7 Quick Takes

The blog has been pretty quiet recently. I've found lots of things I'd love to write about, but I just haven't had time. Since we returned from our anniversary getaway, life has been crazy. And next week looks even crazier. So I had to take a break from all the craziness today and share my seven quick takes. I apologize in advance for the photo bombing that's about to begin.

1. Matthew has outgrown his toddler bed, and Noah has almost outgrown his crib. So we had some major decisions to make about the bed situation. We plan on moving in the spring and buying a house (God willing), but until then, we will need to set them up in this house for sleeping. After a lot of research and discussion, we decided to go with bunk beds. This means that Noah will completely skip the toddler bed phase, and I am okay with this. We found a black wooden bunk bed frame from IKEA, and we will add a bed rail to the bottom bunk to keep Noah safe. I had so much fun ordering the kids bedding this week, and I have been picking up wall decorations when I see them to redecorate their new room. Goodbye, Elmo and Pooh. Hello, Steelers! :) It is going to be great. :)

 

2. Matthew's first preschool pictures came in this week, and they are adorable! I love the group picture the most. The picture is adorable and so funny. I love how Mary is behind them all. It's awesome.

3. I am obsessed with Sara Evans' new video, Slow Me Down. She is by far my all time favorite singer. I have met her twice and seen her in concert numerous times. She is one of my idols, and it has been three years since she put out new music! That's too long. Take a second to check it out. You will be happy you did. :)

Me and Sara Evans in August of 2004....wow I'm old!

4. I made some time this week to bake for my dad's company's Cash Bash fundraiser tonight. They do a dinner buffet and dessert table and are always looking for donations for the dessert table. Since I love to bake and inherited my grandma Kay's baking skills, I always volunteer. This time around, I came up with the cupcakes below. Seriously, they were soooooo easy to make. And they're cute. 

5. Brian gave me the sweetest, most romantic anniversary card ever last week. Most of it will remain private, but I just had to share the fact that inside the card he taped two tickets to a football game we had attended 6 days into our relationship. Later that day, we prayed together for the first time and later that night, we said I love you for the first time. It is a day I will never forget....and apparently Brian didn't either. I didn't even know he still had the tickets. It really made my anniversary. 

6. Matthew gave one of his closest friends a birthday gift this week. He loved the entire process of gift giving. He had such a blast picking out the present, wrapping it, decorating the card, and then finally presenting the gift. It was so cute to see how much joy he had in the whole process. At the end, he totally attacked his friend with a hug. He's a little more of a hug person than she is apparently, but it was still cute. If only arranged marriages were still the in thing....

7. This picture pretty much sums it all up. This is my goal at the end of the day. I fail almost daily and sometimes hourly at doing this, but I am trying. And I saw this graphic on facebook a few days ago and just really liked it. I think we will be using it in our talk on NFP. It says it better than I ever could.

Have a fantastic last weekend of October! Time is truly flying by! :)

Our Anniversary Getaway

This past Friday, Brian and I left town around 1pm and headed up the Wine Trails just north and East of Erie in North East, PA. We didn't return until around 2pm on Sunday, and we had the most incredible time together. It was so peaceful and romantic and just the perfect way to celebrate five years of marriage. It is so easy in our crazy, hectic weeks to go days without really having a full conversation. Our lives are filled with quick kisses and a "make sure you do ____ for the kids," in between jobs and activities. It was a great delight to have 48 consecutive hours together alone. We spent a good deal of money to make this weekend happen, and we would do it again in a heartbeat. (We may already be discussing ideas for our ten year anniversary.) We know that weekends like the one we just experienced are rare, but also so important. And we know they will be easier to make happen once the kids get older. For now, we are holding tight to our great memories from the past weekend. Here are some pictures from our awesome weekend. :)

I started off the weekend early by sending Brian a balloon bouquet at work the Thursday before our anniversary. Note to every female coworker he has: He is totally taken. ;) lol

The cute computer background I found waiting for me when I got home from work on Thursday night. :)

The gorgeous, long stem roses Brian had waiting for me in our suite at the B&B. I love pink roses!

All dressed up for a fancy dinner in my new, smaller dress from White House Black Market. Thanks, Christi, for helping me get into shape!

After dinner selfie on the night of our anniversary. Filet Mignon is delicious!

Our king sized bedroom with a built in fireplace. :)

Whirlpool bathtub. :) We had a sitting room, too, but I forgot to photograph that.

Wine sippy cups do exist. :)

Best selfie of the whole trip. Wine tasting is fun. :)

Our haul from the wineries. (We also bought two additional bottles as gifts.) I think we visited about a dozen wineries total.

All of the cards and gifts from our fifth anniversary. We are very blessed.

We both agreed that we really do love being married. Our favorite part? The fact that we can dress it up like we did for our anniversary dinner but then run home and get in our sweats faster than you can count to ten so we can be "comfy." We also both enjoy the fact that we love sports and just enjoy sitting back and watching college football on Saturdays when the kids are napping. And the biggest thing we love? The fact that we share our Catholic faith. That's pretty darn cool.

I Could Never Love You Enough

Five years ago today, I married my best friend and the love of my life. So much has happened in those past five years, and we have lived every part of our vows. We brought two beautiful sons into the world, and said goodbye to one beautiful daughter. We've laughed and cried and seen the best and the worst in each other. Through it all, I wouldn't want to have anyone else by side besides Brian. He is kind, patient, understanding, caring, loving, compassionate, faithful, and the list could go on and on. I am beyond blessed and so thankful that he chose me to be his wife and partner throughout this journey of life. When I envisioned my husband, I never imagined someone so perfect and so right for me. He is my better half and together we are complete. Without him, I couldn't be the woman or mother I am today. I love him beyond belief and have fallen more in love with him each day since our wedding. I cannot wait to spend many, many more anniversaries with him by my side. Today, I am beyond blessed. God is good. I really Could Never Love You Enough. :)

I heard so many times "You've got to take love slow"
Well, that's just something said by unsure people who don't know
What it's like to fall when you fall with all your heart
Wantin' to be together every second you're apart
Must not know what it feels like to feel like this
Longing for each other moment, waiting for each kiss

I could never love you enough

I could never hold you too tight

Never give too much of my heart

Never spend too many nights

With my arms just wrapped around you

And a million stars above

Baby, I still can't believe I found you

I could never love you, never love you enough

 

Seems like the time we're given always goes too fast

Before I know it with you girl the future is the past

Seconds turn to hours, the hours turn to days

It seems like you're always leavin' when I'm wantin' you to stay

Cause I could spend the rest of my life with you mine

And still it'd only be like a few seconds in time

 

I could never love you enough

I could never hold you too tight

Never give too much of my heart

Never spend too many nights

With my arms wrapped around you

Underneath a million stars above

Baby, I still can't believe I found you

I could never love you, never love you enough

Seven Quick Takes

So I should be napping (seriously, sleep this week has been very little), but I can't not participate in 7 Quick Takes, so here we go!

1. Pittsburgh Catholic Mommas made the cover of Franciscan Way, the magazine from my Alma Mater. It was an honor to be featured there, and it makes me smile a little bit more about where I went to school. How many other universities would want to feature a Mom's Group on their cover? Not many. Nope. Not many at all. I am very blessed.

2. Christi met with me this week and started me on Phase 2 of her workout plan. Oh. My. Goodness. My legs are jello, and my abs just hurt. But you know what? It feels so stinking good! I love it and love her. The workout is definitely a challenge for me, but in a good way. I even overhead another woman at the gym say as I was jumping up and onto a box, "Wow. That's amazing." Oh yeah. :)

3. Noah has been teething terribly this past week. He is 16 months old and until Monday, he only had 7 teeth (the top 4 and bottom 3). Well, that all changed rapidly. Suddenly, he got a low grade fever, got a clear runny nose, became inconsolable, stopped sleeping through the night, and his gums began bleeding. So far, he has gotten two molars in completely. And I counted at least six other tooth buds ready to burst through this morning. I feel bad for him and he won't eat. I don't know what else I can do (we do IB Profen round the clock and Oragel). Matthew never had this hard of time with getting teeth. I am beyond exhausted, and I am tired of seeing my usually happy baby in pain. I am thankful that this too shall pass and selfishly thankful that it's happening before the holidays come along.

4. The boys and I picked up a Cake Boss cake to celebrate Abby's birthday a week late. We had plans to celebrate last Saturday night, but Matthew ended up getting really sick. Anyways, I LOVE Cake Boss. It all began when Matthew was first born and wouldn't sleep at night. I watched every episode of the first season of Cake Boss about a dozen times when they were being rerun at all hours of the night. At one point I was sure I could make all of his cakes in my sleep. He came to Pittsburgh this past April and gave away cakes for free. Matthew and I went down to Market Square and each got one. That was a crazy experience. (People were ready to fist fight. Cause we're classy like that in the Burgh.) The cakes are delicious, even though they are refrigerated, and I am excited to try the Red Velvet tonight.

5. Here are some pics from our outing to get free Cake Boss Cakes (And yes I did just make one quick take into two. Score!)

 

The cake we are eating tonight. :)

 6. Two weeks from now, Brian and I will be on our way to Wine Country in Erie to celebrate our five year anniversary. I am beyond excited. I cannot wait to finally have some much needed one-on-one time with just my hubby. And also we will get to sleep in! Yay! Plus, there's wine. And I really like wine. :)

7. Speaking of our anniversary, Brian and I have a new little picture and featured blurb on AveMariaSingles.com Success Story part of their website. It's kinda cool. That site is so special to us, and I highly recommend it to anyone. It was some of the best money I ever spent to join. My life would be drastically different today without it. Check out the new Success Story Page. :)

Have a great weekend! Happy Friday!

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

From our first Christmas "In Love"

Six years ago today, Brian and I said "I love you" to each other for the very first time. We had been dating for five days and had know each other 17 days. Some of you may be saying, "Wow. That was fast." I'm pretty sure it gave my parents heart attacks (and when Matthew announces that he and his girlfriend of a week have said those words to each other, I may have a total internal melt down), but for us, it was totally perfect. Part of it had to do with the fact that we met online. Those first six emails we exchanged were long and in depth and took hours to write. We learned a lot about each other right from the start. But we also spent our first two dates talking for hours and hours. We loved learning about each other and did it pretty quickly. It wasn't hard to fall totally in love with each other. And I can't even pinpoint the moment I realized I loved Brian. At some point, it just felt natural to think of him and feel "in love" all at the same time. Neither of us hesitated the first time we said those three little words either. There was no awkward pause. It just flowed naturally. That same night we both discussed marriage and decided at that point that that was where our relationship was ultimately headed. It was a night of revelations. And it's one we always look back at fondly.

All that being said, I had never said "I love you" to anyone outside of my family before Brian came along. At sixteen, I had discerned my vocation was to be a wife and mother, so I never wasted my time dating the guys at high school (pretty sure they weren't interested in the crazy Catholic girl either.) I had been interested in several guys in college and had gone on a handful of dates, but the relationships never progressed past "friendship" (some never even got to that level!). All of that also meant that I'd never waste those three precious words on anyone else. I wanted to say them to my future husband and to him only. They were words meant just for him and give them away to someone else would somehow cheapen their meaning in my mind.

I can't say what a HUGE blessing that has been for our relationship and marriage. I got to discover what love is and how it works with Brian. I had no one before him to discover that amazing adventure with, and because of that, Brian and I are even more bonded to each other than we would be otherwise. I didn't have a fear telling him I loved him because I knew I was meant to marry him and that meant that he'd never break my heart. I wasn't scared to put it all out on the line because having never done it before, I didn't even think that it may backfire at some point. My future spouse would never hurt me, and so I need not worry that the love I felt for him wouldn't be returned. It wasn't stressful or scary to say "I love you" the first time.

Having saved those words for Brian has also made him realize what an incredible he was getting to be the one to hear me say them for the first time. I remember how beautiful and innocent he found the whole scene. And how touched he was that he was the one God had chosen to hear those three precious words. He felt honored and took the job of protecting my heart and treating it delicately very serious right from the start.

To me, it made sense to save "I love you" for my future husband. First and foremost, I didn't want my future husband out there running around and telling some other girl that he loved her. So why would my future husband want me out there telling some other guy I loved him even if it wasn't really love? That thought just hurt my heart (and honestly, it was something I had to work hard to overcome in our relationship. Even Brian will say when he said those words before he never truly  knew what it meant to be in love until he met me, and that helps a bit.) I have never been one to believe that you can be "in love" multiple times throughout life. Love means sacrificing yourself for the good of your beloved. That kind of love is not found in teenage relationships. (Of course, there's always exceptions to the rule.) It's not found in the flirtatious college relationships where you wouldn't dare bring the other half of the relationship home to mom. Love is deep and intimate. You can't be deep and intimate with more than one person in a lifetime. Or at least I can't. God forbid something ever happen to Brian, I'm pretty sure I couldn't remarry simply because I'd always be in love with him. I'm pretty certain I could never love again. (And I get some people do remarry and love again, but for me, emotionally, it just wouldn't work.)

I can only hope and pray that I somehow pass on this idea and sentiment to our children. I'm not sure how to do that, and I'm not really sure how my parents passed on such an idea to me without me knowing they were doing it. I hope one day I get them to understand that words are powerful, especially love. Love means so much more than being giddy and happy and just attracted to another person. It means be willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING to make the other person happy. Love doesn't contain the selfish idea of "I." It is all about someone else. I hope to teach them that love is what they see on the cross. And until they are willing to totally give their life for the other person, those three words have no business in their relationships with the opposite sex. Ultimately, though, I hope they can look at Brian and I and see how very much in love we are still are and think, "I want that." And realize that the only way to get "that" is to play their cards like we did. I pray they love their future spouses enough to save everything for them, including three of the most important and unfortunately, overused words in the English language.

To end, I love you, Brian. I have since six years ago, and I always will. Thank you for loving me like you do. :)

Five Faves

1. *NSYNC Reuniting!

I can still do parts of this dance to Bye, Bye, Bye. Yet I can't remember anything about Physics. Interesting. :)

I loved every second of their performance, and I only wish it had lasted longer. They still got it going on almost 10 years later! Love them. Totally made my week, and yes, I have watched it over and over again. Lance is still my favorite. (Yeah, I know that's strange.)

2.Cartwheel App by Target

So many of you probably already know about this awesome app, but I just happened to come upon it this past weekend. Basically, you put the app on your phone and then add deals to your cart. When you go to the checkout, you have them scan the bar code on the app and the discounts are automatically applied. On top of that, you can use coupons and get the deals that are already on in the store ad. Pretty cool. It saved us a bunch of money shopping there last week. You even get discounts on milk!

3. Teen Mom 3

As if Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2 weren't enough of a train wreck, now comes another group of young women to show us just how hard parenting is as a teenager. So why is this a fave? Do I enjoy watching young girls make messes out of their lives? No, not at all. But I do happen to believe that this show does in fact do a wonderful job at explaining just how hard being a teen parent can be. I would hope other young girls watching the show learn a lesson through these young women who are brave enough to share their stories. I only wish they had featured another couple like Catelynn and Tyler from Teen Mom who chose adoption. In a round about way, the show is extremely prolife, and I think it does a much better job of showing teenagers what parenthood is all about than that goofy mechanical "Baby Think It Over" doll.

4. Long Weekends

I have five, glorious nights off from tutoring starting tomorrow night. I am pumped. I love my job, I do. But I just need a little break. The month of September is already booked solid (and actually overbooked some weeks in the case of cancellations) and I know leaving the house Monday through Thursday at 4:30pm and getting home at 9:00pm is going to be exhausting! But it brings in money, and I can't complain. For now, I can just focus on the much needed nights off. And Brian has a three day weekend (as do most Americans!), and it's always great to get some extra sleep and family time in.

5. My Hubby

Six years ago yesterday, we officially became a couple and have been one ever since. That conversation about whether or not we should date exclusively has to be one of my favorites. Why we even needed to have the discussion is beyond me. We were already holding hands and cuddling. Becoming a couple was the next natural thing! But we did have that awkward conversation, and I'm glad. We never took a break from being a couple either (No typical Franciscan mid courtship break up going on here. That wasn't for us, but I totally understand why it could be a helpful and good tool in a relationship at a certain point) and will live that way for the rest of our lives. He is my best friend, and I love him more than anything else in the entire world. Who would've guessed that six years after becoming exclusive we'd be married with three kids? Wow. A lot can happen in six years for sure! I am so very blessed.

Me and my Prince :)

7 Quick Takes: Our First Date Edition

Six years ago tomorrow, Brian and I went on our first date. In honor of that, I'd thought I'd give a run down of that AMAZING date for this version of Seven Quick Takes!

1. My parents had gone out for the night and that meant I was alone to meet Brian when he arrived at my door at exactly 6pm. (Looking back now I was totally crazy for meeting a stranger off of the internet alone at home, but, hey, I was young and naive.) He showed up with a white rose, and my heart literally stopped. Not only was he amazingly good looking standing on my doorstep, but he also came with a white rose. I had always had this thought that my future husband would bring me a white rose.

The white rose Brian brought me for our first date. I have it in our Memory Box dried out in the basement.

2. We set off in his car and headed to Station Square to park and then planned to take the incline to a place on Mt. Washington where Brian had made reservations. It was the hottest August Pittsburgh had seen in decades. The temps reached near 100 degress with 100% humidity. The incline ride was brutal, but we were having so much fun chatting and getting to know each other that it didn't bother us all that much.

3. Brian had made reservations at a place called the Shiloh Inn. If you visit it today, you will see it's pretty family friendly and has a sports bar atmosphere. That's not what it was like six years ago. Six years ago, it was candlelit and romantic. There was a story about how it was even haunted by the mistress of the original owner. The lighting was soft and the conversations were quiet and private. It was a great first date atmosphere. It was everything a first date dinner should be. Brian pulled out all the stops for romance, that's for sure.

The Scene of the Crime about 5 years later :)

4. After dinner we headed back down the incline to Station Square. We walked around for a little over an hour just talking. I stopped off in the bathroom at one point and disappeared for a long time to have a texting conversation with one of my dear college friends, Elizabeth. We were both pretty excited for me!

5. Eventually, we grew bored with Station Square and there was some stranger concert going on, so we decided to head back to my parent's place. I called ahead first, and my parents graciously enough made themselves scarce by the time we got home. So we had the whole living room to ourselves.

6. We talked for hours and hours and hours. No subject was too personal. We both felt like we couldn't learn enough about the other one fast enough. A little after midnight, Brian decided he head to make the drive back to Steubenville where he was living at the time. Reluctantly, I walked him out. We shared a hug before we parted ways and promised to talk the next day. It was one of the longest goodbyes I have participated in!

7. We both knew that something special happened between us that night. And we both knew that we had found our future spouse. Those realizations, although we wouldn't share them for another week, were so exciting. We just knew we had each found the one. As Brian drove away that night, I was already looking forward to the time in our lives when there wouldn't be anymore goodbyes. I was excited for our future ahead.

Our first picture together taken right after our first date.

I love you, Brian! What an amazing journey that first date started us off on! So blessed and so thankful!

The Best Email Ever

Six years ago today, I was just beginning my career as a teacher. I was fresh out of college and single, which is not a good thing after graduating from Franciscan University. If you don't earn your MRS degree while you are there, you are deemed hopeless to ever earn it off campus in the real world. But for the first time in my entire young adult life, I was okay with being single. I had decided to focus on my career and put my heart and soul into teaching.

Then I came home from new teacher orientation on Wednesday, August 15, 2007. In my inbox was a message from Brian via AveMariaSingles.com. I inwardly cringed at first because I had already had some not so successful dates (one guy didn't drive well at all and refused to follow my directions to get back home. Talk about awkward!) and conversations with others via online dating. I was tired of trying so hard just to meet Mr. Wrong over and over again. Then, I read Brian's email and profile. I hesitated to respond at first because of the 10 year age difference between us (whoops, guess I just let that secret out of the bag!), but my mom encouraged me to write him back. And boy am I happy I did.

From that first email we were inseparable and moved at lightning speed through our relationship. Looking back at it now, it honestly exhausts me. Here's a Reader's Digest version of our courtship:

August 15, 2007: First email

August 19, 2007: First phone conversation

August 24, 2007: First Date to Mt. Washington (super romantic, btw!)

August 27, 2007: Officially began dating

September 1, 2007: First time we said, "I love you."

February 14, 2008: Got Engaged

October 18, 2008: Said, "I do."

So almost exactly fourteen months after that first email, we were married. In some ways it was the shortest time of my life, and in some ways those fourteen months dragged on forever. But we just knew from the first time we met in person that we had each found "the one." People ask me how I knew, and I can't answer. It was just a feeling and words can't describe it. But I can say for sure that when I looked into my future from our first date on, I couldn't picture doing anything without Brian right beside me. 

Looking back now, our courtship was such a fun time. Brian worked as the assistant men's basketball coach at Franciscan (Go Barons!) during their inaugural year in NCAA DIII. I went to every single game except for one that was an away game during a snow storm. I was their biggest fan, and I loved every minute of it. I had goofy tshirts that I wore to the games that I had made, and I was more than proud to be the coach's girlfriend. We joke that I spent more time on campus during my first year as an alum than I ever did as a undergrad! That team became my adopted children, and I still keep in touch with some of them today. (Maybe they all liked me so much because I baked cookies and cupcakes for them for every single game!) I was and always will be their biggest fan.

Off of the basketball court, we spent every free moment together, and since we lived in towns 45 minutes apart that sometimes meant not getting much sleep. I was probably more sleep deprived than I am now, but back then, I was younger and in love and it was easy to deal with. Most days I didn't feel that tired, even as a new teacher. I was head over heels in love with the greatest guy on the planet, and I was loving life. Who really needs sleep anyway? (Um, this sleep deprived Mommy...) Being able to spend that much time together on a daily basis allowed our relationship to grow and move quickly, and I think that's just how it was meant to be. We weren't meant to be engaged or date for a long period of time. That wasn't us.

Brian completes me in many ways, and as controversial as it is to say this in Catholic circles today, he is my soul mate. He is my other half (and definitely the better half.) He is my best friend. He knows me like no one else can. He is patient beyond words and lets me cry when I need to. He constantly thinks about how he can make my life easier and better and is the most selfless person I know. When we lost Abby he spent hours tracking down the last season of Gilmore Girls so I could have something fun to watch during the week I had to take off of work. Who does that? He does.

He is the most generous person I know and would give you the shirt off of his back literally. He has a way of calming me down when I get all worked up and stressed out and anxious that no one else can accomplish. He has held my hand when two of our babies were born. He was right beside me when Abby died, and I got super sick and needed medical intervention. He would never turn his back on me.

He is the most faithful and devout Catholic I have ever met. Maybe it was his time in the Carmelites, but wow! This guy knows his faith and practices it every day. He calls me on to be a better Catholic.

Over the past six years, we've had a lot of good times, too. We swam with dolphins together, cheered the Steelers onto victory at Heinz Field, enjoyed a tour of Wine Country for our six month wedding anniversary, gone to dozens of country concerts, and shared lots of laughs.

But my favorite thing about Brian is watching him as a father. Our children adore him and he them. Just getting to watch the three of them build a sand castle at Lake Erie last week was enough to make me fall in love with him all over again. I have one heck of a husband, and I am beyond blessed.

Over the years, we have had our share of ups and downs. And sometimes I wonder if we had moved slower if we would have saved ourselves some of our toughest times in our marriage. The answer is no. Marriage is work and hard no matter how long you date beforehand. You will have really good times and really hard times no matter what you do to prepare beforehand. That's marriage. 

Today is also the Feast Day of the Assumption and on that note, I always look back and thank the Blessed Mother for bringing me and Brian together. She worked something really cool out for us, and I ask for her intercession every day to make me a better wife and mother. Without her intercession, Brian and I wouldn't be together and we wouldn't have our three beautiful babies.

Letting Go and Letting God was one of the best things I ever did, and I will never in my life get an email quite as exciting as the first one Brian sent...not even the one I got on Monday telling me I won a contest to meet Rascal Flatts! ;) His email to me will forever be my favorite.

I couldn't resist adding a few of my favorite pics from our courtship. Enjoy!