Ten Things...

...that make Dave wonderful.

This post is dedicated to Dave in honor of his birthday this coming Sunday. Dave is a fabulous husband and father. I hope he realizes how appreciated he is, but just to make sure, I wanted everyone else to know the great things he does for Eddie, Violet, and I. Of course, there are more than ten good things about Dave, but for simplicity's sake, I narrowed it down to ten:

10. He likes tidiness (and I am a slob), so he is very good about cleaning up the living room and kitchen when they get messy.

9. He is an expert at loading the dishwasher to maximum capacity.

8. He loves to cook and is pretty good at it, which lets me off the hook most of the time.

7. He works two jobs so that I can stay home with the kids.

6. He rides his bike to and from work most days so that we can survive with only one car for the time being. And he doesn't complain about it, either.

5. He rolls with it when I make big parenting decisions, like when I decided to get rid of Eddie's daytime diapers.

4. He impresses Eddie and all the neighborhood kids with his sidewalk chalk drawings.

3. He can get Violet to fall asleep just by snuggling her up on his lap.

2. He sees the crazed look in my eyes after I've spent the day alone with the children and immediately gets down on the floor to let Eddie climb all over him and get his energy out.

1. He counteracts my craziness quite nicely and helps the rest of us stay sane (I'm not sure how he stays sane, though).

Happy birthday, Dave! We love you!