And I thought I loved you then

Last weekend, Andy and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.  See, here we are, aren't we cute?

This year our annual anniversary date involved both sets of grandparents (one set took Ben and Maggie, the other Mia), me pumping in the car, a trip to Kohl's in between a delicious dinner at one of our favorite Italian places and then going to see the last Harry Potter movie.  We had let Mia have her first bottle the night before, so she was ready to be taken care of by someone other than me.  We had talked about how it didn't seem like it had been 5 years. . .well, Andy seemed to think that number seemed low. 

5 years ago, we started out on this journey of life together.  With a love of each other, a love of family and friends we could count on.  We got married on what had to be the hottest day of the summer.  It was like 97 degrees, we were married in a church that wasn't air conditioned and had our reception in a hall where the air was failing to keep it decent.  Our groomsmen were discussing powder, and our bridesmaids worried about hair standing up to the heat.  Two days or so before the wedding, we received news that the minister at the church where we were getting married had an aneurysm, and was in pretty serious condition.  Andy's grandparents who we had been hoping to get to the ceremony were too fragile to come in the weather.  We forgot to take my train down for formal pictures, we never got a picture with my parents before the ceremony, and our cake had to be cut immediately upon arrival at the reception because it was looking like it might fall over. 

All in all, we could have called it a bit of a disaster.  But we smiled all day long.  I remember coming out after the ceremony and realizing we weren't sure where we were supposed to go.  We ended up in the room where I had gotten ready, and ended up in front of the mirror.  We were both beaming, and laughing, and I remember looking into the mirror at the two of us all dressed up, and finally married.  The way his hand looked with a ring on it, and my engagement ring growing to be that of a married woman.  We had a poem that was read during our ceremony about the hands of your partner being the hands that would be on your expectant belly someday, that would hold your future child.  And five short, long, hard, easy, wonderful, terrible years later, here we are.  A family of five, just the two of us doing the best we can with the three children we have been blessed with.  We were talking at dinner about how it wasn't at all what we could have imagined it would be like on our 5th anniversary.  

I think of that happy couple, the ones who married with love and hope, and plans to have a family of our own.  Friends have gone, family has passed, love has grown.  We have gone through loss together, infertility together, job losses and depression.  We have brought into the world three spectacular children, have loved them, cared for them, changed hundreds of diapers, snuggled many hours.  We are a Mommy and Daddy now, we are so different from what we were when we got married, but really, so much more.  I can't imagine who we might be now if our plans had gone exactly as we thought they would on that day when we pledged for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, and of course, richer or poorer. 

Andy, I can't imagine our life any other way.  I watch you with our kids, the father you've become, the man you are today, and I know that I am the luckiest woman in the world. 

And I thought I loved you then. 

  

This week's photos have a lot of changes in them.  New stuff going on.  I actually didn't have a ton of pictures to choose from for this blog update.  Shocking!  I am also shooting for short captions since my blogging time is about up. 

I remembered I could french braid and tried it out.  Not bad!

Our friend Gianna came over.  Two year old playdates are fun.  We spent a lot of time on the potty, had food, shared/didn't share toys, had time outs, and a little bit of hitting and a lot of crying. 

Daddy got to feed Mia her first bottle.  She chugged it like a pro and then started wailing when it ran out of milk.  We popped her right back on Mommy until she felt better. 

Maggie woke up in the middle of the night and due to parental exhaustion and weakness, ended up actually spending the night with us.  She slept on me, but as soon as Mia woke up I had to pass her off to Daddy. 

This is why I had to get up that morning.  Bad photo, adorable baby smile. 

She gives those smiles to all her favorite people. 

Head control is improving.   Tummy time is. . . tolerated.

Maggie got her first official haircut.  She looks so grown up and, well, adorable. 

This cracked me up.  I said, smile so Mommy can take your picture!  See who cooperated?  See who is scowling irritably?  See why I don't have any pictures of the three of them?

I love this picture!  Don't mind the jammies.  We both got our hair cut that day!

This isn't exactly new, but Mia's room is almost done.  I just have one more touch ready to go, but not hung up yet.  I realized I never put up any finished pictures.  I LOVE how it all turned out.  Andy painted the tree, and it came out perfect!

Today, we started off the morning with big kid underpants and the Potty Power video.  I think Maggie felt empowered.  Ben peed all over the climber (and thus on the toys that were all under the climber) and then pooped in his next pair of underpants. 

This look I think is something like, "Well you're the crazy one that has been trying to potty train them.  Good luck with that, lady.  Now give me some milk."

5 years.  3 kids.  2 people who fell in love.  I think that kind of math works for me.