My Husband Rocks Friday: The He Rubs My Feet Edition

There's nothing like a good foot rub. And let me tell you, there's nothing like a man who rubs your feet. Really. Yes, I love chocolate and cake and cookies, but sometimes a good foot rub is better. (See that, Husband, the word sometimes?)

I'm a very lucky girl. When I was pregnant with my munchkin, my husband rubbed my feet a lot. In fact, he ultimately kind of wound up in charge of taking care of my feet, once I could no longer see them. He even painted my toenails a few times (and I hate to admit it, but he did a pretty awesome job). After Baby was born, I was eager for the foot loving to continue, so I just continued to deposit my feet in Husband's lap at regular intervals. After all, I was a new mom, tired and often overwhelmed, and the foot rubs were often very relaxing.

Fast-forward to Baby verging on his seventeen-month-a-birthday in a few days, and the foot rubs are still a part of our regular habit. Sometimes I'm super lucky, and I can get one every day. Sometimes I'm not as lucky, and Husband will go away for weeks at a time, and my feet with atrophy with the lack of attention (perhaps I'm exaggerating here). Either way, though, I think it's pretty darn awesome that my husband rubs my feet. Especially since I don't rub his back. And for good reason - my hands are really wimpy when it comes to massaging. They're pathetic. So instead I do nice things like bake oatmeal cookies for my husband or buy him birthday cake flavored ice cream from Publix. I think that's pretty fair, right?

My Husband Rocks Friday: The Painting Edition

I know you all realize that my husband totally rocks at this point - I mean, I've been blogging about him for several weeks now. Yesterday, though, he reminded me of one really good reason why he rocks: he paints.

When we moved into our house (our very first house) six years ago, the colors on the walls were hideous. Various shades of Pepto-Bismal pink (and I'm a fan of pink), blood red in one of the bedrooms, and hideous wallpaper in various formations throughout the house.

See? I'm not kidding!

My husband, patient man that he is, tore down three layers of poorly hung wallpaper in my kitchen, and wallpaper borders in just about every other room of the house (except the bathrooms, we haven't tackled those yet). And he did it, mostly, with a smile. Meanwhile, I went to Home Depot, and picked out pretty, pretty colors to go on the walls. A light sage green in the dining room, a nice pale blue in the bedroom, a nice pale yellow in the guest room, pale pink in the "third" bedroom (it's attached to the master, so it's not really a separate bedroom), and I completely forget what color we painted the living room, but the kitchen would be blue. I did most of the painting, while Husband steamed and tore and peeled at the darn wallpaper. I was glad I wasn't doing the wallpaper work. I was so proud when we were done. Doing all that work really made it feel like our house.

But then, not too long before I got pregnant, while Husband was out of town, I decided I hated most of the paint in the house. (I guess I was pre-hormonal or something.) I took myself back over to Home Depot, picked out a bunch of paint, and brought home several gallons. I painted most of the bedroom (while not moving the furniture) a deep tan color called Stone Brown, I painted the living room Washed Denim (which was not as dark a blue as it sounds), and I painted the dining room a deeper shade of green. Husband of course came home and was confused, but amused by my painting project. He helped me move the rest of the bedroom furniture so I could finish painting.

But the paint doesn't end there! Nope, while I was about seven months pregnant and away on a business trip, Husband painted Baby's room the exact shade of blue to match the wallpaper border we planned to put up in there. I know, I'm fully against wallpaper...except in kids' rooms. Borders can look kind of cute, I think. He not only painted the whole room, including the closet door and doors to the room, but he also put the wallpaper up. Very impressive. He also painted the master bedroom the shade of brown I'd bought for the guest bedroom a while back, which I'd been wanting to do. How awesome is that?

Unfortunately for us, that's not all. We decided after Baby was born that we needed to look into selling our house and getting something larger, just before the housing market totally fell apart. Our realtor took one look at the house and insisted we paint the blue living room and kitchen and green dining room a more neutral beige. We obliged, even though we had a baby to take care of, and painted during naptimes for a whole weekend and managed to do it. Phew.

Husband has been my painting slave over these last six years, either prepping walls for painting or doing the painting himself, and yesterday, when I put our brand new duvet set on the bed and realized we were going to need to paint the bedroom a lighter color to match, I was a little afraid to tell him. I'm happy to do it, but I didn't want to hear the griping about just having painted the room last year. So I told him over dinner, while he had a happy, full belly, and what did he say?

"Honey, I'll paint it, it's no big deal."

See? This is a wonderful man, and I'm very lucky. Plus, he's also letting me go out tonight for a girls' night out at the best pizza place in town (I'm so looking forward to it!). Don't forget, you can share about how awesome your husband is to and join in the My Husband Rocks Friday fun over at The Great Adventure. Happy Friday all!

My Husband Rocks Friday: The He's Home Edition

I know, I took last week off from writing about how my husband rocks, but I'm back this week. Husband came home last night from his work trip, and appears to be home for (seemingly) a while, which is a super relief. I hate when he's traveling. Although, when he's traveling, it often makes me realize how much he does to help me out. Baby's been difficult, though, so it's been hard to keep a level head and not be upset that I've been dealing with him all on my own.

So, why does my husband rock this week? Well, my house is in need of a serious deep clean, which is really hard to do when you've got a baby like mine, who is horribly desperate for you to watch him do everything (not to mention who finds ways to get into trouble in perfectly babyproofed areas). Baby gets awfully upset if I step away from him to dust an end table or wipe off a counter. He's a smidge impatient (wonder where he got that from...). So today, Husband is going to take the little munchkin off my hands - at least for the morning. I will get to attempt to pretend that I am not a mommy for a few hours so I can clean my house the way it needs to be cleaned. Now that's not to say that Baby will be onboard with this plan. He will probably scream and wail, but I plan to put on some headphones and to try to not let it upset me if he cries when I leave him alone with his dad to scrub the toilet. I mean, seriously, I almost think I'd rather be with my tempermental toddler than to scrub my toilet, but I know it needs to be done. If only I could afford a cleaning person, that would be so ridiculously awesome. I think I'm going to ask for one for Christmas, actually.

So, dear readers, what did your husbands or boyfriends or significant others do this week to endear themselves to you? Or what did they do to get into the doghouse? Tell me all about it, and don't forget you can join in on the My Husband Rocks Friday fun over at The Great Adventure.

My Husband Rocks Friday: The Father's Day Edition

It's Father's Day this Sunday, and being a father is one of the biggest roles Husband has, outside of being my husband, so I thought today for MHR Friday, I would ask Baby why he thinks his daddy rocks. Here's are the top 10 reasons Baby's Daddy rocks, in no particular order:

1. My daddy rocks because he carries me around on his shoulders and pretends he can't see me, and asks "Where's Baby?" until I lean down and make my presence known. Silly Daddy.
2. My daddy rocks because he's the one who started to let me use silverware - Mommy was too nervous.
3. My daddy rocks because he chases me all the time.
4. My daddy rocks because he gives the best baths ever.
5. My daddy rocks because he works so hard to take care of Mommy and me.
6. My daddy rocks because he's always laid back, even when Mommy's all high strung.
7. My daddy rocks because he gives the best bear hugs.
8. My daddy rocks because he sometimes lets me bang on his computer. Mostly when he's not looking.
9. My daddy rocks because lets me chew on his kntited coaster.
10. My daddy rocks because he's my daddy. He's awesome!

So there you have it, another edition of My Husband Rocks Friday. BTW, did Friday sneak up on anyone else other than me??? If you want to participate in My Husband Rocks Friday, make sure to visit The Great Adventure.

My Husband Rocks Friday: The Messy Baby Patrol Edition

Dude, how did it get to be Friday already? Where the heck did this week go? I had planned to post a recipe for peanut butter cookies this week. Oh well, I'll do it today, so stay tuned for a yummy peanut butter cookie recipe.

So it's time to talk about Husband again. Already. He's finally home from his last business trip, which is nice, although he was working late for most of this week and getting up at the ungodly hour of 5 am (which is earlier than even I get up, and I get up early). That was not so fun. But, this week, we've finally established the habit of having family dinners every night with Baby, which has been really nice (and not at the same time).

My husband rocks because he is more than happy to take over with Baby when I get to my breaking point. My breaking point often involves food. Baby is going on 16 months old, and is not very good with utensils yet. He tends to dive into food with his hands, which leads me to respond "Eww, gross!" and freak out. That's when Husband steps in (if he hasn't already), and continues the feeding process.

Take last night for example - we sat down to dinner mere moments after he got home from work, and he sat right down with Baby and started cutting up his food and placing it on his tray. We don't bother with plates yet, because Baby just upends them and makes an even bigger mess. Baby had a pile of mashed potatoes that he grabbed and they totally took over his fist. He thought this was pretty cool. He then shoved said fist into his mouth, and wads of mashed potatoes fell all over the place. Same with the meatloaf, which kept falling apart on its own, so he'd grab a piece, bring it to his mouth and it would disintegrate. I totally had to get out the Dirt Devil after this meal. But while I was cringing, Husband was taking it all in stride and was totally at ease with the royal mess Baby was making.

I've always envied that - Husband's ability to be totally calm in most, if not all, stressful situations. At the very least, he appears calm at those moments. Me, on the other hand, not so much. I tend to overreact. That's just me. I'm also the one who flips out when Baby isn't sleeping when he should be and when he isn't doing something the parenting books say he should be, so I guess those are just the parenting roles that we've taken on. Either way, I think he totally rocks as a dad. He's so awesome with Baby. Sometimes I'm jealous of the fun he has with him.

How does your husband rock this week? Make sure to visit The Great Adventure to participate!

My Husband Rocks Friday: The PMS Edition

Sometimes I can be...well...a little bit moody. OK, maybe a lot moody. Especially when it comes to that time of the month. I've tried lots of different remedies over the years, so it seems I am somewhat doomed to suffer PMS in some way shape or form. These days, it's the mood swings usually that really get me. Or the cramps. Or both. OK, OK, enough TMI...you get the picture...moving on...

Poor Husband, he's just come home from being out of town for almost three weeks. And I am so not fun to be around right now. I'm sure he's wishing he could head out on another business trip ASAP. I'm totally in the throes of some pretty severe PMS mood swings. Not to mention that I didn't even cook him a nice, homecooked meal because I was too busy pouting that I didn't have enough time to put together a nice meal by the time he came home. I then proceeded to pout through our dinner out and about, which I'm sure made him have such a super time. Baby was not exactly the most fun dinner companion either, so I'm sure Husband had to be wondering what on Earth he came home to.

But does this man complain? Does he ask me that awful question - "Is it that time of the month?" Nope, he just grins and bears it. He grabs my shoulders and squeezes them, trying to relax me (if only it were that easy). He hugs me and gives me sweet kisses. Have I mentioned that this man is sometimes a saint for putting up with me (most of the time)?

You know, part of me wonders what this My Husband Rocks business is doing to his ego, given that he reads on my blog every Friday about one thing that I adore about him. I suppose it's good, in a way, because in general, we certainly don't tell people enough that we love them - life gets in the way. This way, at least once a week, I get to focus on my marriage and give thanks to the guy that's put up with me for almost nine years now. (Longer than that, really, since we were friends first, but still.) So for now, I think I will keep singing his praises...unless some Friday catches me in a nasty mood or something. :) Happy Friday everyone!

My husband rocks Friday

Wow, hard to believe it's Friday again already - and not, at the same time. It's been a kind of long week over here in no-Husband land. I think I've got at least one more Friday before he's back in town, and wow, we're really starting to miss him over here. Sure, sometimes it's nice to get to be alone after putting Baby to bed - you know, have some calm, quiet time - but night after night, it gets kind of old. Not to mention that when there's no one else around to help me with Baby (and he's awfully demanding right now), it kind of takes a lot out of me. It takes some serious energy to not just go to bed when he goes to bed.

Anyway, it's hard to have good MHR stories when Husband's away. So that forces me to rely on what few memory cells I have left, with my mommy brain, and recall some incident where he rocked. The one that stands out to me this morning is that this man changes the cat litter. Always.
I think it kind of started with my pregnancy - when women aren't supposed to be near cat litter for fear of some kind of gross cat-related disease. I seem to recall taking turns (sort of) with the cat litter. But then, I got pregnant, and Husband was on kitty litter duty. And it's not like we have the kind of cats who can have their litter changed every other day - no, we have prissy cats. They need daily litter changes. Fun stuff. To this day, Husband changes the cat litter every morning when he's home. No complaints, he just does it. Then, when Husband goes out of town, I have to deal with it, and I get grumpy about it, because I have somehow turned into my mother. My mother has always said to me "Rather have a kid" when I complain about my neurotic animals. Well, I've finally joined her, at least when it comes to the cats. I love our cats, don't get me wrong, but definitely in a different, more mellow way now that I have a child. Maybe it's because Baby doesn't puke all over the house like the cats do. Those cats could make having hairballs and vomiting Olympic sport - it's awful. Husband generally cleans up all of those messes when he's home too. How awesome is that?

I never thought little things like that would impress me, but they do - especially since I can't seem to perform any of those tasks without at least some complaining. Shocking, I know. I'm counting down the days before I can relinquish these lovely duties back to Husband for a while.

Hey, you cat mommies - do you have an electric litter box? You know, the kind that cleans up after your cat for you? Does it work well? Would you recommend them? We've thought about them several times, but not knowing anyone who has one, we're not sure they're worth the hefty price tag, so tell me what you think!

My husband rocks Friday!

How did it get to be Friday again already? I really didn't feel like the week was flying by until today. Husband has been gone since Monday, and while I do miss him dearly, I also have sort of enjoyed the time alone to read and watch movies/shows he doesn't particularly care for. Last night I even turned on my old PlayStation 2 for the first time in years to play one of my favorite old school games, Ratchet and Clank. Think Super Mario for the new generation (though Super Mario is still superior, in my book).

It was kind of tough today to come up with a reason that my husband rocks, with him being away, so I figured that whatever I missed most about him would be a good thing to start with. That would easily be his dishwashing abilities. He used to be a big-time, major cleaner when we were first dating. His apartment was always spotless, despite the fact that he had a cat who tended to yank her own hair out in chunks. He would dust regularly, vacuum regularly and wash all his dishes. When we moved in together, most of the cleaning fell to me, but he kept washing the dishes. Which is a good thing, considering how messy I am in the kitchen.

You know the old saying about how girls marry their fathers? Well, my dad was the dishwasher when I was growing up too. Mom would make a holy terror of a mess in the kitchen and Dad would clean it up happily, no grumbling, although a few snide comments might make it out every Thanksgiving (the mess to end all messes). My husband is the same way - he will occasionally make remarks about the messes I make, but he still cleans them up. So right now, I'm missing that.
Sure, I have a dishwasher, but most of my pots and pans are not dishwasher-friendly (boo!). I am not the world's best handwasher, I tend to not scrub hard enough or something, because the stuff I wash never seems as clean as the stuff Husband washes. As a result, I'm using a lot of paper towels - cuts down on the dishes. Well, it does a little, I guess. There's no such thing as a paper mixing bowl yet (or is there??), so I've still got prep dishes to wash. In fact, the dishes are starting to pile up, so I better tend to them today. Argh. I hate washing dishes. Always have. Husband, I miss you! (And trust me, I miss you for other, way better reasons too, but this is the first one that popped in my head!)

My Husband Rocks Friday: The I'm-a-Brat Edition

To be honest, I'm not as psyched today about posting about how much my husband rocks. While he does in fact rock, this week I'm not his biggest fan. His work has kind of taken him over this week, and every time he's home, it's like he's a book on loan from the library. Like he's not entirely mine. He's been working late most nights, and then staying up late after I go to bed to work some more from home. Seriously. I hate this. I totally understand that it's necessary, it's part of his line of work, but at the same time, it infuriates me and frustrates me to no end. Intellectually, I know that he's ultimately doing all of this for his family, to provide for us. But that doesn't stop me from being petty and selfish and wanting him to come home at the same time every night and all that.

I think the thing that really gets me is that I don't feel like he feels conflicted about the working late - like that he doesn't mind that it takes him away from his family. I know those feelings aren't productive, but they would at least tell me that his family is still important to him. We hashed all this out this week (again), and I told him that, and he told me that of course we're important to him. That he'd much rather be home with us than at work. But that he feels like those feelings don't do him any good, so he doesn't give them a voice. I told him that it'd be nice to hear it every now and again.

So, I guess the reason my husband rocks this week is because he puts up with my selfish demands on his time, and my dramatic sighs and eye rolling when he tells me he has to work late. He rocks because he doesn't get upset that I'm upset with something that he can't really change - he understands my frustration and does sweet things like pour me a glass of soda while I put Baby to bed so I can sit and relax when I'm done. I really don't deserve him.

So tell me, does your husband rock? Don't forget, you can join in on the My Husband Rocks Friday fun over at The Great Adventure.

My husband rocks!

Have you ever heard of My Husband Rocks Fridays (also known as MHR Fridays)? I happened to come across it last weekend, hosted over at The Great Adventure, and wrote it on my calendar to make sure I celebrated it this week, because my husband does indeed rock. Note to husband: I am not doing this just because I know you're finally reading my blog again.

So let's see - why does my husband rock this week? The most immediate example that comes to mind is that my husband sat through (as he does religiously now) two whole episodes of "America's Next Top Model" last night. Not only that, but he enjoys it. He hollers out "Tyra Mail" in a geeky voice when the girls get a note from Tyra.
He's always rooting for the underdog girls (or in this season, the one girl who had a tie to NASCAR, Kortnie, who is apparently an ex of Dale Earnhardt Jr.). It's just so sweet. Not only that, but he thanks me for making dinner. For doing my job as a wife. And even when it's something as no-frills as pancakes, he always makes a big deal about it like it's some kind of five-course gourmet meal. He makes me feel good. Can't beat that!

To read more stories of rockin' husbands, visit the My Husband Rocks blogroll, and don't forget to join in!