Two Years Into Forever

It's hard to believe that A.R. and I have been married two years now. It's been a month since we celebrated our second wedding anniversary (September 6th) and it always amazes me to look back and see how far we've come since our wedding day. We now live in the house we built together in the middle of wedding planning, grad school, and working full time. I graduated with my MBA and A.R. will finish his MS in Computer Science in 2011 (he's in his last official semester now and then it's thesis time- you rock, Babe!). We found out we were pregnant and welcomed our baby daughter into the world. We lost a pet (RIP Sebastian) and we gained a new fur baby to add to our family (I love you Lily "monster"!). We've both lost family members (RIP to my Grandmother, A.R's Aunt, and his Uncle) and gained two more nephews (Benjamin born in March 2009 and Christian born in September 2010).

On our wedding day :) I think our love has grown stronger and I can see our bond continuing to develop as we adjust to life as husband and wife and now as new parents. I hope we continue to build a strong foundation in our marriage and love one another like we did on the day when we looked into each other's eyes and said, "I do". I know our marriage will have its peaks and valleys, but in the end we should always have each other. Its sad for me to admit that sometimes I take my husband for granted and it took a friend of mine going through a rough patch in her marriage for me to realize that. I should be thankful for him everyday. It isn't good enough to just be thankful, though. He needs to know I need him, love him, and appreciate him. A.R, if you're reading this I promise to be better at telling you how much I care, how much I love you, and how much I love being able to call myself your wife. Motherhood has consumed me, but I would not be a mother if it weren't for you, my husband and my best friend. Our family would not be complete without you. Know that I love you and always will...even with baby cereal in my hair, a half undone ponytail, day #3 of sweats and an old t-shirt, and another sleepless night. I look forward to watching our daughter grow up with you, to Saturday morning family cuddle times, to adding more children to our family, to growing old with you, and to experiencing our lives together as husband and wife. I truly am the luckiest girl alive to have you.

To celebrate our 2nd anniversary, A.R. and I went out on a date for the evening. We had dinner on the Essex Steam Train and then hit up the Clinton Outlets. It was nice to get away as just the two of us and spend time talking, bonding, and catching up. The steam train was a fun experience and the food was delicious! The views along the CT river were quite beautiful, too. I think we'll do it again someday for sure. I think next time we'll do the sight-seeing tour and bring Mariela (and maybe her cousins) along.

The inside of our dining car

My meal was cranberry glazed stuffed chicken- YUMMY!