Wedded Bliss

In our house May 29th is a holiday. We celebrate it more than we do most others, because without it we wouldn't have our little family.

A extra special day because it's Brian and I's 4 year wedding anniversary.

In a world where the success rate on marriages is 10%, we choose to celebrate every year as a victory,  like the holiday it should be.  

Today I thought of a few funny things I've learned in our four years of marriage and thought I'd share some of my favorites. 

Starting with.....
 

1. Sometimes to get what you want you must place heavily weighted bets. So if you see Brian wearing his first ever pair of plaid shorts-please note, he bet poorly. 
(So many choices I could choose from!)

 

2. Forcing your hubby to watch too many So You Think You Can Dance episodes with you may trigger spontaneous, competitive car dance offs.  (Videos to come!)

3. Loosing said dance offs may trigger heated high weighted bets over previously mentioned plaid shorts....

4. We each have different roles and wear many different hats in our family. No really we do.  

5. Flowers never get old

 

6. Based on the number of matching superhero shirts Brian has purchased for him and Liam, my husband must still harbor a childhood desire to grow up to be a superhero. 

7. He is always my superhero. (I was always more for superheroes than a knight-in-shining-armor kinda girl.) 

8. 4 years married may feel like 40, but I have a feeling when we get to our 40 year mark, it will feel like only 4. 

Love anniversaries, love him. 

Erasable Love Notes

When Brian and I attended the NOAH Conference for Liam’s Albinism, we sat in on a session called “Team Parenting”. It was geared towards making sure both parents of a special needs child did not feel neglected by their spouse or like they were taking on the majority of the “work load” in the household. Part of the conversation was on making sure that your spouse and you kept in contact daily—in phone conversations, text messages, leaving small notes, etc. Several of the parents gave some examples of things they do daily just to let the other person know that they care like leaving love notes for them throughout the home/work, doing mid-week lunch dates, morning coffee together, or evening walks around the block. (For me, I had heard all of this once before in our pre-marital counseling that we did through our church years ago but Brian said for him, reinforcing it by hearing it again was a good reminder.)

 One of the dads mentioned that his wife stole an idea off of Pinterest and that he and she both use it to leave each other little messages each week. I too had seen this done on Pinterest, I’d even “repined” it 6 months before, but—since my hubby is NOT on Pinterest—Brian had never heard of this. (Laugh all you want but he thought it was cute.) So crafty me, when I got home one evening and had some free time, I put our own together and placed it on our nightstand for him to see. He laughed initially but I bet he uses it eventually. (Fingers crossed at least!)

*If it does not work for our little love notes at least it will work in my kitchen for a to-do list and a weekly menu!

Bonus: It costs under $10 to make (depending on size frame)!!

Picture frame

Choice scrapbook paper

Dry erase markers

Multiple prints and multiple uses: To-Do lists, Menus, Love Notes....

Looking Back on Three Years of Marriage

My hubby and I have been together five years now and married for three of those wonderful years as of yesterday and each year is better than the last. I thought I’d share some of the tid-bits I’ve come to learn throughout “Year Three” during all of our changes and challenges (buying a house, having a baby, family relocating, friends moving and divorcing, etc.). I love that even after 5 years I’m still learning things about my hubby and our relationship with every new day. Take them as pointers or as funny little extras I don’t care, either way I'm still going to share.

Year Three:

• Always put your marriage 1^st—your kids will suffer in a divorce that will not happen if you put your marriage first.
• If you cannot readily recall or remember your last date night…it’s time for another.
• Don’t start fights once you’re in bed…sleep will never come
• Words mean more than flowers, but flowers mean more than nothing
• If by 3 years you’ve never lost a fight…it’s time to.  Being right isn’t always alright.
• If after 3 years he still doesn’t fold his socks… he isn’t going to. Give it up because you need to…...(see next)
• Pick your battles…they are not all worth it.
• Hold hands as often as you can
• Always have a WORKING bathroom vent
• Men work best with a “to-do list”
• Wire hangers don’t warrant the energy for a fight, GET RID OF THEM!
• Always try to out-serve each other—you won’t regret it!
• If you have kids, pray over them nightly together, and lastly…
• Pray together often.

MEMO TO MOM: Have more date nights.

“Us” Time Not “We” Time

Some days, not all but some, I miss the days when it was just me and Brian.  This does not make me a bad mom it just makes me a good wife.  (Not to mention HUMAN.)  After all I did marry the man because I wanted to spend all of my time with him, that’s what marriage is--24/7 with the love of your life.  But with a tiny toddler toddling around, we rarely ever get to spend any “just us” time--and when we do we just end up wanting to nap!  So, on the rare occasion when we get to do something together, even if it’s mundane stuff like grocery shopping or unpacking the house, I enjoy every minute of it.  If we happen to get dinner or a movie in too it’s a major plus!

 But I’m okay with mundane, it’s quality time like any other--and ladies lets face it, they may not admit that one of their love languages is quality time but our guys show it when they don’t get it!  (I know I know, your thinking my hubby’s is definitely not quality time, but come on, it may not be his favorite love language but it has to be on the list or he wouldn’t have proposed in the first place.  Again...Marriage=24/7  See above again.)  So when Brian and I started bickering over where we keep the scissors and our arrangement in our refrigerator, it was time for some “us time”.

So I decided tonight mundane would have to do since our schedules, with his finals and Liam’s therapy, were taking over our calendar.  This is when I dropped Liam off at Gigi’s and ran into town to meet Brian at the end of his work day.  Coffee in hand, we made the best of our hour.  We had been discussing purchasing a screen door for the new house and needed to price quote them as well as the wood for our pergola that’s going to cover the back yard. (See Liam’s Story for more on our upcoming new backyard for our fair skinned boy. The kid’s got to have his shade!) So even though our one hour consisted of walking through Lowe's, hand in hand, discussing and planning our home improvements, at least we had the hour.  And we now have a plan for our porch, bathroom, and yard.
Take that, mundane hour.

MEMO TO MOM: Mundane is better than NOTHING!