Another Semester Down, Porter Stories, and Book Talk

Today, another semester was accomplished.  I am pretty ecstatic about that concept, and so is Trent.  This is it.  He has one. more. semester. left at BYU-Idaho.  If the Engineering program could have stepped it up a bit, we could have graduated this semester.  But we are sticking around for TWO stinking classes.  Trent graduates the second weekend of April (I think it's the 9th?), he accepted the job offer and his new job starts June 6th.  We have a baby sometime around May 4th, and the last day of May we will most likely be leaving Rexburg.  Really.  This is the last stretch.  When I think about Trent's graduation day, I get emotional.  I know I will be a wreck that day. We have just come so far together. Anyone else feel like the Thompson's have been in school for forever.  Yeah, me too. We had these big dreams, big plans, and big ideas for ourselves when we got married.  And we are knocking one of dreams off our list.  Also. Let's talk about Porter for a second.  Gosh, Trent and I just love that crazy toddler.  The other day, we were at McDonalds for McTeacher night.  A portion of the proceeds are given to the teachers.  Another co-worker and her TWO kids (ages 3 and 1), were there too.  I sat next to them because I thought Porter would behave better sitting next to other kids. Nope. My child was all over.  Her children sat politely at the table and ate their food.  Never wiggled out of her arms, or ran around the restaurant in between people's legs, or threw their food across the room.  About ten minutes into the event, I knew we were going to have to jet.  I grabbed our tray and thought, I'll run to the trash, throw the food in the garbage, put the tray on top, and run back.  It will be 5 seconds. Tops.  Welp.  In those five seconds, Porter managed to climb on top of the table and start dancing and jumping while my friend tries to hold her sweet girl and grab him down.  I hear, "Ummm... Chelsea?" before I even hit the garbage can.  Oh Porter. Also. I started reading this book yesterday: My friend and I were talking about life and she said she had just read this book and it totally changed her relationship towards her husband.  I just replied with, "Oh. That's nice."  Because honestly, in my head I was thinking how Trent and I are pretty solid and did not need marriage help.  Then she said, "I'll bring it tomorrow so you can read it too!"  And I was like, "Oh... okay."  I mean, how do you tell a girl -- "that's great, but my marriage is fine so I don't need your help." I'm not that forward. The next day she brought it and she told me to tell her what I thought after I read it.  I didn't know what to do.  Then, came the thought, listen lady, your marriage isn't perfect all the time.  So if this book can give you even the smallest advice to make your marriage a little more harmonious, then it's worth it.  And.... I really like it! She brings up, so. many. good. points.  Now, she isn't an LDS author, but she totally believes in those traditional values. She just very, very forward about it.  If you are into the feminism movement, this book will probably offend you, And I mean that in the nicest way -- just a cautionary thing. She brings up feminism a lot and how it is a destructive way of thinking.  So there is my warning. Honestly, she just really believes in putting your husband first, which might mean making meals, looking nice when he comes home, and concepts similar to those.    Some things apply to us, and some things don't. So you have to take some of her advice with a grain of salt. But it's a refreshing and bold point of view. And I like it!  I read parts out loud to Trent, and he loves this lady. Haha!
Here are two points I love so far: She talks about this woman who called her radio show and told her a personal experience.  Every Valentines Day for years, she expected this grandeur expression of love from her husband.  Her friends would tell her the wonderful things their husbands did on Valentine's Day and she expected her husband to do the same.  But every year, he didn't meet her expectation and she would silently fume for weeks after.  Finally, she approached her husband about it and he said, "I show you I love you three hundred and sixty-five days a year, but if this one day isn't perfect, then none of the others count?"  Guilty.  Our first Mother's Day together went through our mind (I posted about it awhile ago). I totally played that game.  And it's a losing game for all parties. Another point I loved was we were married first -- then we had children (usually).  She said, "just because you gave birth does not entitle you to ignore your man." She also said, "Some women begin to think that their babies are the center of the universe, and their husbands are just supposed to hang out like Uranus and keep revolving around then whether or not they're getting anything back."  Guilty again.  I am not the best mother by any means -- but I only have so much time with my baby in a day. As soon as I get home, I feed him, play with him, and do fun activities with Porter.  I expect Trent to just figure out dinner and other stuff out himself -- he is an adult so he can deal.  Plus I am exhausted -- which she puts that excuse to shame.  Plus, it's just not the right attitude to have. Anyways. I'm on page 40, so I'm interested to see how the other 100 pages turns out.  But for now, I am going to take these next two weeks and snuggle with my three favorite boys who really are my entire world.