Its a Hero

marriage

‘Tucky.

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Well, it may have taken us 7 hours to make a 5 and a half hour trip, but we finally made it to Kentucky — or ‘Tucky, as Ari so lovingly refers to it — last night.

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It turns out traveling with two kids, both of which refuse to sleep in the car, is about as fun as you might imagine.

Chad had the pleasure of navigating construction and rush hour traffic with a screaming — practically hyperventilating baby — in the car.

And I was ‘snuggled’ between the kids car seats in the back — in a desperate attempt to calm Remy down (newsflash — it didn’t work).

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But such is life. We survived. And our travels were safe! That’s all that matters.

However, we’re all kinda in ‘recovery’ mode this morning. Groggy. Sleepy. Sore.

Now bring on the fun! Catch ya on the flip side, friends! xo

Happy Father’s Day.

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Seeing Chad morph from boyfriend, to husband, to father of our children has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. I’ve talked before about watching him, quite literally, turning into a father during the delivery of Ari. It was… emotional. And intense. Watching the love he immediately had for our children changed me, too.

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So it’s with a super happy heart that I wish my husband (and all of the other dads out there!), a very happy Father’s Day!

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And here’s a total overload of pictures in honor of Father’s Day.

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PS. I’m letting my husband have a “day off.” He’s going to see a movie, solo! 🙂

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xo friends. ♄ ♄

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Life Lately // June 2016

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This post originally started as a “weekend wrap up” … OVER A MONTH AGO! Like, I’m talking APRIL. But life just got extra busy and the sleep started to get even harder to come by. So I was failing at putting words into sentences. Heck, most of the time I’m still struggling to put logical sentences together!

I swear, in between the Remy Bea drama (yes, I’m calling her newborn nonsense “drama”), we have had a bunch of fun(ish) things going on, too!

I have, like, 300 things on my to-do list. At least half of which are action-items for this here blog. But last weekend I ditched my to-do list — and my email, twitter feed, and online presence — and I lived in the moment!

Our First Baby-Free Date //

My mom has been up to visit several times over the last month. And one of the days she was visiting, Chad and I took full advantage of “Mimi!” We went on our first date without the kiddos! Yes, I realize that it should be obvious that a date doesn’t include kids; but that’s rarely the case. Seriously.

On our “Big Date Adventure” we went to Choolaah Indian Barbeque in Beachwood. Choolaah is a Chipotle-ish, fast-casual, Indian restaurant. We’ve been meaning to try it for a while, but kids. Always those darn kiddos! Ha!

 

We swore that since we were childless for a meal we would slow down and actually enjoy our food; but of course we inhaled it, as per usual. But we absolutely freaking LOVED our lunch! We both left satisfied and eager to come back to try it again! Next time we’ll even bring the kiddos!

Post-lunch we headed over to Trader Joe’s for some serious shopping. We had just gotten our chest freezer the previous week and we were aching to fill it up with some frozen goodies! We’ve been avoiding the TJ’s frozen section for a couple of years now since we’ve been without a chest freezer (’cause we will seriously buy all of the things!).

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We seriously ended up with a giant cart full of goodies… but somehow we made it out of the store in what seemed like record time. … But that’s what happens when you are shopping with kids! It’s too easy! Ha! When all was said and done, our date ‘day’ ended up being a date ‘three hours.’ And that includes about 60 minutes of drive time. Ha! Pathetic! 🙂

But, ohhh, what a lovely three hours it was! ♄

Playdates in the Park  //

We are so lucky to have a park right behind our house (literally. right behind our house. we frequently find children wandering onto our deck because they want to play with ari’s toys and can see them from the park.). It has a full playground and a wading pool for small kids!

And every single day, Ari asks “Mommy, can we go to the park behind our house?” And it’s hard to say no when he can look out the window and say “I see my friends in the park!”

So we go. Even if it’s just for ten minutes. We go.

Columbus Weekend Trip  //

While I wish my mom and my sister lived closer, it’s nice being able to take a whole weekend away to go to Columbus and visit. My mom will drive up from Kentucky to Columbus (about a 2.5 hour drive), and I’ll drive from Akron to Columbus (about a 2 hour drive), and we’ll all spend the weekend together.

Well recently my brother-in-law had to go out of town for the whole weekend so my mom and I drove to see my sister and have a girls (plus kids) weekend!

 

We enjoyed many a-fun-things while in Columbus! We ate lots of yummy food, went to dinner at the Rusty Bucket, played board games, sipped CBC Bodhi, and helped my sissy register for her must-have baby items!

Also? Donuts from the Lil’ Donut Factory! I saw them years ago on the Food Network and ever since, I make it a point to get a donut on every Columbus trip!

It was a fantastic weekend! It was a fairly ‘normal’ weekend; but it was awesome because I spent it with my family!

LEGO Americana Exhibit  //

The LEGO Americana exhibit toured our area mall recently and I was so eager to take Ari to see it! First of all, historical sites for the win! But also? Legos. All. the LEGOS. Ari freakin’ loves Legos. In a big way.

We walked around Beachwood Place for over TWO HOURS. Ari held his “treasure map” and kept saying “Mommy – let’s go see more legos!”

Be still my Mommy heart! ♄ ♄ But seriously. It was totally, totally, awesome.

Workshops Galore!  //

Home Depot, Art Museum, Legos, and Lowes — OH MY! I absolutely LOVE the kids workshops that are available to us. And I’m surprised how many families don’t even know about them. FRIENDS. If you have kids, register them for as many of these workshops as possible. They are FREE!

Making all the things  //

I’ve been trying my hand at a few recipes. (Related: I hate those “tasty” videos you see on Facebook). They are YUM!

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So yeah. We’ve been busy. A good busy!

PS. Other things have suffered. Mostly cleaning, laundry, etc. But these are the moments, people!! These are THE moments!

 

Happy Birthday //

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Last week my husband celebrated a birthday. Not a ‘milestone,’ but a birthday, nonetheless. And I? I had a blog post half written (which I later discarded, because it was nonsense made of half-written sentences) and a toddler that just wouldn’t cooperate.

But we ended up recovering the whole situation. We had really awesome-ish birthday.

Because, even though I had this big day planned for my husband, nothing went as planned. For one, he had to work. Boo hiss. So by the time he got home from work, he was exhausted. But Ari and I had a couple of things up our sleeve(s)!

First we got the best takeout ever. Sure, we would have loved to have gone out to dinner. But? Toddler + baby + tired parents = takeout. And, although we had planned to make him a cake, we ended up buying him an incredibly decadent chocolate cake! And it was perfection!

So, no, we didn’t have the birthday celebration I hoped to have had for him, we did have a fun family birthday night (which ended promptly at 7:30! Ha!).

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And now? A letter to my love:

I can’t believe what we started was (nearly) 8 years ago.

I can’t believe how much has changed.

But mostly? I can’t believe that what we started.

A life together. A beautiful, tragic, wonderful, exhausting life.

From the moment we started talking, I knew you were the one.

From our first date, I knew I loved you.

Love at first “conversation” is a thing.

I’ve been in love with you from day one.

Sure, things aren’t always easy. But I wouldn’t trade you for the world.

So happiest of (belated) birthdays to you!

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PS. Our children are adorable.

xo

Marriage, Anniversaries, and Making It Work

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Today is our 4th anniversary. I honestly can’t believe it’s been four years already — I’m certainly not saying that in jest. I literally mean, I cannot believe that Chad and I have been together for 8 years. I thought a couple of years together was a huge milestone, but now that we’ve been together for 8 years — and married for FOUR of those!? — it’s pure insanity.

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Ahhh The Pre-Baby Years! AKA the years before marriage! PS. I’m aware that I always take pictures on the right (my left). So in, like, every picture of us, we are on the same sides. It’s funny.

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Ari looks at these pictures and says “Mommy, you’re a princess!” Except he pronounces princess as princes. It’s quite possibly the most adorable thing ever.

I can honestly say that our wedding day was one of the happiest days of my life. And not for the “Oh-my-gosh it was a huge event and wonderful” sort of reason. Because it wasn’t a huge affair at all. Actually, we eloped. And it was the most perfect day — and perfect weekend. ♄

We woke up that morning (in our giant king-sized fluffy bed at the Inn By The Sea) and went straight to our couples massage. None of this “you can’t see me on our wedding day” nonsense. In fact, since we were completely alone with no other family around, it was perfectly necessary to have my (soon-to-be) husband at my side!

Post-couples massage I went to get my hair done at a local salon. That was pretty much the only time we were apart from each other the whole weekend. And everything about it was perfect. Seriously. Everything. ♄

In the spirit of always trying to keep it honest here on the blog, I’ve admitted, fairly openly and honestly with friends, that things were way easier before children came along. Really. Things were way easier before kids were added to the mix. No, children aren’t the problem. But they just make things way more difficult.

I mean, I know so many people who have said “You have to make time for date nights once a week/month/etc.” but it’s not always possible. We don’t have a babysitter we can trust. And it’s awful. Work schedules and exhaustion are for real issues. It can create resentment and communication issues.

We’ve been there. We’ve struggled. And we’re still riding the roller coaster.

So how do you forgive? How do you move forward? How do you reconnect with your spouse?

Enter Marriage Fitness — a program created by Mort Fertel, a world authority on the psychology of relationships. He has an international reputation for saving marriages and an online program to help!

Traditional marriage counseling and most relationship books offer problem solving strategies and communication skills. But tackling marriage problems stress-out a relationship and make a bad marriage worse. And did you ever try to communicate when you’re angry? That doesn’t work either.

Marriage Fitness is an innovative step-by-step relationship-changing system that teaches you how to save your marriage. You’ll learn to neutralize your problems and put into practice a system of relationship habits that will shift the momentum of your marriage. And the best news is—you don’t have to dig into your past, dredge up your problems, or practice communication techniques. This is not marriage counseling; it’s Marriage Fitness!

In addition to working with couples, he teaches individuals how to single-handedly transform their marital situation. People from all over the world schedule private tele-sessions with Mort Fertel and seek his counsel by joining the Marriage Fitness Tele-Boot Camp.

We’ve used this program to work on our own issues. After Ari was born we had a serious breakdown of communication. And not communicating is quite possibly the worst thing that you can do in a marriage. We became strangers just passing each other, barely speaking. But with the help of Mort’s program, we worked through it.

I’m not saying that we don’t encounter bumps in the road still. We do — heck yes, we do. And adding another kid into the mix hasn’t done us any favors; but we return to this program to help get our marriage back on track.

Mort’s Marriage Fitness program is endorsed by marriage counselors, therapists, relationship experts, and mental health professionals. Subscribe to his free report, the “7 Secrets to Fixing Your Marriage” here!

And to the love of my life — regardless of the ups and downs and craziness, there’s no one I’d rather ride the roller coaster with! ♄ Here’s to another 4 more!

Celebrating Real Love.

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I’ve never been one to care much for Valentine’s Day. It’s not out of spite; it’s just that I feel like it’s a totally silly holiday. Personally, I’d rather show my love for my partner throughout the year, in forms of small gestures, than spend one day on one grand gesture.

In fact, the only reason we even semi-celebrated Valentine’s Day this year was by accident. Since my mom has been in town, Chad and I decided to go on a dinner date. We spent most of our dinner in a semi-zombie-like state, in awe of real food without a toddler climbing on us, sitting in silence. Ha. But still, it was lovely. ♄

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Still, I much prefer the small gestures. And luckily, they are aplenty in our home!

Real love is when your husband records The Bachelor for you when you forget.

Real love is letting your spouse sleep in late while you wake up with the fussy toddler.

Real love is having dinner ready when your husband gets home from work.

Real love is agreeing to see a movie that you don’t particularly want to see, but one that your partner really wants to see.

Real love is re-watching a Netflix show you’ve already seen so your wife can catch up to where you are.

Real love is doing the dishes after the other has made breakfast/lunch/dinner.

Basically, real love happens in the simple moments; not in the moments that are well-thought and planned. Nope. It’s those small moments that truly make my heart melt. ♄ ♄

Happy Valentine’s Day, friends. Remember to show love every.single.day. Not just today. xo

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And here’s a little throwback to celebrate my love! 🙂