The Leather Anniversary

Being in a couple is hard. And committing, making sacrifices; it’s hard. But if it’s the right person, then it’s easy. Looking at that girl and knowing she’s all you really want out of life, that should be the easiest thing in the world. -Marshall, How I Met Your Mother

Tuesday Match and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. We started the day off with a walk in one of our town parks.

Of course I had to bust out the camera and capture a few shots of my boys. Piglet decided he didn’t want to ride in the stroller-he wanted Daddy to carry him.

They are so handsome!

After the walk, we went for a drive through the countryside, and spent a few hours daydreaming about living there. 3 years before we were still house hunting. We laughed, thinking of where we will be in the next few years. Who knows? Maybe we will be living in the countryside.

That evening we got all dressed up, and headed to a nice steakhouse. Match even busted out his cowboy boots in honor of the “leather” anniversary. We didn’t actually exchange gifts this year, but the traditional gift is leather.

I got really excited because I managed to squeeze into the dress I wore for our bachelor/bachelorette party. The girls were just a tad bigger this time. I am not used to having anything remotely like cleavage, so I was a little self conscious. Match gave a big stamp of approval. 😉

We crossed our fingers that Piglet would be a good little boy and sleep through dinner.  Piglet had better ideas. First he wanted some cuddles, and he decided to read through the menu.

Then he insisted we have a family picture taken by the nice lady at the table across from us.

Finally, he decided that right when dinner was served, he would like his dinner. He couldn’t figure out why mom wouldn’t whip out her tatas, when they were right there. Daddy being the great hubby that he is, stepped up and gave Piglet some expressed milk in a bottle, and allowed mama to finish her dinner.

After only a little fussing, we made it through dinner. Afterwards, we went for a walk in the park across the street. They have this beautiful old footbridge that was just begging for pictures.

My failed attempt at a timed photo. Match’s closed eyes just make the picture!

Our beautiful boy!

On the drive home, we talked about how much we’ve been through in these last 3 years. Last year we were just coming out of the fog of our grief as parents.  Like leather, we were a bit worn out, and a little bit stretched, but we also realized we were durable. This year we had my high risk pregnancy, and then the scary delivery of our beautiful son.

We are now getting into the groove of parenthood, and so incredibly happy to finally be a family. We’ve gone through the typical ups and downs that any couple goes through in the sleep deprived haze of new parenthood. We’ve survived the newborn stage, and now we’re basking in the joy of infant smiles, cuddles, and longer periods of sleep at night. Watching Match love our son, and be such a supportive, loving father has made me fall more in love with him than I ever thought possible.  We’re reconnecting as husband and wife, and we’ve even scheduled a real, honest to god, date night for later this month. I can’t wait to see what this next year brings!