We made it more than 73 days

We made it 5 years actually, we were married December 2nd, 2006. Take that Kim Kardashian! ;)

I will recap the day a bit.
I got J a card (socks per his request and he got me some too) and had a little cake made like the one we had on our wedding day. He had been gone all week so I was so glad to see him and greet him with a surprise. We ate cake for breakfast and Isabel had a bite but that's it!

We took her to gym babies and went out to lunch with my mom friends and their kids (H is a trooper). We spent time together while Isabel napped and then we had dinner that I made which was a version of what we ate on our wedding day. Chicken cordon blue, roasted potatoes and asparagus. Isabel was so sweet, she kept getting up and down out of our laps eating bites of our dinner but not our own haha!

We put Isabel to bed early because she was wining and tired. She didn't stay down so I laid down and so did J so we ended up going to bed at like 8pm.

Romantic huh?

I never thought that on my 5th anniversary I would be nursing a toddler to sleep and that we wouldn't be going out to eat celebrating our marriage. I guess there are many things I assumed or didn't envision about where our marriage would be when we got married on that day.

Going back to the day, I remember it all so clearly. I remember the nerves, the excitement and the way I felt about marrying J. It was simple. It felt right. There we stood in front of God, our friends and family pledging vows that meant forever.

I loved him. I felt God blessed our relationship and I felt that we had what it took to stand the test of time.

Did I fully realize the gravity of these vows? Yes in a theoretical sense. Would these vows be tested? Yup.

We have had our ups and downs as a couple:

Do we have issues? yes.
Quirks? yes.
Differences? yes.

BUT

We have laughter
We have common interests
We have ambitious goals
We love our families
We can make our own fun on a shoe string budget

How have our vows been tested?
Well, first I can say how they haven't been challenged, the love, honor and cherish rings true and the faithfulness too.

Its the 'till death do us part' that kind of threw us. I remember when J was learning how to infuse my IV (hard for him and it was stressful) I remember saying to the nurse " and this is the and death do us part clause right?' I wasn't making light of the vow but just trying to lighten up the mood during a very dark and tough time following Isabel's birth.

I would say that combined all the 'little' issues/tests we had were nothing, even all added up as the experience of Isabel's birth and her first year and how that tested our marriage's strength more than anything.

I am proud we made it, with some battle scars and a deeper understanding of ourselves and each others.

I would say this year 'redefined' us as a married couple. It hasn't been an easy year this 4th year of marriage. But I can honestly say what doesn't break us made us stronger.

Sure we love each other, maybe we don't show it in the typical ways (fancy dinners, flowers on Fridays or all day dates) but we do find ways in between diaper changes, dinner and day to day activities.

Just writing this post has made me pause and think about our marriage for a moment. I do find I get so wrapped up in Isabel (hard not to) but I know J is just as important to me. He is my other half, the one that lightens me up, champions me and accepts me for me.

My card to him went something like this: Thank you for loving me and getting to know every part of me and marrying me anyway. Its true. I am not the easiest person to live with but he loves me day in and day out.

We don't take our relationship for granted and yet it take effort and time (which sometimes we have precious little).

We made it this far and we are stronger for all we've been through.

So here is to 5 years, and 5 more and 5 more after that.....and on and on!