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Tina’s Birthday

March 31st, 2008 · 7 Comments · bridget, family, tina

Dave here.

Last week, I was reading Tayli’s blog and she had a post where she went on and on about how much she is in love with her husband, Jake. It really got me thinking about how much I love and appreciate Tina and how wonderful she is. I don’t know that I express it to her enough, nor do I express to her how grateful I am for the outstanding job she does raising Bridget.

A few years ago, after Tina and I were just married, I remember a conversation we had with a family friend. She mentioned that she [alone] had the responsibility in their household to raise their children. In no way did she express that her husband shared any of the responsibility. I was really bothered by it for quite some time, even expressing to Tina how I felt that both she and I would be “raising” our children. I can honestly say that I need to severely eat my words. Yeah, I am Bridget’s father and do everything I can to train, teach, and guide her. Nothing I do, though, compares to the impact of such a loving and wonderful mother.

Perhaps a Bridget video will explain it better. Tina had gone visiting teaching and left Bridget and me alone. Bridget was “mad.”

Not only is Bridget stinkin’ cute in that video, but it expresses how much of an impact a loving mommy really has on her baby. When Bridget is happy and wants to play, she’ll spend time with me (she’ll play with either one of us). If she gets tired, grouchy, or sick, there is nothing that I can do — it is all Tina. In a way, I kind of feel bad that with all of Tina’s investment into Bridget that her payback is a child that is so needy for her during the rough times.

With this much buttering up, and in honor of Tina’s birthday, I want to share my favorite picture of Tina. If I were to gather up all of the pictures from the times where Tina has pulled this particular face in front of a camera for me, I’d be able to fill several posts with pictures. I’ll only share two versions, one from about 3.5 years ago (9/12/04) when we were engaged and one that she did in front of my camera two weeks ago (3/16/08). I don’t know why I think this face is so funny, but it is enough to cheer me up any day.

I love you, Tina.

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7 Comments so far ↓

  • Tayli Nelson

    Very considerate Dave. Tina really is a great mom and wife. I’m glad I could get cha thinkin.

  • Mother of the Wild Boys

    Happy Birthday Tina!

    Awesome post Dave, what a great B-day gift. 🙂

    BTW, the Bridget video was so cute and heart-breaking. 🙂

  • Raelynn

    Happy Birthday Tina! I love the pictures! They made me laugh!
    Dave it’s nice to hear how much our husbands love us! Thanks for sharing your love for your wife.

  • Sandra

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINA!
    Those pics are funny!

  • Emily

    Happy Birthday Tina! One word – cute!

  • Kellee

    Happy birthday a day late!!

  • Jared

    My favorite part of this video is Bridget correcting Dave that she’s sucking on her “thumb”, not her “finger”.

    A few years back for whatever reason my parents were discussing who’d done the majority of raising us kids. My mom said it was mostly her, my dad said it was about 50-50. So they came into the room where all four of us were and asked us if we considered ourselves to have been raised primarily by Mom, by Dad, or by them together. All four of us said “Mom” in unison.

    I don’t think there’s TOO much a dad can do when there’s a good mom around. They’ve got a gift, what can I say?

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