My Valentine

When I first met my husband he was a lanky high school freshman. I was foolish enough to break his heart. He got me back and broke mine a few years later. None of that matters because now he fills my whole life with so much love.

2003

Dingle is smart, super handsome, and irritatingly nice. It is more than likely that if I was never in a foul mood, or raised my voice, or treated him with anything less than kindness, we would never fight. That is not to say we wouldn't disagree but I am almost always the first person to lose my temper.  I am very lucky to have found such a forgiving man. As I have told my sister, if you find a man who is so sweet that you can't decide whether to kiss him or smack him...marry him.

2013

At the foundation of our relationship is a great friendship. Even after ten years together we still just love to be together. For the past couple of years I have been a stay at home mom and Matt has worked from home at our dining room table. We have probably logged more hours together under one roof than most couples do in a life time. As of two weeks ago Matt has started a new job that requires him to be at the office, which is 45 minutes away, full time. It has been hard. Of course I miss having an extra set of hands when one kid is spitting up and the other kid is peeing on the floor, but mostly I just miss my companion. (For the record I also miss the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches...but it is mostly Dingle) In a lot of ways we are totally codependent, which I know wouldn't work for a lot of couples. It really does work for us. He is my best friend and I am his. When the kids are grown I know I will not have to worry about what comes next. Hopefully we will just continue to do what we have always done...and just love being together on the couch.

I was instantly drawn to Matt and according to him I was always the girl of his dreams. He told me he loved me the day after we made our relationship official on January 11th 2003. Even though I knew he meant it I laughed it off...and then never looked back. A little over five years later, I couldn't wait to say my vows. And now, five years and two babies later, I am still crazy in love with my Dingle.

On April 3rd, 2010 I fell in love with my husband in a whole new way. I was legitimately concerned that because Matt knew so little about babies that he would just thrust this tiny newborn into my arms and close the door behind him on his way out. He did exactly the opposite. My husband is great at almost everything (yes, it is super annoying) but he is exceptional at being a daddy. Our kids are so very lucky to have him.

Love at first sight 2010

Same shirt, new baby, all love.  2012

The kids are crazy about their daddy too. Who else would play games like whatever this is!?!?

Happy 11th Valentine's Day!

I love you Dingle, always have. 

Nashua, you had me at mini golf!

My only regret from this past weekend is that we did not take more pictures.

Dingle and I had a great time on our "weekend mini-break". On Friday we drove Lily to Maine so that she could spend the weekend stuffing her face with cookies and watching R rated movies! She is going through a bit of a shy phase and it was a little harder on me than I thought it would be to leave her. I may or may not have cried over an Italian sandwich in the car. In any case after driving to Maine we hit the highway headed South to the great state of New Hampshire, live free or die!

The drive to Nashua was nice, at first. Dingle insisted on taking back roads which I was all for until the iphone died, the gps couldn't find us, and we had been in the car for more than 4 hours (including the drive to ME). We did eventually find the hotel and I was overall very happy with our groupon. On Friday we went out to dinner and saw Harry Potter, excellent date night activities. I only cried a little after getting off the phone with CooCoo...I cried much more during Harry Potter. On Saturday we sat out by the pool, went out to lunch, and then headed to the Anheuser-Busch brewery. The tour was neat, I was amazed by the literally thousands of bottles of bud light that were filing out of the factory. Dingle was very interested in the computer program that runs the factory...go figure. (*edit* I was just informed it is not a program it is a whole system, pardon). We were both in awe of all of the children running around...live free or die, indeed. The best part was the stable where they keep a full team of Clydesdales. You know a horse is huge when it makes Dingle look short. We bought Lily a stuffed animal at the gift shop, because we just couldn't go home to her empty handed! Turns out she freakin' loves her new "horsey" and has hardly let it out of her sight.

We kept our socially acceptable buzz going with a beer at Carrabba's and then headed out to play mini golf. I really love mini golf. It is only slightly irritating that Dingle is as good as I am, if only we could putt like that on the real course!! After 18 exhilarating holes...we TIED, arg! Afterwards, we had free dinner at the hotel as part of our groupon. (Note to readers; do get the Salmon, don't get the brick-oven pizza!) Our only real complaint about the hotel was the bed. All of their rooms "boast" sleep-number beds. Frankly, I felt like I was sleeping on an under-inflated air mattress. We woke up stiff and sore both mornings...and not for those reasons, geez get your mind out of the gutter. Seriously though, the bed was terrible. We sped drove at a reasonable speed to Maine on Sunday morning to get Lily. Seeing her was awesome!! It will be awhile before I leave her again, sorry grandparents.

I won't go into the 4 hours of traffic that we sat in to get back to MA on Sunday afternoon for fear that Dingle will make good on his promise to "NEVER DO THE DRIVE AGAIN"...it takes a lot to make my husband snap is all I'm saying. All in all I feel like we really made the most of our weekend "away". Did I mention I missed Lily and I won't be leaving her again for a very long time? I did, oh ok.

Dinner...

Dingle: "What do you want for dinner?"
Me: "Something easy."
Dingle: "Chicken? I'll go to the store."
Me: "Yes, sure, that sounds good."
Dingle: "Do I need to get anything else?"
Me: "No, we will have to do some shopping tomorrow anyway."
Dingle: "Okay, so just chicken?"
Me: "Yup."
Dingle: "Ok, just chicken."

(Cue zoning out at the TV and a perfectly timed Friendly's commercial)

Me: "So we're having ice cream sundaes for dinner!"
Dingle:"Yes! Ice cream, cherries, and whipped cream?"
Me: "Sounds good."
Dingle: "Ok! Do you still want me to get chicken?"
Me: "Eh, surprise me."

He is still at the store. What do you think we'll have for dinner?

All about Dingle

I know what you're thinking, "what the heck is a Dingle?"  And why is it capitalized?? Actually if you are reading this than in all reality you are one of my three friends and you know exactly what a Dingle is.  Or should I say who Dingle is?

Here he is in all his glory!  Isn't he handsome?

  

Matt earned the nickname Dingle (as in dingleberry) in 2003 and much to his chagrin, it stuck!  HA - see what I did there! 

A few random factoids about my husband:

• He not so secretly loves"girly drinks" with extra pink and fruit please! 
• He went to MIT but hardly ever admits it
• He is tall and whenever we see other tall men in public I make him stand next to them to determine a winner
• He is tolerant (see above)
• He BELIEVES that coffee will cure whatever ails you

There you have it.  Now I can rattle on about Dingle and you won't have to wonder what the hell I am talking about.  Feels good!