A quick note about Coleman

I have a wonderful husband.

Even though we had to spend a good deal of the spring semester apart, he has always been interested in hearing and reading about the developmental progress of the plus one. Whenever he was around, and even more so now that he's around all the time, he always wants to feel the baby moving and it never ceases to affect him when she does ("giddy" is probably the most apt description I can offer).

He talks to the belly (we used to do this on speakerphone when he was in Richmond, but now he can do this in person) and he reads to it.

He is always willing to give me a massage or a foot rub and he never complains about having to fit into our small bed with me, my belly, and my pillow nest.

He regularly tells me I'm "doing a good job with all the baby-making" and encourages me by telling me that I'm going to be a great mom.

He lies to me constantly and tells me how beautiful I am and how cute I look pregnant. I encourage this dishonesty wholeheartedly!

He lovingly told me to go ahead and buy a fancy maternity dress that I found (really on sale, but still quite pricey compared to what I normally spend on clothes) because I had nothing to wear to my cousin's wedding a week and a half ago, and then he lovingly agreed to overnight it to me when I left it in Dayton. Oops... He could have been really hacked off at me, but he wasn't. I appreciated it, especially since I was already so peeved at myself.

He unselfishly told me to use a gift card he received for Christmas for maternity clothes and baby clothes. He's pretty great like that.

While I was out of town, he spent quite a bit of time cleaning and organizing the apartment, including the baby stuff that we're not really sure where it's all going to go! Who says women have to be the ones to "nest"? He even took the time to make me a cd to replace a beloved mixed tape once made for me by my friend Elizabeth, just so we could get rid of an old portable stereo whose cd player no longer works but was the only remaining tape deck I had. (In the interest of full disclosure, he got no small joy from being able to get rid of this, but the point is that he spent so much time on something that would make me happy and that would allow me to be comfortable acquiescing to the stereo's removal.)

He attended 12 hours of birthing classes this weekend, and is currently reading a book on dad-coached childbirth. He's been assuring me that he'll do whatever I need to support me during delivery, and affirms my choices and my priorities - whether about pregnancy, labor, breastfeeding, whatever... I truly appreciate the trust and confidence he has in me and my convictions, and the credit he gives me for having read and talked and learned about these things enough to know that I'm doing the right things for us. He has somehow struck a remarkable balance between being kinder and gentler with me when I have needed it without making me feel like pregnancy is a "condition" or that I'm in need of being taken care of. I've never felt stronger or more powerful as a woman, and he affirms that and doesn't minimize it (even though he's gotten in a few wisecracks about "women's intuition" being a crock - sorry baby, but I couldn't get too sappy here without a little tattling...).

Now, I'm not claiming that he doesn't still make me crazy sometimes (and I'm certain he'd say the same about me), but he tells me all the time that he loves me more than ever, that he's excited about this next stage in our lives, and that we're going to have a wonderful family. I hope everyone reading this has someone who tells them things like this regularly. It makes life pretty good.

And life is good.

Just thought you all should know...