can put things lightly and say that it was probably the most awful Christmas/Meet-the-Parents weekend/week/hell you could ever imagine. And as I remembering the awfulness, I realized that we had known each other less than 2 months when that happened, and this whole episode would have been a gigantic red flag, but it still didn't seem to phase him that much. And that, my friends, is a miracle. Either that, or his heart must have been seriously twittered for me because no one would have come out of that Christmas and think, "Wow, that was great. I really want to marry this girl and be part of her family."

Sadly, that was just the first of many disasters to come. And he's still with me! When I get overwhelmed (about every 3 weeks in the late evening, you can almost clock it), Cortney is really good at calming me down. A few weeks ago, I was fretting about finishing some repairs on our house and how frustrated I was that I've been meaning to do them for more than 2 months but haven't found the time/keep putting them off/2 kids running round/too dark etc. and he looked me in the eye and said, "I promise, that when our kids are grown and have moved out, you will never regret that you didn't fix the house." And that shut me up real quick. There was no way I could argue with that.

Cortney and I (try) to pride ourselves on the time we spend with the kids. And by that I mean that we spend as much time as possible being with them, doing the things they want to do while not letting our house become something the County Health Department needs to come investigate. Saturday is by far our favorite day of the week because we usually spend all day doing things as a family and we reserve the afternoon to do some specifically that the kids want to do. In the last 3 months, Will has become particularly fond of Cortney and that means that Cortney is NEVER allowed to sleep while Will is awake, because Will wants to play with Cortney every second of everyday. Will wakes up in the morning yelling, "Daddddddddy!" and comes running into our room and drags Cortney out of bed to watch a movie or play trains. My husband works very hard. He's gone quite frequently and has a lot of demands, and I'm sure there is nothing that he wants more than to sleep in till 8:30 or 9 on a Saturday morning, but he has never once complained or even seemed remotely inconvenienced when Will comes and grabs him in the morning. I do not know another father who is so excited to be a dad and he would literally be with the boys all day every day if he could and he would never complain about it.

I also realized this week (among other things) that I really enjoy being a wife. And I think most of the reason why I like being a wife is because Cortney is an extremely easy person to be a wife to. He comes home most days to a) a cluttered house that he had just cleaned the night before b) a somewhat frazzled wife who is trying to cook dinner/nurse/get Will a drink c) a random dinner or a combination of all three. However, the first thing he asks is, "what can I do to help you" and has never once commented on how the house is a mess or that he'll spend an hour cleaning tonight just like he did last night, and the night before. I like to think that I'm a good cook, and some days I am, but some days I'm really not. I don't think it is the wife's job to do all the cooking, but since I like to cook, I think it makes sense for me to do a bulk of it. And let me tell you, I've made some really unappetizing dinners in my time and Cortney NEVER complains. And he always tells me that I'm a really good cook and thanks me for dinner.

Ever since Duke was born, I've been making an increased effort to exercise and get in shape. I do this by waking up really early each morning to go running or go to the gym. Most days I get home from exercising and Cortney has fed Duke, changed him, gotten Will breakfast, and changed his clothes. I always like to think that my kids wake up around 7:30, but the reality it more like 7 and sometimes earlier, meaning less sleep time for Cortney. But again, he never complains and is always really encouraging of my fitness quest. He's not only sacrificing sleep, but he's also sacrificing his own exercise time. He could easily be the one to gets up to go work out but he encourages me to do it instead and lobbies that it give him more time with the boys if he stays home in the mornings.

I'm really thankful for Cortney and all of his imperfections. Cortney told me on our wedding day, "I don't think our marriage will be very romantic, but I can promise it will be a lot of fun" and I can say every year on our anniversary that he definitely held up his end of the bargain.