Category Archives: Marriage First

a first-time experience in our marriage

7 Things I Wish I Knew Before Our First Date Night as Parents

Posted on by
3

KissingJeremyBeforeDateNight About four weeks ago, my and Paul’s lives irreversibly changed: We welcomed our son, Jeremy. While I haven’t figured out many things about new motherhood (like how to get more than 5 hours of sleep while still doing the dishes and laundry and feeding yourself and the baby often enough), I have realized that connecting as a couple is more important than ever. Truthfully, my mom recognized this before I did and offered to make the trip to our house to babysit while Paul and I went out–sans bebe–for the first time since Jeremy’s arrival (that’s us kissing him goodbye before we left). The night didn’t go as planned, but we learned some key things that I’m hoping can help you. Continue reading →

6 Big Changes Your Relationship Faces When You Move from an Apartment to a House

Posted on by
1

huge new house

Like our new house? Kidding! Ours is about 1/6 the size of this one in Austin, TX.

In the past two months, Paul and I sold our apartment, bought a house, and moved out of one and into the other. Despite only closing on the sale of our apartment mere days ago, we’ve been living in our house for a month-and-a-half now. Even though our new home is far from a sprawling estate, some key feature additions and expansions have changed a lot of things for us. Continue reading →

Just When I Thought I Was Out, They Pull Me Back In

Posted on by
4

Sorry for the Mafioso title; Paul and I recently started watching The Sopranos for the first time…the day BEFORE James Gandolfini died.

It’s a symptom of your early 30s (in my part of the country anyway): The wedding invitations gradually stop showing and baby shower invitations start picking up. In fact, this year, Paul and I were invited to only two weddings. On May 19th, my friend Jenn married her longtime love, Karina, and then, for the first time in nine years, Paul and I didn’t have a single engaged friend. Continue reading →

The Unexpected Reason I Cried During Last Night’s Wedding

Posted on by
7

Charlian's gorgeous reception room

Yesterday, Paul was a groomsman for his good friend, Ian, as he married his match, Charleen. And I came to Charlian’s wedding (as I called it) prepared with tissues for wiping tears–and my nose–during the ceremony. For a change, though, I didn’t end up blubbering during the vows. Even as my friend, Amber, teared up beside me in a pew of the pretty church, I didn’t once reach inside my bag for a hanky. I also managed to keep it together during the first dance and the parent dances. Despite all that, my mascara was running by the end of the night. Here’s why: Continue reading →

Marriage First: Working from Home Together

Posted on by
Reply

I don’t know if you heard, but there was this hurricane called Sandy in the Northeast earlier this week. Paul and I were two of the extremely lucky ones in New York–no damage to our home or car and we haven’t lost power. (But of course, we’re devastated by the images of destruction in our hometown of Staten Island and the other affected areas.) The storm had an unexpected side effect: forcing us both to do our separate jobs in our not-huge apartment for a few days (and counting), which made me realize some surprising things. Continue reading →

Marriage First: Not Sitting Together on a Flight

Posted on by
6

Paul and I love traveling, so we’ve made it a priority to fly to many destinations together since college. While we’re still not experts at climbing over each other when we need to use the plane’s potty, we much prefer awkwardly stepping over one another to getting personal with other passengers. And we usually pre-load our laptop with movies and funny clips to watch to pass the time on each flight. So when a recent flight was canceled and we were squeezed onto an alternate and soon-departing flight, we weren’t thrilled that our seats were many, many rows apart. Continue reading →