I tend to ramble on and on about my motherly duties and how tiring they can be, after all the blog is called Staying Home Mommy. But I don’t mention the man standing beside me through it all. A lot of times he gets left out in the stories as if he wasn’t there, but the truth is, most of the time I wouldn’t have made it through the day without him.
This weekend, EASTER WEEKEND, every single person in our house came down with the nastiest stomach bug. It started with one of the twins, then moved to the other. They were both fine for a day and then BAM! Older brother and both parents woke up sick the following morning. It wasn’t until this happened that I was more thankful than usual for the man next to me.
I can handle poop like its nothing. It does not phase me in any way, not the smell or look of it. After having 3 kids I think I’ve become pretty immune to it. But puke I cannot handle. I would rather change 6 billion diapers than have to clean up one puke mess. My husband is total opposite. He cannot handle poop but does puke like a champ. It was this weekend that I realized we made the PERFECT team. We had all the bases covered and the weekend went pretty smoothly despite it.
Sometimes I feel like dads get overlooked. Household duties tend to fall on the mother. Diapering, changing, cleaning, clothing, all of that is a “mothers” job. That is not how it works in our house. My husband and I share the duties equally. I cook dinner, he plays with the kids. He gives the kids a bath while I get clothes and milk ready. We play as a family and put them to bed together. We take turns getting up with them on the weekends and split all diaper duty. He is not your average man and I am so thankful for that. He is not afraid to get his hands dirty or to clean up. He has mastered folding laundry (when we met his mother would even pack his overnight bags for him!), he doesn’t mind cooking, and he loves to play with our children more than anything.
We actually don’t have a lot of friends because we are not the normal couples our age. We have been invited out to party and things and he will respectfully turn them down because he is a man that wants to spend time with his family. Now don’t get me wrong, he does like a beer every now and then but he usually will wait until all the children are asleep and cuddle with me on the couch beer in hand. Its just what works for us. Its not the norm anymore for men to WANT to be around their families. He has lost his best high school friend for this very reason. Both men have grown up, gotten jobs, and grew their own families. My husbands best friend likes to go out on the weekends and drink with his friends, leaving his wife alone to fend for herself. She does all the cooking, cleaning, shopping, and caring for the children alone. Our family is complete opposite of this.
My husband just two weeks ago had a vasectomy. We are pregnant with baby #4 and knew long before now that we did not want any more so he had the procedure done. Now I’m not sure if any of you know that goes but after the procedure he was instructed to rest for 3 days with little to no physical activity. That weekend just so happened to fall on our grocery shopping weekend (we only shop every two weeks). I was going to pack up all three kids and go by myself. It wasn’t a huge deal to me. I actually wanted to give him some down time to relax a little, we all know he needs it every now and then. But he refused. Such a stubborn man he can be. Shopping is a family affair and he did not want to miss it despite my pleading. At that moment it made me quite angry. After all, who didn’t want to sit in peace and quite for a few hours? I know I sure would sometimes! But not him. He wanted to be where his family was.
Its just little things like this that make me realize how truly blessed I am to have found a man so family oriented. They are far and few between for sure. He does a lot for us and a lot of times goes without thanks. So I want to stop and take a minute to thank the man that is the glue to this crazy family. Without him I am not sure what we would do.
So my awesome husband, thank you for providing, caring, loving, and being involved. Thank you for all the things you do that most of the time go unnoticed. Thank you for working hard and putting us first. Thank you for cleaning puke, wiping little noses, and kissing booboos, those seen and unseen. Thank you for being everything a man should be and so much more. We love you more than words can describe. Oh! And thank you for putting the toilet paper roll on the right way and the toilet seat down even if I am the only girl in the house right now. 🙂
To all the men out there who are not scared to get down and dirty and do “womens work”, I commend you! The world needs more men like you!
Much Love,
SHM
Staying Home Mommy 