Kudos to My Husband

I am married to a fabulous man. Oh, we have our moments when neither of us can be considered fabulous, and bringing a baby into a marriage definitely throws a few kinks into things. But, generally he is very good to me, and I would be a lot crazier and more tired if he didn't do so much for me.


Upon returning to work, the delicate life balance I managed to achieve while on maternity leave got all out of wack. I guess being away from home for approximately 60 hours a week will do that. As a result, I had little time for him and even less for myself. Being a person who needs a bit of Me Time every day, I was on a fast track to insanity. After a few weeks and a particularly ugly discussion, we came to the realization that a little more help would make me a more pleasant person to be around. It's quite humbling for me to admit that I can't handle it all by myself, because that's how I try to do everything (a fault of mine, I know). I'm so very grateful to have Dave's help and I work daily on banishing the guilt I feel for relying on him to do "my" jobs.


How are we managing, you ask? (You probably don't care, but I'm going to tell you anyway.)


1. We hired someone to clean the house. Given that we can afford to pay for that service, I refused to be responsible for all the housework and work full-time and care for Ella.

2. We take turns doing laundry.

3. He exercises the dog when he gets home before me. Last night he picked Ella up from Grandma's for the first time so I got to go straight home since I was running late.

4. Several nights a week he washes pump parts and bottles while I pack the bags for the next day and reconnect with Ella. He also makes bottles for the next day if I don't get to it first.

5. He feeds us. If it were left up to me, we would have eaten approximately 10 meals since I went back to work in September. By "feeds us," I mean, he usually cooks and fixes my plate and drink so that I can eat while I nurse Ella to sleep at night. I love to cook, but I can't seem to figure out how to do that and everything else that needs doing in the three hours before bed time.

6. He carries my things for me. :) This doesn't seem like a big deal, but I love that he meets me at my car to carry my stuff so that I can carry Ella into the house. He also loads my bags into the car in the mornings.

7. In a recent development that made me fall in love with him all over again, he came and got Ella at 6 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving so that I could sleep another hour and a half. Then he did it again the next day because he wanted to. I told him that we should establish this as a normal weekend routine.

8. He generally follows behind me, picking up my slack (paying bills, taking out trash, putting gas in my car, feeding/watering the pets, etc).


I don't know what I'd do without him, or the rest of my family for that matter. I am blessed to have a very strong support structure around me.