Doug has been working on site in Portland for a couple of months now. This project is winding down, but then he's going to another one in another town. He leaves every day at 6:30. Some days I barely open my eyes to say goodbye to him. Some days the kids aren't up yet (but most days they are). Some nights he's home at 10, some at 7. If the crews are working, he has to be there, even if they're just digging, digging, digging.
I know the kids miss him. They literally start acting up the minute he closes his Explorer door and drives down the driveway. They yell "Doodles" and come running to hug him. They climb all over him, fighting for space on his lap. They interrupt each other just to tell him a little thing about their day.
I miss him too. We have so very little time together as just us. We have to carve out adult time from family time, which is already so small that we can't stand it. We're going to see Heart in concert in New Hampshire in two weeks, and that seems years away. We've arranged to have our parents each take a pair of kids so that we can go early, walk around, see the show and stay overnight. It's so very little time together, so we have to let it fill us up and enjoy it.
I may not always be very nice to him, because I'm tired and crabby from caring for our very demanding kids all day, but I really hope he knows how much I love him.
Showing posts with label Doug. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doug. Show all posts
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Let's Dance!
Saturday night was the 4th Annual Daddy-Daughter dance for our school district. Meg and I had a very difficult time picking out a dress that wasn't too babyish or too slutty (my kid wears a size 16, which nearly pushes her to the Juniors department, which is so NOT appropriate for a 9 year old, ahem). We finally found the PERFECT dress at Target. It's a Liberty of London dress and just screamed Megan. I had to do a little tailoring (thank goodness for Home Ec class in 7th grade) to make the straps stay put and the bodice a little tighter, but it was exactly what we wanted.
She has grown up so much since the first Daddy-Daughter dance when she was a kindergartener.
She's such a grown up girl. I am already dreading the teenage years! (Oh, and Meg is totally standing on the top of the porch and Doug is one step down in that last picture, but I'm pretty sure that's what she's going to look like in another 5 years).
She has grown up so much since the first Daddy-Daughter dance when she was a kindergartener.
She's such a grown up girl. I am already dreading the teenage years! (Oh, and Meg is totally standing on the top of the porch and Doug is one step down in that last picture, but I'm pretty sure that's what she's going to look like in another 5 years).
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Different
The noise level in the house is different when Doug is home during the week. The kids climb all over him when he's sitting down, like they haven't seen him for years. They fight over who is going to go with Daddy to the dump or the grocery store. They play together better when he is around.
The tension I carry in my neck, shoulders and back releases when Doug is home during the week. I feel like a different person knowing that at least for one day, the daily responsibilities are not all mine to bear. I leave the house on these days, usually to volunteer for a couple of hours in Meg's classroom, or actually run errands (which I never do when I'm home with 2 or 3 of the kids during the week as it's just too stressful). I come home feeling refreshed, happy, less anxious. It's a nice feeling, a different feeling from how I feel the rest of the week.
I told him last night that it actually bothers me deeply that the kids are better behaved when he is around. I'm not mad at him about it. I'm just sad that the air in the house is so much more negatively charged when he is at work. I want to bottle some of the positively charged air when he's here and sprinkle it on the kids when he's at work that they can be nicer to each other and to me. The days of Daddy at home during the week won't last too much longer (for which I'm happy, yet sad) and it would be lovely to find a way too keep some of the happiness that comes from him being around. Because certainly if I feel it, the kids feel it too.
The tension I carry in my neck, shoulders and back releases when Doug is home during the week. I feel like a different person knowing that at least for one day, the daily responsibilities are not all mine to bear. I leave the house on these days, usually to volunteer for a couple of hours in Meg's classroom, or actually run errands (which I never do when I'm home with 2 or 3 of the kids during the week as it's just too stressful). I come home feeling refreshed, happy, less anxious. It's a nice feeling, a different feeling from how I feel the rest of the week.
I told him last night that it actually bothers me deeply that the kids are better behaved when he is around. I'm not mad at him about it. I'm just sad that the air in the house is so much more negatively charged when he is at work. I want to bottle some of the positively charged air when he's here and sprinkle it on the kids when he's at work that they can be nicer to each other and to me. The days of Daddy at home during the week won't last too much longer (for which I'm happy, yet sad) and it would be lovely to find a way too keep some of the happiness that comes from him being around. Because certainly if I feel it, the kids feel it too.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Put on your dancing shoes!
Tonight is the 3rd annual Daddy-Daughter Dance in our town. Meg has been blessed to be able to attend the dance since it's inception, when she was just a kindergartner. She spent the day reading a book (Nancy Drew!) and napping after an hour of ice hockey at 8:20 this morning, where she was double and triple shifted due to small numbers on her team. I am sure she and Doug are having a terrific time.
And for those of you who guessed that I got the dress at Target, you were right. I'm totally biased, but I think she looks beautiful:
I can't wait to hear all about it when they get home!
And for those of you who guessed that I got the dress at Target, you were right. I'm totally biased, but I think she looks beautiful:
I can't wait to hear all about it when they get home!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
V Day
I am quite fond of Valentine's Day. I love all the red and pink, and the hearts and the mushy, smushy cards that make you throw up just a little bit in your mouth when you read them. I love buying little gifts for my kids (this year it was socks~Hannah Montana for Meg, Cars for Drew, Elmo for Izzie and Abby Cadabby for Annie). Doug and I don't go overboard with gifts for each other. He got me a Pajama Gram with very lovely Valentine Day pajamas covered in conversation hearts and I got him a couple of movies that he likes (National Treasure and The Saint).
This year we did send the kids to their grandparents so that we could have some quiet time. We didn't have plans except to finish cleaning at our other house (it goes on the market tomorrow, again, wish us luck that we sell it, asap), which we did after Drew had hockey and we drove the kids to their grandparents' houses and got them settled. We grabbed some lunch at our favorite little breakfast/lunch place up the road where the owners are friends of ours. Brian, the owner, is a singer and sang at our wedding. It's that kind of place. He knows what Doug likes to eat and they always make my veggie sandwich just right. We haven't been there much since we moved, so it was nice to stop in. We took our lunch back to our vacant house and had a quiet meal before cleaning and then heading home.
Unbeknown to us, poor Drew was having an awful Valentine's Day. Apparently the poor kid spent Valentine's Day throwing up at my in-law's house. He just lounged around there, napping on the couch when he wasn't throwing up. So while we were blissfully enjoying the silence, he was sick. No one called us to come get him, because they felt we deserved a break. Hopefully it was a one-time thing and no one else gets sick.
Doug and I enjoyed some Chinese take-out that I got to eat HOT, we watched The Saint,then the Bruins game. It wasn't an over-the-top Valentine's Day. But it was quiet, and just lovely. It was our 17th Valentine's Day, although the first few we spent apart since I was in college in NY and he was in college in ME. I think our feelings about the day are the same as they were 17 years ago. We love each other. We love spending time together. Really, what more can you ask for?
This year we did send the kids to their grandparents so that we could have some quiet time. We didn't have plans except to finish cleaning at our other house (it goes on the market tomorrow, again, wish us luck that we sell it, asap), which we did after Drew had hockey and we drove the kids to their grandparents' houses and got them settled. We grabbed some lunch at our favorite little breakfast/lunch place up the road where the owners are friends of ours. Brian, the owner, is a singer and sang at our wedding. It's that kind of place. He knows what Doug likes to eat and they always make my veggie sandwich just right. We haven't been there much since we moved, so it was nice to stop in. We took our lunch back to our vacant house and had a quiet meal before cleaning and then heading home.
Unbeknown to us, poor Drew was having an awful Valentine's Day. Apparently the poor kid spent Valentine's Day throwing up at my in-law's house. He just lounged around there, napping on the couch when he wasn't throwing up. So while we were blissfully enjoying the silence, he was sick. No one called us to come get him, because they felt we deserved a break. Hopefully it was a one-time thing and no one else gets sick.
Doug and I enjoyed some Chinese take-out that I got to eat HOT, we watched The Saint,then the Bruins game. It wasn't an over-the-top Valentine's Day. But it was quiet, and just lovely. It was our 17th Valentine's Day, although the first few we spent apart since I was in college in NY and he was in college in ME. I think our feelings about the day are the same as they were 17 years ago. We love each other. We love spending time together. Really, what more can you ask for?
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Hooked on a feeling
I met Doug back in high school. Back when he was a football player and I was a band geek. Back when teenagers are too stupid to realize that just because he's a football player and she's a band geek doesn't mean that they can't be friends. That was the social nature of our high school though, so even though we had calculus class together, we only ever said hi to each other, every day for an entire school year. It was not love at first sight.
Even when we started spending time together, the summer after we graduated, it wasn't love at first sight (not for me, I mean). He was nice to me and he carried on conversations with my parents, and we had fun together. But I was going to New York for college and he was staying in Maine, so of course nothing was going to happen between us.
Well, time went on during my freshman year of college and I had a couple of boyfriends, but Doug and I chatted on the phone (that was before email and all that jazz, can you believe it?). I distinctly remember the moment I knew that I felt something for him, even if it was unnamed at the time. He called me to tell me he had been in a car accident. He was fine, but I remember asking him if I should come home. Things changed for us then; we spent all the time I was in Maine together. That summer, between freshman and sophomore year of college, we became an "item". We've really never looked back.
We didn't have an easy romance. We spent 7 years apart, seeing each other only on school vacations, the random long weekend, or weekends once I moved to Boston for law school. Oh, I could have attended UMaine Law, but who knows how our story would have ended. When we finally married, everyone commented on how relaxed we seemed at our wedding. For us, it was a "well it's about time we got married" feeling at our wedding.
This year we'll celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, and our 17th anniversary of being an "item". We were just talking last night about how we're almost to the point of having spent half our lives together. It's that feeling from way back when that we have that keeps us together I think. We're comfortable, but not so comfortable that we don't make an effort to work on our marriage. We're each other's best friend. I can't imagine not having him in my life. He knows when to make me laugh, when to give me a hug and when to shut up and listen (even if he doesn't always hear me, he IS listening). Love you baby.
Even when we started spending time together, the summer after we graduated, it wasn't love at first sight (not for me, I mean). He was nice to me and he carried on conversations with my parents, and we had fun together. But I was going to New York for college and he was staying in Maine, so of course nothing was going to happen between us.
Well, time went on during my freshman year of college and I had a couple of boyfriends, but Doug and I chatted on the phone (that was before email and all that jazz, can you believe it?). I distinctly remember the moment I knew that I felt something for him, even if it was unnamed at the time. He called me to tell me he had been in a car accident. He was fine, but I remember asking him if I should come home. Things changed for us then; we spent all the time I was in Maine together. That summer, between freshman and sophomore year of college, we became an "item". We've really never looked back.
We didn't have an easy romance. We spent 7 years apart, seeing each other only on school vacations, the random long weekend, or weekends once I moved to Boston for law school. Oh, I could have attended UMaine Law, but who knows how our story would have ended. When we finally married, everyone commented on how relaxed we seemed at our wedding. For us, it was a "well it's about time we got married" feeling at our wedding.
This year we'll celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, and our 17th anniversary of being an "item". We were just talking last night about how we're almost to the point of having spent half our lives together. It's that feeling from way back when that we have that keeps us together I think. We're comfortable, but not so comfortable that we don't make an effort to work on our marriage. We're each other's best friend. I can't imagine not having him in my life. He knows when to make me laugh, when to give me a hug and when to shut up and listen (even if he doesn't always hear me, he IS listening). Love you baby.
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