Derek,

For sneaking me an ounce of beer or wine once a week while I was pregnant...
For bringing me dinner at the library on the late study nights...
For cleaning the house when I just couldn't take it...
For carrying me upstairs when I had no energy at the end of the day...
For letting me sleep in on Saturdays and Sundays...
For holding my hair back as I threw up...
For cleaning the floor after the aforementioned incident...
For watching all six hours of Pride and Prejudice...
For buying all those pregnancy and parenting books from Amazon the second you found out I was pregnant...
For giving up the name Cassius in favor of the name Ethan...
For wanting to call him E. Lewis after Meriweather Lewis...
For buying the safest car on the market on a whim so we could be safe...
For sticking up for me when I could not stick up for myself...
For rubbing my back when I thought it was going to break...
For watching the heart monitor all night long without closing your eyes once...
For demanding that Ethan come out "RIGHT NOW BECAUSE MOM WANTS YOU TO..."
For accepting my death grip during the unmedicated 22 stitches...
For changing 90% of the diapers...
For bringing me breakfast in bed for the first 8 weeks of E's life...
For waking up in the middle of the night and changing the baby...
For obsessing about crawling and walking...
For making us laugh so hard we cried...
For promising to love us and protect us always...

Thank you.