My Partner in Crime

When I wrote my post yesterday, I realized that I didn't make any mention of my partner in all of this parenting. Since today is his birthday, I will devote this blog to my beloved soulmate and partner in crime. Tim Watt is one of the most amazing people that I have ever met. He is wonderful husband, an amazing provider, and most importantly, a super, excellent daddy!

Tim works hard at a job he hates, to provide a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. It is a huge responsibility to take on the care of 5 kids and a wife (luckily, I'm really a low maintenance person). He is so talented in his woodworking skills. If you want to view his stuff, you should check out his website www.lincolnfurnituredesign.com (I know, a shameless plug, but it is my blog). He isn't perfect by any means, and he will be the first person to tell you that. He is, however, perfect to me.

When it comes to parenting, we don't always agree. Me being a Psychology Major, I tend to try to find the whys behind the bad behavior. After figuring out the underlying cause, I use different methods depending on the behavior to correct it. Tim just tells me that I am looking for excuses and I just need to punish them. He always resorts to putting the kids hands on the wall, regardless of what they have done. (Putting hands on the wall is a type of timeout where the children must "assume the position" of a person being arrested by a police officer for a certain amount of time that varies for each child.) I prefer natural consequences and positive

reinforcements, but the way we work together is a great balance that, I think, works for our family.

It is so much fun to have my man home. When he comes home from work he doesn't just kick back and watch TV or anything like that. He makes it a point to find out how my day was and to see if I need help doing anything. There are some days (like last night) when he comes home and makes dinner. He likes to help me cook and it is one of the best things that we do together. He loves to grill and he also enjoys dutch oven cooking, (we compete together and win prizes! It is so much fun!).

We all sit down as a family and eat dinner. This is when the kids get to talk to dad and tell him all about what is going on in their lives. I believe this is a tradition that is not done enough in this hurry-through-it world. After dinner is when he gets to unwind and relax. He usually does this by watching a show on Hulu, (he tries to make them kid friendly until the kids go to bed), or by playing a few games on the computer. If we are running low on funds, he will go out to the garage and work on his furniture. There are some days that it seems he never stops working.

Weekends are the best with Tim around! He is such an adventurer. If we can't go camping or hiking or something else like that, we find a park so he can go coin shooting with his metal detector. This is one of the kids' favorite activities, because if they stick around, he always hands them what he finds.

When you see him, he seems a bit intimidating. I know there are many people that don't think he is the perfect specimen that I think he is. He is gruff sometimes and he doesn't like people to break through his shell. Only the kids and I really get to see the wonderful man that he is. The rest of the world usually gets to see this side of him:

To us, he is funny and smart. He keeps us stable and he keeps us happy. He is a rock in our family that we know we can count on. He does silly things that make us laugh, he is thoughtful and loving. I don't know what I would ever do if I didn't have him to help me raise these kids. Our family is whole thanks to the amazing man that helped to get it started. So, happy birthday My Love! You are the most wonderful person to have ever entered my life.