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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Lesson #33: Remember what your wife says

This is another advice lesson for any husband out there who wants to keep his wife happy.


My birthday is coming up on April 30th.  My address can be given for the multitude of presents I'm sure to get.  Lyndon doesn't think birthdays are a big deal.  I get more excited about his birthday than he does.  While I'm not announcing my birthday countdown to the world (people who do that exist), I do think it's something that deserves an acknowledgement at least.


Lyndon knew what he wanted to get me back when we did budgeting, so I was already a little curious.  When he named the amount he needed, I was even more curious.  I also felt a little guilty being totally and completely okay with the amount.  He has refused to give me any hints and even conspired with the wonderful ladies at the front desk of NCC to keep the present hidden from me.


I come home from class today, and this is sitting on our counter:


Good grief.
The Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer has always seemed kind of iconic to me.  It has always been one of those things that I've wanted in my kitchen.  I figured I was going to have to wait a long time for one, so I just admire when we walk by them in stores.  Okay, there might be some drooling involved.  I tell Lyndon how much I love it and how incredible it would be to own one.  This honestly happens every single time I even glance at one.


I never, ever thought it would be something I would get so soon in our marriage.  I love my present, but what I love even more is that my husband listened to what I was saying.  This was something personal that he purposely planned out.  Gents, you don't have to buy something incredibly expensive.  If you listen to your wife, she'll let you know what she wants.  Just listen.  You will definitely benefit from it.


He even got the red part right.


Friday, April 1, 2011

Lesson #32: PREGNANT?!

As I'm sure you know, with marriage can come the chance of pregnancy.  I love babies and children, but I don't want one of my own quite yet.  Playing with babies is great.  When they start crying and you can't remedy the tears, you just pass them off to someone else.  It's the perfect situation for me right now.  Besides that, we want to make sure we are as ready as we possibly can be for a child, with full knowledge of the fact that you can never be fully ready.  As of right now, per our agreement, we have a little over four years before we plan on expanding our family.

Granted, God can give us a child when He sees fit.  Preventative steps are taken, but that doesn't mean anything when it comes to Him.  If He deems it appropriate for a little Griner, it'll happen no matter what.  Because of this, I take a pregnancy test every once in a while.  Better safe than ending up on TLC's "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" show.  I am not birthing a child while I'm on a toilet.

The time for a test came around, and I ended up taking it in the Old Chicago bathroom (we had a weird schedule that day).  I waited for the appropriate length of time, and then read the test.  From how I saw it, I was pregnant.  I can't even describe the waves of every kind of emotion that came crashing down inside me.  I saw Lyndon's face change the second he saw mine as I walked back to our booth.  For the next few hours, in between my hysterical good/bad tears, we talked about how our lives had to change.  On the way home, Lyndon asked me to pull out the directions for the test just to make sure.

I read it wrong.  I read a pregnancy test wrong because I didn't read the directions.  What kind of woman does that?!  A ridiculous one, that's who.  In between my hysterical good/bad tears (to this new news), Lyndon had already recovered and was making fun of me.

One of the most emotional, roller coaster days of my life was driven by my ignorance.  After everything though, I smile a little bit when I think of a little Lyndon.

Uh oh.