Saturday, September 26, 2015

I loved you first.

Dear Husband,

I can't believe you turn 31 years old today.  You're one sexy old man, you know it?  

I remember a year ago being on maternity leave, spending every minute of downtime I had planning your surprise 30th, all while our sweet little newborn slept soundly on the couch next to me. Now here we are with a beautiful, fiercely independent and headstrong one year old, toddling around the house.  I love that little girl with all of my being, but I hope you know, I loved YOU first.



This past year has been full of long days and sleepless nights. Sometimes we barely scrape enough energy to kiss each other goodnight, let alone actually touch one another.  Even though there's not a ton of romance these days, just laying in bed next to you is my favorite. As we grow our family and eventually have sleepy little kiddos crawling into bed with us on a stormy night, I hope you always know that I loved sharing the bed with YOU first.  

These days, most of our kisses go to our sweet baby girl, but I still love YOUR kiss the most.



Often, we reserve our hands for Lara.  Holding her tiny little fingers in ours as she learns to walk all on her own.  But when we steal a night away, I still love the touch of YOUR hand the most. 



Evenings are full of sippy cups, chicken nuggets, teddy bears, and puzzles; followed by diaper changes, bath, pj's and bedtime.  When our Lar-bear is finally fast asleep, I love sitting on the couch with YOU the most.  

A year ago, we gave our hearts to that tiny, 6 lb baby girl.  

But I hope you never forget that 8 short years ago, after a few too many butterscotch shots in that double wide trailer bar, I gave my heart to YOU first. 


Happy Birthday Handsome.


I'll love you forever,
Your Wife

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Hello.

Nice to meet you.  My name's Anne.  I used to blog here on the regular but decided to take the summer off. 
 
A blogging sabbatical. 
 
Ok, where did we leave off? 
Summer 2015 in a nutshell: We sold our house, moved in with my parents, I started a new job, bought a new house, hired contractors to remodel new house, fired contractors and did it ourselves, Lara turned ONE, and no, I'm not pregnant with baby #2.
 
 
Let's break down the house thing.
 
Pre Move In
 
 
We closed on our new house toward the end of May but didn't move into until June 11th.  We crammed all of our things into the garage, packed a few suitcases and stayed with my parents for a couple weeks while the contractors remodeled the house. 
 
It was such a well laid out plan...so we thought. 
We ended up firing the contractors the day we moved in. 
 
I'll never forget sitting on the couch with Jon that weekend; looking around at the walls that needed paint, the kitchen that was missing cabinet doors and our hardwood floors that were totally ruined from the contractors who had done absolutely nothing in the house those few weeks.
 
We were overwhelmed to say the least. 
If it weren't for our selfless family, a few amazing friends and a very patient baby,
our house would still not feel like a home. 
 
 
I'm going on the record saying all those house flipper people are absolutely out of their frickin' minds.  I still to this day can't watch any of those shows on HGTV. 
 
I mean, who signs up for this shit?  Not I, ever again. 
 
In fact, I've told Jon I'm never moving again.
That ship has sailed. And quite frankly, I think he agrees. 
 
This summer there were tears, there was sweat and there were more tears.  My husband, usually quite calm in demeanor, even lost his shit a few weeks before Lara's birthday party. We had invited over 50 people over to our home for her party, most seeing it for the first time, and the pressure was on. 
 
I always knew I married a hard working man, but damn did I ever.  He painted, ripped off the old deck, built a new deck, took care of our little girl, hung light fixtures and ceiling fans throughout the house, worked full time, ripped out our old kitchen countertops, installed tile floor in our bathroom, refinished our hardwoods, installed screen doors, took care of our little girl, installed new toilets, new faucets, hung backsplash and painted some more. 
 
Best way to test a marriage?
Purchasing a "fixer upper."
 
 

 
 
Needless to say, after spending our summer covered in sweat & paint, we have thoroughly enjoyed these past few weekends relaxing at the lake with our sweet, baby girl and some great friends. 
We forgot what relaxing felt like.
 
 
 
I fully intend on getting back in the swing of blogging.  I've missed it.  I've missed YOU.
Thanks for your patience while I did "life" this summer.
 
 
Xoxo,
Anne