Him, 35 years

We celebrated Nicholas' birthday in January, so this is really quite belated, but I don't want to miss marking the celebration of him!

He birthday fell on the last week of his parental leave for Arlo's birth, so that meant we got extra time with him! His requested birthday treat this year was sourdough cardamom bread, which is a favorite with every member of the family.

The day before his birthday, we drove out to see Nicholas' Grandpa and his Aunt Brenda. They met Arlo for the first time, which was very sweet. Nicholas' dad joined us as well. Cooper and Finn played, made cloud dough with Aunt Brenda, and bundled up to play outside for a bit. While they were busy, the rest of us visited over coffee and sourdough zucchini bread. What a wonderful morning it was!

On his actual birthday, we went to church, since it was Sunday, and then Nicholas spent the rest of the morning playing with the boys and making paper airplanes. He opened a few gifts from me and the boys. And then after lunch, we had fika, with a candle in the cardamom bread, and we played games alongside coffee. And then we wrapped up the afternoon with a family walk, followed by risotto for dinner.

Each year, around this time, I write him a love letter.

If you're feeling reminiscent (as I always am), here is a link to all his previous birthday posts.

To my husband,

I love when you call me when you are on a walk during a break on one of your workdays in Chicago.

I appreciate your attention to detail and your striving for improvement in all areas of your life. In making our home more beautiful or more efficient, and helping me in that task as well.

I value how hard you work at your job, and how much your coworkers value you as a team member. And I am so thankful that I get to stay home with our boys because of all the work you do.

I love discussing current events with you – things we may have read about or heard on a podcast that caught our attention and made us want to discuss together. And even when we don't agree on every single fine point all the time, that we can have a thoughtful conversation about whatever the topic may be.

I love that all these years later, some of our favorite conversations happen while we are driving in the car together.

Thank you for being a lifelong learner – whether that is tractor maintenance, or cleaning a furnace exhaust pipe, how to built a really good fire in the woodstove, and researching the best way to do something (anything!)

I love how much you cheer me on with knitting, and how much enthusiasm you have for hats, socks, or sweaters I've made for you.

I get to have the best view of your parenting – how you adore our three boys and invest in all three of them: engaging in projects and games with Cooper, snuggles and jokes with Finn, and holding and talking to Arlo, and in recent weeks, making him have the biggest, gummy smiles.

It is a privilege to share a life with you. The sweetness of the smiles exchanged between one another, at a funny remark one of the boys made, or at a joke that only we understand. To have someone I can trust to share the difficult things, and with whom I can celebrate the joys.

What a gift to have had another year of your life shared with us, as the best dad and husband.

Thank you, God for Nicholas!

I love you, sweetheart.