Anniversary

Our 9-year anniversary today started off a little crazy at 3 a.m.  Hayden woke up, and on my way to check on her, I nearly tripped over Jax who was sound asleep next to my bed.  Why or when he decided to get out of his bed, come downstairs and curl up on our floor, I'll never know.  Anyway, I didn't want Hayden to continue to cry and wake Daddy up, so I knew I needed to get to her quickly.  I put Jax in bed and walked into the nursery to see Hayden's arm stuck in between the crib slats.  I decided to do a quick nurse and put her back to bed.  I assumed Jaxey would be sprawled on my side of the bed when I returned, but that boy was snuggled up to his daddy's back, sound asleep.  He got to finish the rest of the night out in between us.  Shhh... don't tell Emerson.

Jason went to OKC this morning and came home mid-afternoon.  We had reservations at Mahogany Prime Steakhouse, the best steak in Tulsa by my estimates, and laughed our butts off when we pulled into the parking lot and were the only patrons there.  Why, you ask?  Because it was 5 p.m. ON THE DOT.  Yes, we had to make reservations at 5 in order to be back home by 7:30 so I could nurse little H.  With the other two, I would've just left a bottle with the babysitter, but Miss Persnickety thinks it's fun to not take a bottle.  At all. 

During dinner I kept thinking, 'Wow, this will be the last year I have to rush home from anniversary dinner to nurse... and the last year I won't be able to drink a glass of wine... and so on.'  Of course, Jason thinks it's really hilarious to talk about how great a fourth Van Valkenburg child would be.  Then I remind him what life was like during this last pregnancy and he gets quiet. 

Dinner itself was marvelous, and getting a chance to talk uninterrupted with my incredible husband was so refreshing.  I dearly love that man of mine.  Nine years after walking down the aisle to him, there's no one else I'd rather be sharing this journey with.  We laughed/cringed/marveled at the stress and chaos we've gone through since January and concluded that most people would've crumbled.  I know I would've crumbled without him.  He's my rock.  He's the fearless leader of our family, the reason two little sets of feet run as fast as they can to the front door around 6 p.m. every day, the elicitor of full-face grins and giggles from our baby, the source of my daily dose of laughter.

Happy Anniversary, Jason.  I adore you and always will.