And the Husband of the Year goes tooooo....

Stephen Jennings, MY husband!

I just have been feeling especially grateful for my husband these past couple months. I've always known he's been great (come on, I MARRIED him!) but these past couple months when I've been kinda useless I've been reminded again and again of how much I love him.

My pregnancy thus far has not been horrendous. I know so many people that have had morning sickness terribly and had been put in the hospital due to problems, so I consider myself blessed.

But, with that being said...pregnancy is not all that fun. Don't get me wrong, I am already in LOVE with this baby inside of me, and i LOVE that he or she is 'ours' forever...but the whole 'your body is now being taken over by a person smaller than an inch' part is not fun.

The first three months I felt pretty much nauseous everyday, and would frequently do the whole 'gag' or 'dry heave' at random parts of the day, but I've managed to not throw up at work (ahem...unless you count the whole throwing up in the parking lot incident. But I was on lunch...so I'm not counting it....)

In the midst of all the tired/grumpy/nauseous/woozy/achy, my sweet husband has not uttered a single complaint (well, at least to me, he hasn't! haha..) He brings me cheese toast in bed every morning before he leaves for work (he leaves a lot earlier than I do for work), he has dinner ready or cooking almost every night by the time I get home. I don't think I've done more than a handful of laundry loads the last three months b/c they are already done before I have a chance to even worry about it. Our house is vacuumed..with no thanks to me. Our dishes are washed even without a working dishwasher (yep...you guessed...mostly Stephen, as well). Our lawn is mowed, our mail is picked up, the list goes on and on.

I hate feeling this useless, but it has been a blessing in disguise. Although I get frustrated for not being able to do as much as I used to, I have been able to recognize the blessings of having a amazing husband who just sees the need, and does it.

Stephen also wins the Husband of the Year award because he has dealt with my 'hormones'.

My old roommate always teases me that she got more emotional after she lived with me, so obviously, I'm an emotional person in general. But this little 'peanut' in me is really making things crazy.

Scenario #1

After Family Home Evening one night, I snuggle up besides Stephen on the couch hoping to just lay beside him and watch TV. Stephen starts to get up to complete some things on his 'list'. I immediately get irritated/irrational and tell him that I wanted him to just do nothing on the list and come cuddle with me.

Then he proceeds to say, "OK, for 5 minutes, and then I'm going to go clean the bathrooms".

ahem...yes...here is where pregnant Naomi comes out in full force.

I respond, "NO, NOT for FIVE minutes! For however LONG I want you HERE!!!"

(yes...i literally just went berserk on my husband for wanting to clean bathrooms. You heard me correctly...CLEAN BATHROOMS!!)

At this point I can see myself being completely irrational and I'm starting to get emotional not only because of the situation, but because I feel so stupid for even being upset about this. I'm now just embarrassed and feel silly, so I just get up and go to our bedroom where I proceed to crawl into bed and curl up around my body pillow to cry.

A minute later, my sweet, but probably completely confused, husband walks in, crawls into bed beside me and just says, "Come here" and pulls me over to him. And then I cry...getting snot and mascara all over his shirt...for at least 10 minutes.

And then I'm OK. Well, mostly OK, except for my wounded pride, and embarrassment that I was 'that' typical pregnant lady.

I'm sure there will be many more of this...er...emotional moments in the future, but luckily for me, I'm married to an amazing, understanding guy (well, maybe he didn't understand WHY i was crying, but he understood what he needed to do. Who am I kidding...even I didn't know WHY i was crying).

And if that wasn't enough reason for him to be Husband of the Year...take this little scenario into consideration.

Scenario #2

On Sunday, I had a great 'soon-to-be Mother's day'. It started with Breakfast in bed, and showering of gifts from that special father-to-be. Church was great...I even got to go to Relief Society for the first time since I've been in the ward (well, maybe not the first...but one of the few).

Then came that night...I started aching...nausea coming back full force...eventually leading to me asking Stephen to say a prayer that I would feel better and be able to sleep.

No later than the amen, I start gagging and I run to the hall bath. I didn't quite make it to the toilet though...so I threw up all my pasta in the bathroom sink.

Stephen, of course, was right behind me, rubbing my back and got me situated by the toilet with a glass of ice water and a cold washcloth.

and then...without a word of disgust, or complaint...he proceeds to scoop out the sink full of vomit and then scrubbed the sink with Clorox.

All the while I sit..hugging the toilet.

But, as usual, once I threw up, I felt better and just crawled into bed and went to sleep.(prayers answered!)

I'm sure I'm forgetting even more that he does for me, but I am just so thankful that I have such a supportive husband. I'm thankful that my husband is as excited as I am for this baby. I'm thankful that he was raised in the gospel of Jesus Christ and that he will help raise this child in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for a Father in Heaven who loved me enough to send Stephen into my life. I'm thankful for the covenants I've made in the temple that allow me to stay with Stephen for eternity.

I feel like I can't tell him enough how thankful I am for him and how much I love him...so I hope he knows it.

I hope he can look past all my 'shortcomings' for the next 5 1/2 months and remember that despite my craziness, I love him even more than I thought possible.

Yep...I'm sure none of you can argue...based on all this evidence...Stephen surely without a shadow of a doubt, wins Husband of the Year.