11 Reasons

Tomorrow is Christian's birthday. Since most of the world is preparing for another big birthday party this time of year, sometimes he gets a little bit forgotten...even by me.  But, this year I've been doing the 12 Days of Christian* for him, in an effort to celebrate him as much as possible.  Today is the 11th Day of Christian, which is supposed to be 11 pipers piping. Well, forget the pipes. 

(With the help of Instagram photos) Here are 11 reasons why I'm so glad Christian was born on a cold December day 28** years ago--and that he is my man forever.

He's thoughtful.

 He shoveled the neighbors' driveway and I didn't so much as hint that he should (let's face it, I hadn't even thought about it until he was half way done).

He's persistent. 

He doesn't let hard things stop him from achieving or in this case having fun.  (I won't say anything about the bum picture. That would embarrass him.)


He's patient.

 He has spent lots of hours holding a sick, sad or tired Rosie.  To say nothing about sick, sad or tired me.

He's loves our little girl.

Rosie loves him.

He's long-suffering. 

As of July (when this picture was taken) Christian had been in "busy season" at work for all but 5 weeks  out of the whole year. While most days I wonder why he works so hard, or rather how he works so hard and still finds it in him to come home with a smile for his girls--in the end I really admire his stamina and ability to work such long hours and long months.

He's smart.  

He buys me pancakes at the end tax season. Not to mention he's really good at Jeopardy and puzzle games on the iPhone.


He's handy.

 He fixes stuff around the house. Did you know not all men are like this? I thank my lucky stars I've got myself a handyman.

He's my cheer-leader (if only he still wore his outfit from high school).

Christian supports me 100 percent in anything I want to pursue--inside or outside of the home.  I could not live without that.

He's a caretaker.

He weeds, mows the lawn, trims bushes, sweeps the porch, gets the mail, picks up after his girls, organizes closets, loads the dishes, oh, and he takes care of me and Rosie too.  

He's forgiving. 

He built me a square-foot garden and didn't hate me when most of our veggies never even flowered...or when I went go over budget, or ask a million questions, or when I plan his entire saturday without even asking, or when I  lost my 3 day railpass in France.

Happy Birthday (tomorrow) Christian!! 

Love, your wife

* In case any of you are wondering what the rest of they days were...

10 mints a minting

9 month supply of chapstick

8 shirts starched and ironed 

7 warmer football games (reusable hand warmer for next season home games)

6 geese a-laying Cadbury mini eggs

5 cold things (fancy drinks in the fridge)

4 calling birds (friends and family called him)

3-D puzzle

2 rosie pictures

1 A fat man in stretchy pants (DVD of Nacho Libre)

**I think you're turning 28...sorry if you're not. I'm really bad with numbers, remember?

The Cake Smash

photos by Heather Pickett Photography

birthday party catch up

Here are few pictures from Rosie's Birthday Picnic. We had family bring their own dinners and we all sat around in our backyard, ate, opened presents and raced inside out of a surprise storm just in time for Rosie to blow out her candle and dig into her cookies and ice cream. Rosie is one loved little girl. But I knew that already!

isn't this a cute invitation? if you want your own, you should visit my etsy shop. oh, it doesn't exist yet. sorry!

Bumps wore his party shirt. So did Rosie!

it's my party and I'll cry if I want to

cousin carter (and uncle Ben)

The party animals! Grandma and Grandpa Mabey came a little later, but everyone else is pictured, I think. 

cousins molly and sarah (and christian wants to tare that swing set down!)

that quilt was my final project for my high school sewing class. it was quite honored to be the gift-opening blanket at rosie's first birthday party. 

Scared inside by the storm

Her actual birth day:

what can i say?

Birthday "cake" smash revisited:

Aunie M and Uncle Joe delivered some birthday fishies (may they RIP).

Grandma and Grandpa Smith couldn't make it to the picnic, so they paid Rosie a special birthday visit the next week.

our baby is one

Is that the strangest thing or what? Strange and fun. You know what else is strange and fun? That I have been a MOM for a whole year. Both things are pretty remarkable.

Anyway...this past month, Rosie has officially chosen walking over crawling. Although her crazy crawl will still come out sometimes. She took her first plane ride to California, ate lots of sand and looked super cute in her swim suit. Her newest trick--telling people how old she is--is quite the crowd-pleaser.  Her hair is still red in the sun its getting curlier by the day. She's in the 1 percentile for weight and 17th for height, so she's still tiny. She likes to feed herself with a spoon and a fork. Although it makes for very messy meal times. She has become fascinated with our tomato plants and sometimes she will eat them like crazy. Other days she won't have anything to do with them. She still loves doggies and any type of animal--breathing or stuffed. Piggy is still her favorite. Here are a few pictures from our California trip. Stay tuned for birthday celebrations :)