why i love my husband: one

In honor of the lovely month of February, and in an effort to give David some much deserved love leading up to Valentine's day, my goal is to post a reason why I love my husband for the next 14 days!  If the girls oblige, they might even be accompanied by semi-cute pictures that make me smile (as in, if they sleep long enough to let me try to edit some pictures with my minimal photoshop skills, you'll have pictures).

I haven't spent a ton of time planning this out, so... this list isn't comprehensive, the reasons are in no particular order, and they might seem silly to anyone but me, but: we've had our rough times over the past year or so and we don't make nearly enough time to appreciate each other, so this is my attempt.  Plus it's a super cheap Valentine's Day gift.  Booyah.

So, reason #1:

It isn't easy for anyone to take criticism, no matter how constructive it's meant to be.  David and I have different priorities about a lot of things in life and that means we have very different strategies of approaching everything we do.  I'm more opinionated, rigid, and stubborn.  It's been difficult with him being the stay-at-home parent and me feeling like I am more adept at taking care of the girls (I work with kids, I stay calmer... I'm a mom, okay?).  It's probably been most difficult for him, since I seem to have lots of ideas and input, but I'm not the one that is here and has to deal with them all day.  I hope I've gotten better about letting him do what he does over the past year and I want him to feel confident in what he does, but at the same time I can't tell you how many times I've been amazed at the effort he is willing to put in to change something he does, says, or wears if it makes me even the tiniest bit happier.  He tries harder for the girls, too--always doing his best to keep them as happy as realistically possible

...and that makes me swoon.