After six years married and eight together, I know some things about my husband.
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Marriage
Five.
Elective Surgery Sounds like a Breast Lift, and This Was Not That.
I think the lead-up to surgery has to be one of the most torturous things in the entire world. Not trauma surgery, necessarily, for people in tons of pain the getting-a-long-nap-and-tons-of-drugs aspect of the process is a huge relief. 
But elective surgery lead-up is the worst.
Last week Jay "elected" to have a rod and two screws taken out of his leg from when he broke it three years ago when I was pregnant with Beck. I use this word almost jokingly because, yes, he made the choice to have the surgery, but made it because he was in lots of pain and having strange lumpy swelling around the area where the screws stuck out. Elective surgery sounds like a breast lift, and this was not that.
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Fight Like the Kid is Sleeping
Four.
Four years. Four years! Today.
I love our anniversary. I also love this picture because I think someone was saying some instructions for .... something ... and everyone looks vaguely befuddled except for our junior groomsman, Little Jay (seriously), who is charming and poised for the camera as always.
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Four Year Favorites
Hey hey!
Tomorrow is our four year anniversary. Four! A fun number of years to be married, and 2.5 before that of dating. That means that in 6 months we'll hit our first 7 year itch, is that how that works?
Let's not talk about it.
Today! Some of our favorites. Things to do, stores, restaurants, recipes, all of it. We really enjoy outdoor things that Beck can enjoy, and have a few restaurants that we'll go back to faithfully no matter what. We are very Stepbrothers-ish in that we love SO MANY ACTIVITIES, and we can do them a lot right now because we don't have older kids with homework and sports and activities of their own. There are a few kid products listed here because our kid is a huge focus of ours, but some of these things are things that we love doing just the two of us.
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To My Daughter's Dad
Dear Jay,
Happy Father's Day! Beck would say it but she's too little to understand and also if I said "do you hope Daddy has a good day?" she would say noooooo like the budding comedian/jerk that she is.
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For My Love.
#whyimarch
Happy (belated) Birthday to Jay!
Oh man. 
4-day weekends are the absolute best kind of weekend. WHY don't we get them more often? Labor and Memorial Day (s) are just a tease compared to Thanksgiving. ...
Year 3.
Dear Jay,
Happy Anniversary! As per the usual, we are coming home from vacation today and I'll be back to work tonight, but I daresay that this year is so, SO much better than last year. RIGHT? 
You know it is, I know it is. This year, man, it finally feels like it's happening. It's all been such baby steps for our careers, family, friends, and I think we're in this groove, now, you and I, I really do.
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Narrating the World 24/7
Jay pretty much talks to Beck nonstop. When they're together and I'm working or doing other stuff he just chatters away to her, and usually she rewards him with coos and smiles, which means he keeps doing it. We're only 2 months in, but the gems that have come out of that man so far are quite the force to be reckoned with. I imagine that when Beck starts talking she'll think that it's completely normal to narrate the world 24/7 with no breaks even to breathe, but I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
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2015 In Review
Guys, it's the last day of the year. Can you even believe it? It seems like five seconds ago that we were welcoming our neighbor's baby into the world and having a really quiet little NYE at our place with food and friends this time last year. This year we're a family of THREE, we're having an even more quiet NYE, and it's been just the best year. Also, as of about 6 weeks ago I was still writing 2014 on hospital forms, so let's see how long it takes 2016 to sink in! Probably until 2020. 
Stop, please, time. kthanks.
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Beck's Birth Story {jay's version!}
The phrase, “zero to sixty” is usually reserved for the automotive industry. It typically describes how quickly a certain car can accelerate to sixty miles an hour. However, on rare occasions it can accurately illustrate how fast a man can move when awakened by his wife saying, “Honey, I’m in labor. We gotta get up and go.” I couldn’t have hopped out of bed faster if I had springs mounted on my ass. Like a bullet from a gun I was propelled into reality at break-neck speed. “Oh shit! What can I do? How are you feeling? Did your water break? Oh shit! What the fuck!?” All of those questions came racing off my tongue while running in place. If I were Fred Flinstone, there would have been a plumb of smoke peeling off my feet. We were off to the races.
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Five for Friday ~jay's birthday
For Posterity's Sake
"Wet Nap that off my pasty white thigh, and don’t you worry about starting a load of laundry on my account." {jay}
That’s just not a baby bump under my wife’s shirt. Apparently, it’s also her Gas Tank for Home Improvement. Pregnancy has turned my wife into a sexy Bob Vila, with just a touch less body hair. The bigger her belly gets, the more astonished I am at the house projects she takes on. In the last month I have seen my pregnant wife paint our little girl’s nursery, paint our bathroom, and steam clean the carpet in our entire house. To see her do it is amazing, and amazingly hot. I watched her pull a massive carpet steamer out of the back her car and I got weak in the knees. I suddenly related to those housewives that fawn over their pool boy. That hot pregnant blonde woman in yoga pants, powerlifting a Bissel Carpet Steamer is All Mine! I think I undid a few buttons on my shirt and held a glass of lemonade to my chest as she entered the house. “I declare Mrs. Hastings!” Preparing for the arrival of our child has really brought out Lindsay’s Mom Strength. Her desire to have clean carpets somehow pushed her to deadlift that machine out of her car, and I can only hope that power will transfer to me, should I ever need her to lift a car off my torso....
An Update on Jay + That Leg
2 Years Together
Dear Jay,
You're on the couch right now. You're always on the couch. 
I hate it for you, and I know that you hate it about 9,737 more times than I do.
The thing is, though, if you look back just 16 days to when your ankle was dangling at your shin you'll realize just how far you've come. For heaven's sake, you go to the bathroom by yourself all. the. time. now, which is great for your dignity and my sleep and our marriage. Everyone wins. When our little girl is 16 days old she will not be using the bathroom by herself, so you are officially way more advanced than a newborn.
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A Broken Leg, By Jay
By now, if you’re a frequent reader of this blog, you know that I snapped my tibia and fibula in half last week. Lindsay did an amazing job of capturing the play by play commentary of the event, and I’m here now to add some color. I wish I could embellish and sprinkle in some creative license, but that ship has sailed. I wish I could tell you that I shattered my leg while saving a bus load of children from drowning, rescuing the elderly from a blazing nursing home fire, or hell, even a kickball game would be less embarrassing than the truth. Because the truth is my left leg cannot tolerate the weight and force of my body descending 5 feet into shallow water. Yep, that is the universal sign for, “time to lose some weight, you fat ass.” When uneven earth and your body weight remove you from walking for a couple of months, it’s time to reconsider your diet and recreational activities. 
Allow me to recap what adrenaline and pain medication did not steal from my memory of this entire experience. I hope it will be as therapeutic for me as it will be entertaining for you....