the sweetest messages. He knows precisely what to say, to make my day.

Currently the inbox on my phone is filled with Matty-texts. Sadly, it’s so full that I’ve had to start deleting some, to make room for new messages.

[Note to self: next phone needs to have a bigger storage capacity!] 3 years ago

cooking foods requiring the cook to “stir continuously”. Heck, even “stir occasionally” causes problems. Almost invariably (despite his fabulous cooking skills), dishes such as stove-top puddings come to an inglorious end – typically involving a thick layer of blackened muck adhering to the bottom of the saucepan.

Bless ‘im. :-D

Usually the difficulty arises because he:
(a) gets distracted with some other activity (e.g., reading a book or updating 43 Things), or;
(b) decides that “stir continuously” doesn’t really mean ‘constant’. (“Surely you don’t have to stir it continuously?”)

Much as he loves rice, he can’t cook the stuff without burning it to the proverbial. It seems that if I want our (rather nice) saucepans to survive, we will need to invest in an electric rice-cooker.

^{(Guess what we’re getting for Christmas, sweetie!)}3 years ago

lousy patient. Convincing him that he needs to lay in bed or rest is like trying to convince a lemming not to follow the others off the cliff.

Initially, at least. Eventually, he gets the idea and gives himself a chance to recuperate. Doesn’t last long, though – he doesn’t cope well with not being able to move about. 3 years ago

the owner of a mobile (cell) phone. It’s almost as though his energy repels them. A quick tally off the top of my head brings me to a count of three lost since Feb 2007.

Hopefully a kind stranger hands this last one in to lost property – otherwise somebody will be doing some shopping on the way back to the island.

_{I did try ringing the phone, but got no answer. So, I sent a text message asking if the finder would please take it to lost property. Fingers crossed.}3 years ago

that he has some thoughts on how we’ll be spending our time when he gets here.

(Lucky that we have so many interests in common.) 3 years ago

by not only me, but also all of my our family and friends here in Aus.

But I love him the most.4 years ago

one very sexy fella.

_{(Oh, it’s been waaaaaaay too long.)}4 years ago

his legs more often than I shave mine. He’s also better at remembering to apply moisturiser.

(No real secrets here.) 4 years ago

so much for watching birthing movies with me. :P

i think he also feels like his luck has finally turned around for the better now that God has decided to bless him with the first related male in his life since his father. and that wasn’t exactly a blessing aside from the fact that he did half the work to make him. but seeing him filled with joy and talking so much more about the baby… he made the ultrasound picture of Naeem’s profile his wallpaper on his computer. when he did that, my heart danced. 4 years ago

if he eats food containing MSG.

Thankfully, that doesn’t happen often. 4 years ago

and he needs to be heard and story justified during an argument.

this is a bad mix when i get a little testy from the pregnancy hormones. if something enrages me enough during this hormonal blowout, i’ll inevitably fight with him. thing he, he can’t control himself nor do i think he understands these hormonal explosions (i HAVE tried to explain hormonal explosions to him before, like when i first got off the birth control. but even then, he really had a hard time containing himself). and so, he’ll feed the fire by trying to prove something to me, who is already in an irrational state and proving anything to me during this time is just not feesible, and then he’ll get more angry with how uninterested i am at his attempt to prove his point.

hahaha, amusing. 5 years ago

+he is not judgemental
+he is a workaholic at heart and doesn’t realize it till he hasn’t been home for two weeks
+he is not afraid of children
+he’s extremely nurturing 5 years ago

+he will sing to me when i’m getting a needle or blood taken out without embarassment no matter how many people are in the room
+he knows that ice cream fixes everything 5 years ago

+he is just as happy to find out we’re pregnant as i am
+the first person he is dying to tell the most is not any family member, but his best friend since forever
+he is not freaking out (thank god!) 5 years ago

+he’s afraid of more things than I am
+can’t have conversations in bed because he will immediately fall asleep
+is highly sensitive when i put my forehead on his forehead
+doesn’t like it when i bite his side
+likes it when i rub his head and back
+has a difficult time talking about sex
+doesn’t know when things bother him until they aren’t bothering him anymore
+not the type of guy who will drive 100 MPH when given the opportunity. (we were driving through this valley in kern county and you could see for 40 miles all around. the roads were empty and you could tell because it was all farmland and you could see if a car was coming. so we tried it, we were going 80, 90, and almost reaching 100 MPH he stopped and said he couldn’t do it.)
+doesn’t like to spend money on himself
+especially likes it when i rub my butt on him :P
+cooks very well (when he’s paying attention. there have been numerable occasions where he’s cooked wonderful delicious food and then would forget about it and burn it.)
+likes the way i cook my salmon
+makes the best homemade gravy from scratch ever. EVER.
+is good for cuddling
+will [occasionally] endure a chick flick for me
+has generally the same taste in most aesthetic things as i do
+gets all mushy about having children as much as i do
+is destined to be surrounded by females all his life (he is the only son and has 4 sisters, lived mostly with his mom or the women of his father’s life who some of them had 2 or 3 daughters and now there’s me and our two female pets and his sister is currently pregnant with a girl. hah, poor thing!)
+doesn’t get along with alarm clocks (and they don’t get along with him, either!)
+doesn’t go crazy in solitude 5 years ago

And is difficult to wake. His step-dad, P, tells stories about picking a young Matty up in his sleeping back and shaking him… with no result whatsoever.

Once, in the middle of a cold, wintery night in Ashland, I heard the back door of the house slowly creak open… but didn’t hear anyone walk in or out. (The floor boards are so creaky, that it’s impossible to miss people passing through the doorway.) I found that house a bit creepy anyway, so I was a bit disturbed by this. I gently shook Matty.

“Matty,” I whispered. No response. I shook him some more, and desperately whispered again… this time loudly, and directly into his ear. I swear, it took about five minutes of poking, prodding, and pushing for him to finally wake up. I was surprised he didn’t end up covered in bruises.

_{Turns out the door simply hadn’t been closed properly when we came in that evening, and the wind blew it open. But that’s beside the point.}

I’ve discovered that if I kiss him on the back of his neck and shoulders whilst he’s asleep, he makes really cute little moaning noises. I’m easily entertained, so I’d do it most nights. Not sure he has any inkling of what was happening. 5 years ago

within arm’s reach. 5 years ago

Matty truly finds other people’s achievements inspiring and encouraging, and loves to share that with those around him. He’s always surprised when I remind him that not everyone reacts in the same manner as he does. It’s just not in him to feel threatened, insulted or inadequate when others do well.

Don’t get me wrong though. It’s not like he’s the male version of Pollyanna… and thank goodness, ‘cause with my cynical nature, that’d drive me up the freakin’ wall. 5 years ago

with farting when I’m present.

Lucky me. ;-) 5 years ago

And I mean really thick. We used a shaver on the number three setting when we were in Aus and, apart from the struggle of getting the thing through his hair in the first place, it still could have done with thinning out.

Running my fingers through his hair has proven to be a challenge. But I give it my best shot. ;-D 5 years ago

I know I’ve already mentioned this, but it’s worth mentioning again.

He really hates pants. Especially long pants. The shorter, the better. None at all is his preferred option. I suspect he only tolerates wearing them for the sake of avoiding public indecency charges. 5 years ago

Almost too honest. If he tells you he can do something, or is good at something, according to my experience he’s right. There’s no sense of modesty… and he’s certainly not immodest... he’s just telling it like it is.

He’ll also freely admit to what he can’t do, or do well. But that doesn’t stop him from giving it his best try. 5 years ago

Probably because he’s so active. He doesn’t always remember to do this, though… and it’s easy to tell, because it’s just like watching a battery-operated device starting to run out of power.

We’ve learned that it’s a really good idea for him to eat before we go out anywhere. At first I’d ask, “do you need to eat something before we go?” I now know that if he responds with, “I’ll be okay”, it means that we need to feed him before we head out the door.

Breakfast is really important for most people… but particularly so for Matty. We’re getting better at doing this more routinely. It’s been good for me, too. 5 years ago

Odd, in that he’ll usually take out one piece at a time. For example, he’ll dish up food for one person, and get a fork out of the drawer for them. Then he’ll dish up the next plate, and go back to the drawer for another fork.

He does take out enough forks for everyone if he’s setting the table. But only the forks. Mind you, when he was setting the table at my parents’ place, he did get out knives as well. Proving that he does adapt to his surroundings. 5 years ago

I knew he could cook, but I hadn’t experienced just how well he could cook. The first time I really noticed this was when he cooked breakfast one morning. Delicious, perfectly-cooked scrambled eggs, spinach and toast. Oh, and a fresh tomato sauce/salsa thing that he just whipped up using some of the tomatoes from my sister’s garden.

And this guy knows how to season. He loves using spices and herbs. Or, “erbs”, as he pronounces it in his American accent.

Over the last few days alone, he’s cooked a roast, baked some yummy choc-chip biscuits (cookies) and a cake, and last night he made some of the most delicious hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted. 5 years ago