Ryan

Ryan can't keep a secret to save his life.

He bought me a camera today. He wanted to surprise me with it next week before I got on the plane to bring Annie to my parents house. But as soon as he walked in the door this morning he blurted out, "I got you a present! Close your eyes! Hold out your hands!"

I was thinking maybe it was a cupcake. Maybe a new shirt or something. But then he put a Canon PowerShot SD 1400 in my hands. I have no idea how much it cost and I don't want to know. All I know is that it is little and beautiful and he already picked out a pink case for it.

And it has a zoom! Y'all, I have a real live camera with a zoom on it!

I love that he can't keep a secret. I love that someone who read this blog didn't want us to have to "blow" our budget this week and sent us money to eat out and have fun date nights. And I love that Ryan bought fresh veggies and smoothie ingredients for the week and opted to use that money to get me a camera instead.

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I love that Ryan bought a dust buster for the soul purpose of sucking the crumbs out of Annie's highchair after every meal.

I love that Annie and I can be playing in her bedroom and she hears the sound of the dust buster and shrieks,

"DADDY!"

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I love that, up until last week, Ryan sent his mom every single flight number we were on so she could keep track of us and not be worried. Seven years of flights. Who knows how many flights. And he did it quietly, lovingly. I love that about him.

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I love that Ryan whispers when he has something bad to say about Annie. Like how she is a monster or driving him crazy or when we are discussing, "What is wrong with her? Why is she so happy and full of energy all the time?" I love that he whispers.

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I love that Ryan takes me on dates to hotel bathrooms.

The hardest part of traveling with a baby is the lack of any privacy for the two of us. When we are spending the night in a hotel, which usually happens several nights a week, we have to turn the lights out when Annie goes to bed at 9 pm. No TV. No reading in bed. No talking really. And someone has to be in the room. Sometimes he goes out with the boys and I slip into an early sleep wrapped up around Annie.

But sometimes he goes to the lobby and comes back upstairs with a bottle of coke and some sort of snack. He sets it up in the bathroom and we sit in there, on the hotel bathroom floor, and we have a date night.

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"It's like this," he said, "Most men go to work each day and come home to spend evenings and weekends with their family. They go on one, maybe two week long vacations a year. A few weekend trips. And perhaps a few days around the holidays. That's it. And that's enough to last them until the next year. Because those trips can be exhausting. Exasperating. Family vacation. I hated family vacations growing up. And I've figured it out Jen... I am on perpetual family vacation with you and Annie."

This made me smile. Perpetual family vacation.

Poor guy.

All I could think of was Chevy Chase...

Yet, he still takes me on dates to the hotel bathroom. And you've never seen a little girl love her daddy the way this little girl loves this man.

I love that Ryan is on perpetual family vacation, while running a business, being with his three best guy friends, doing the best to love his family back home, pay the bills, keep us on schedule, booking shows, playing concerts, making sure we have hotel rooms to go to at night, making every little detail fall into place... and he still has a smile on his face.

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I love that I already know his reaction to this post. And, believe me babe, I didn't sit down with this direction in mind, it just happened, I promise...

I know he is going to be embarrassed and is going to be ranting about his invasion of privacy....blah, blah, blah.

He's cute when he rants.