The Little Things

Guess where Ryan was the last half of July and the first part of August?  Hong Kong!  I didn't post anything about it earlier because I'm not going to announce to the internet, "Hey, my husband's out of town for the next few weeks, please come rob us!", but I figured I could talk about it now that he's home.

Let me tell you, two and half weeks as a single parent of three kids is about two weeks too long, especially in the summertime when they're not in school and we really have no scheduled activities to fall back on.

I found that what I missed most while he was gone was the little things.  I missed him, too, of course, but I guess as a stay-at-home-mom who does 90% of the stuff around the house, I never took into account how much the little things add up.

For example, he gives the boys their baths every night.  He takes out the trash and the recycling (that bin gets really heavy!).  He changes light bulbs.  He gets creepy crawly things out of the house.  He knows the special trick to get the pictures off our camera and on to our ancient computer.  He makes Liam get up to pee before we go to bed.  He hangs up the hanging clothes after I do laundry since he knows I can't stand to it.  He moves the sprinkler around the yard (a nearly daily activity during this terrible drought).  He puts air in my van tires when they get low.  He changes the registration stickers on our vehicles.  He eats leftovers (I can't stand them).  He mows the yard.  He makes a killer mojito.  I could go on and on.

So, I guess I just wanted to let him know that I appreciate all the little things he does around the house because they really do add up and I know this from experience since I had to do them all while he was gone.

Don't worry, though.  I saved some of the fun for him since I couldn't figure out how to put the kids' towel rack back on the wall after they pulled it off.  And I let him change the air filters, too.  I know how to do that, but I didn't know that it was time to do it.  See?  What would I do without him?

Love you, Ryan!