I actually just don’t want to talk about this week. I’ll write a post later, but for now I’m pretty done.

Sunday:

He did this for like 20 minutes

Happy Anniversary Dinner

Very happy cat-dog

Monday:

Seaport camp!

I’m not sure I should trust this obstetrician. Did you even go to medical school?

So blonde

Tuesday:

There was a LOT of sleeping this week

The penguin exhibit has air conditioning

I promise that is a happy smile

Wednesday:

That face is because there are a LOT of Pokemon at the Seaport

He’s going to miss the cat-dog

Baby photo session editing

Thursday:

On a boat

Only cats sit on the back of the couch like that

Destroying my room, but at least there’s AC up here

Friday:

RIP minivan

Very excited about lemonade

Evan is now at the age where he does this in pictures. Horray.

Saturday:

Lounging before piano lessons

10:30 am, 85 degrees in the shade

Car shopping with three kids is the worst

I am 38 weeks pregnant and very, very miserable. I would like to just nap and/or float for the rest of the summer, but these kids keep insisting they need “food” and “clean clothes” and other nonsense. At least all our summer activities are done so we don’t actually HAVE to be anywhere and I can just take them to the lake and feed them bagels.

Every once in a while we get a day together as a family where we DON’T have anything planned but still manage to get ourselves out of the house and into the real world. It’s incredibly rare and easy to scare away if I start saying things like “Have you heard about this place in Maine?” or “I found out about this beach down I-95…” or “SHOPPING”. If I can balance my desire to do ALL THE THINGS with my hard-working husband’s desire to do NONE OF THE THINGS we get a unicorn day.  The trick is…this was all in town. We never went more than 3 miles from our house.

It’s amazing we’ve managed to find enough balance in the past 9 years to stay married. Nine years (and one day) and two gingers and more perfect days to come.

Warning: One bazillion photos to follow.

I love this life <3

Today is my 8 year wedding anniversary, which means I have a completely legitimate excuse to post wedding pictures!

Remember, in 2004 most fancy photographers were still shooting with film, so excuse the quality. You’d think having 2 kids and a minivan would make me feel old but thinking about film – FILM! – pushed me right over the edge. Excuse me while I go cry into a pillow.

In my head, we’re the kind of super romantic people who take balloon rides and drink champagne at sunset and buy each other extravagant gifts for our anniversary. In real life, I usually remember to buy a card and E usually remembers to say “Happy Anniversary” at about 11:28 pm. This year, I’m sick and E is working so our entire celebration will probably consist of watching the Olympics for 10 minutes before we both pass out. Last night he helped me clean out the bottom layer of dog hair and juice residue from the bottom of the toy box.

And you know what? I’m totally OK with that. Obviously I would love an all expenses paid vacation to a private island (we’d bring the kids AND a nanny) to celebrate but the fact that I still think “Hey, this guy’s pretty awesome” after spending almost a decade together is cool too. Sometimes love isn’t so much about romance and flowers as it is about having someone to complain to about your crappy day and knowing they actually care.

Happy Anniversary E! I’m so glad we’re on this adventure together, even when it’s more like a Griswold family vacation than Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.

Today is my 7th wedding anniversary. According to Wikipedia, the traditional gifts are copper, wool or a nice pen set. Instead of any of those, I gave my husband the gift of 2 babies – one of which refuses to eat from anything but my body – to single parent for four days while I went to California to party like a rock star. I won’t be surprised if he shows up at the airport tonight with his own one-way plane ticket to a dessert island far far away from groin-punching toddlers, teethy biting babies and dogs who are trying to shed themselves hairless. I wouldn’t blame him in the slightest.

But despite my jokes, I know he WILL be there tonight, with two happy and fed and clean and dressed and safe children who he loves and who love him. As much as I rolls his eyes (I swear they’re going to fall right out of his head) when I talk about blogging, he knows it’s important to me and so he supports me. The same way he supports me on the days he comes home from work and I’m lying on the floor covered in babies and practically in tears because all I want is FIVE MINUTES OF PERSONAL SPACE OMG so he sweeps the children up and away before he even takes off his uniform. The same way he supports our whole family by recommitting to serve his country twice, even though I know he sometimes dreams of civilian life. He is consistent and steadfast and strong and honest and just a really, really good guy who lets me write about (and complain about) him on the internet.

And tonight I will be exhausted and grumpy and dirty and hungry and want nothing more than to just hug everyone and then crash for 12 hours. Luckily, E took Monday off to help me recover (and vice versa).

I think I owe him a REALLY NICE pen set.

Obligatory wedding pictures (taken in the stone age on actual film, before everyone used digital)(that I’m pretty sure I’ve posted before) for the anniversary:

Happy 7th Anniversary, Evan. I wouldn’t take back one second of it.

Happy Anniversary E! I can’t believe we’ve been married for four whole years. It seems like only yesterday I was watching you across that dance hall, hoping you’d stop hitting on the slutty waitress long enough to take me home and get me drunk. You’re the best husband a girl could ask for and I love you even more today than on our wedding day.

p.s. Thanks for the flowers. I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything, I sort of figured carrying your child for 9 months pretty much covered the next dozen gift-giving occasions. XOXO