Happy Birthday Blake

While planning Crosley’s 1st birthday party, I was stressing about side dishes and desserts, decorations, party favors, tables and chairs. Blake told me I needed to stop worrying because, “the only thing anyone ever talks about is the meat and you’re not cooking that.” No I wasn’t. He was. And sure enough, after the party no one talked about the coconut cupcakes or the tiny party hats I made for the lawn flamingos. But to this day I still hear about his shredded pork.

Fast forward to early 2018 when I signed up for the OC Marathon to check 26.2 off my bucket list. I ran four days a week, sometimes 3+ hours away from home; away from my family. I completed my first marathon, met all of my personal goals, and got lots of kudos. Blake secretly invited my friends to spectate plus cheered and took pictures.

Then I signed up for a half Ironman.

A triathlon was so different. I had to increase to 6 days of training and I couldn’t realistically push swim and bike after the kids bedtime, so I was gone. A lot. Blake got home from long days at work and watched kids while I got home from work, and left. Blake made dinner, changed diapers, gave baths, and read stories.

The day before the half Ironman, I laid down to take a nap and when I woke up I could see through a crack in the door that Blake was cleaning and fine tuning my bike. When I entered the water to start the race, Blake was somewhere doing Crosley’s hair “like Frozen”. When I was riding my bike, he was making sure she had snacks and didn’t get run over. And when I was running, he took a video of Crosley giving me a high five that I will cherish until the day I die.

I’ve gotten a lot of credit for completing these events, but Blake did this too, and I’m so thankful and blessed to have a man in my life that loves me this much and supports my dreams.

When he reads this he might roll his eyes and wonder why I didn’t share this in private. But those coconut birthday cupcakes were really good! So I might be wearing the medal, but Blake is a super dad and a super husband and people need to know!

Happy birthday Blake. You may not have run the half Ironman, but you're certainly deserving of the praise!