Every so often it’s a good thing to pause and tell our loved ones how we feel. This is all about Mike, my husband and father of our two kids and a whole bunch of reasons why I think he’s an awesome dad and husband.

It started long, long ago before we had kids, before we were married, about 15 years ago when I convinced you that we should leave our jobs and go on a road trip across Canada and the northern United States in your crappy K-car. It was on that trip, somewhere in the middle of Pennsylvania that I turned to you while you were driving and said, “I wanna have your baby some day.”

Years later, after loads of crazy adventures & experiences I realized that you were truly my rock. My mom died. Your patience and unwaivering devotion and support during my epic grieving…. I knew you were a keeper.

Then we decided to multiply. And you came to 100% of my prenatal appointments and you supported my desire to have a homebirth with midwives and you supported my wish to have a doula present. You did the research. You read the books. Knowing that while this was the birth of OUR child, this was MY body’s experience and my deep, deep desire to envelope the birthing room with positivity and trust in my ability to give birth. Thank you for helping to make that possible- twice.

Then when breastfeeding really sucked for a while there, you stayed by me, supporting me in my wish to breastfeed our baby. You knew I could do it, even when I wanted to hand you the baby and run far, far away, yelling, “Good luck with that!”

So I’d like to thank you, for putting family first, for taking night time wake-up calls from the kids (unless breastfeeding is required or there’s vomit involved- those are my jobs) for taking time off work to help me prevent post partum depression the second time around, for reading to the kids every day, for playing road hockey with our son when you’d rather be vegging on the couch after work, for being a human trampoline for hours on end with our two little monkeys and for wearing a feather boa if that is what our daughter requires of you.

You are my hero and an inspiration!

Happy Fathers Day!

Love Shirley

Originally posted by an exhibitor of the Vancouver Island Baby Fair, Cristi Lundman of HuckleBerry Baby Shop

Car Conversations: Courtship Camp

Tonight, I am definitely posting something different.  I recently shared this with friends on Facebook.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it to such an extent, that I am going to share it on this blog as well.  What follows was a conversation I had with my seven-year-old as we drove from the post office to Huckleberry Baby Shop yesterday.  Often vehicular discourses with our children can be the most revealing and entertaining of any conversations we have with them in a day.  What follows is a prime example:

Olivia: Mommy was there anything in the mailbox for me?

Me: No, just some bills for me.

Olivia: What about for Daddy?

Me: No, but he can share the bills with me. That’s what married people do.

Olivia: They share a bed too right?

Me: That’s right.

Olivia: That would not be good if the man was a really loud snorer. A woman should get to sneak in and listen to a man sleeping before she marries him. Hmmm. They should make a marriage camp that ladies can go to to pick out a husband. The men would have to go to stations and wear name tags so that the women could remember who the men were when they moved to the next station.

Me: That’s an interesting idea. What would take place at each station?

Olivia: The first station would be a sleeping station so that the woman could find out if the man snored loudly. It would be really hard to sleep and share a bed if he was a really loud snorer.
The next station would be an eating station. You would not want to marry a really sloppy eater.
After that, they would go to the bathroom station to check and see if they were very very stinky in the bathroom.
After that would be the waiting station. The man would have to sit for a very long time and the woman could watch him to see if he was patient.
The last station would be the love station. It would take place in a room decorated with pink hearts. The men would lay around on pink couches and the woman could look at them to see if she loved them.

Me: What about the men? Would they get to choose which women they loved?

Olivia: Yep. They could raise their arm on the couch and wave and yell, “Hey woman. I love you!”
The last part would be the pick-up area where the woman would get to pick up the man she chose. They would leave together to go plan their wedding.

Ideal courtship, according to Olivia, age seven!