WBD: A Post by my HUSBAND!

Today I'm linking up with Allie from Table For More, (I love her) and Kay from Life After for their weekly link-up called :

This should be fun!  

This week, we were asked to get our HUSBAND's to answer the questions... basically blog for us.  Ummm, Mauricio does NOT blog.  It was pain staking and I may or may not have had to bribe him with "favors" in order to go through with it.  (TMI? Maybe...)

It took him THREE tries, but eventually he hunkered down and did it. 

I sent him the questions to read over and his first response was:

The answer to all of these questions is... boobs

Reeeeeal mature...

So I told him to try again...

His second response was:

I feel like this is a plot for wives to force open conversations about these topics with their husbands.

Can you say STALLING?!  

But finally, third time was the charm.  

Here are Mauricio's answer's for Wedded Bliss Wednesday!  Enjoy!

What was the first thing you noticed about your wife?

-The way she commanded the room and unwillingly had everyone's attention.  Kind of intimidating at first, but it was nothing a little game of "hard to get"  (on my part) couldn't solve.

When you first started dating your wife, what kept you calling/asking her out?

- Well when I first started to date her, she didn't quite know about it because I hadn't actually told her yet so a majority of my efforts were on getting her up to speed with all the date she had missed and actually getting her to agree to join me for one.  Once that was out of the way, I had a moral obligation on behalf of all daters to call her back and try to correct all the mistakes I made from the previous date.  It was a tough mountain to climb, but here we are I guess! 

What is your wife's best quality? 

She's the bravest person I know.  Some would say she's got some crazy chutzpah, or cara-de-pau, or nerves of steel. Things (mostly but not limited to, occurring in some sort of medical environment) that scare the daylight out of me are a walk in the park for her.  But it could also be considered a double-edged swor...uhh, I mean, that's all for this question!

What's your favorite thing to do with your wife? (ahem, keep it clean).

Going on long road trips by ourselves, (or more recently with quiet/sleeping kids).  There's something about being locked in a car with nowhere to hide out or seclude to that inspires bolder/healthier conversations.  Even when we're done talking, just sharing the same exact agenda for a couple of hours is a good thing to do (in moderation of course). 

And folding laundry... that's the cleanest thing I could think of involving me... and her... and random clothes on/around the bed.

What are you most excited for the future with your wife?

Sharing every given experience with her and accomplishing marital, family and financial goals. 

How do you make your wife feel loved?

By letting her choose whatever vacuum cleaner she'd like for her birthday.

Totally kidding!!

By doing the little things; the expected and most importantly the unexpected.  Getting her flowers on a Tuesday, filling up her water cup at night, taking over with the kids when she's had a long day, telling her she's beautiful, listening to her, remembering anniversaries, planning birthday part... errr, umm, just overall being a perfect husband by doing all of these things all the time ;)

He blew me away...

As he usually does.

A Perfectly Ruined Engagement

It was two and a half years into our relationship.

We had survived the "Worst First Date" ever.

We had survived his High School graduation.

We had survived my college graduation.

We had survived moving to another city together.

We were ready.  Ok, I was ready.  He was stalling.

The last 3 months had been a whirlwind of emotions, anger and frustration.  I wanted to get engaged and get married already!  I was ready for our lives to officially begin.  And I wasn't shy about telling him these things... on a daily basis.

Annoying much?
Very much.

And then when it finally came, I ruined it.

Let me back up and tell you the whole story.

It was September 27, 2006.  My best friend Jennifer had just started dating this guy, Tommy (who she would end up marrying and having their first baby girl just LAST week!).  She really wanted me to meet him because he was "the one".  So Mauricio and I met up with Jen and Tommy at a comedy club that was hilariously NOT funny.  We decided to leave after Jennifer almost got kicked out for heckling the comedian.  (It wasn't her first time doing that either).  And we chose a restaurant to meet at.

I was driving the car, and on the way to the restaurant, Mauricio asked me to pull over at a nearby park with a beautiful lake to take a walk with him.  I looked at him strangely.  Didn't he know we were supposed to join someone for dinner in like 10 minutes?  I told him no and kept driving.  I wanted to find out more about Tommy and I thought Mauricio was being rude.

So we have dinner, we both approved of Tommy and then it was time to go home.  I was driving on the way to his house,  and he again asked me to stop at another nearby lake to have a walk with him.  Again, I looked at him strangely, wondering what the heck was up with this guy.  Uhhh, it was like 11 at night. There were homeless people at the park... and wild animals... and bugs.  No!  So I kept driving and dropped him off at his apartment so he could get his car and come back to mine.

When I get back to my place, I close and lock the door and go to the bathroom to pee.  As I'm in the bathroom, I hear a knock on the door.

Why is Mauricio knocking on the door when he has a key?

I say, "Mau, I'm in the bathroom... come in".

Again, a knock.

"Mau! Just use your key and come in!"

Knock... knock...

So I get up, with my pants still unbuttoned and look through the peep hole just to be sure it's him... but I don't see anyone.

"Mau, are you there?"

Then I see him crouched on the floor... hiding from me.

"Mau, I can SEE YOU!  What are you doing?!  What's wrong with you?!"

Then softly and defeatedly, I hear him say, "Can you just open the door please?"

And I do.

And there he was, at my door step, on one knee with a beautiful ring.

I was shocked.  Shocked.

He asked me to marry him, I said of course, and the rest is history.

Later he told me that he had been trying to propose the entire evening but that I kept on blocking each of his advances.  That's why he wanted to take me to the park!

And THAT's how I ruined my own engagement!  But it turned out pretty perfect anyway.  I love that he proposed at my door.  I love that he didn't do a grand gesture... that wouldn't have been us.  We're comfortable.  We're best friends.  We don't need a romantic-comedy-esc scene... we just need each other... with no frills.

At our engagement dinner celebration with the fam!

A Staycation

On Monday I told you all about my horrible honeymoon and yesterday I explained how I had to give up my dream of a fabulous vacation to make way for bigger dreams. 


Today, I'll share with you how even though we didn't share a 2 week vacation through the Mediterranean or a week long drive up the Californian coast, we still had a blast. 


Why?


Because it's not about where you go... it's about who you're with. 


And I love my husband...
He's awesome...
And hot. 


So for weeks before the momentous 5 year anniversary, I had been moping around and sighing and rolling my eyes, making passive aggressive comments towards my husband...
"You don't really love me"
"Yeah, we're getting a house, but I want ALONE time"
"Ugh, I never have a chance to relax"
"You never do anything thoughtful for me"


Can you hear the WAAAAmbulance?  Yeah, that was me.


And all he would do is smile and say, "You're gonna look real dumb in a few weeks".


The day finally came... I've been waiting for 2 years... and he told me that we were going to spend the night in a hotel... he had already arranged for his parents to take care of the kids and take them to church with them in the morning! 


WOOOHOOOOO... 
Aside from Jonas' birth and a hospital stay when I had pneumonia, this was the first time we'd been away from the children.  Ever.  That's in over 3 years.


So we went to a lovely outdoor shopping mall and walked around sneaking in and out of designer furniture and decorating shops, dreaming of how we could enhance our new home.  We were just dreaming... not buying.


Then we went to eat at a trendy little outdoor restaurant that had a little of everything and I got to have sushi!  (This is a rare treat, as Mauricio doesn't like it). 


We stopped by Publix and picked up a bottle of champagne and headed to our hotel to toast our 5 years together there. 


And I slept.  
Soundly.
With no crying children.
No pee-pee wake up call.
No shouts of "MAMA!"


Unfortunately my body is still accustomed to my 7:45 wake up call, that I did in fact wake up, looked at my phone, noted the time, cried out "DANG IT" and went to sleep for another hour and a half.


It's funny because I thought I'd really sleep in... like the days before kids.  You know, wake up at 11:30, roll around for half an hour and finally get out of bed around noon.  But no.  By 9 I couldn't take it anymore... I had to get up.  
Ahh, adulthood.


We headed downstairs and had breakfast in the lobby, which was delish.  I'm always up for a good omelet station.  And Belgian waffles? Yes please!


Once we checked out, it was only 10:30 and the kids were at church, so we wanted to take advantage of our freedom and go to the beach, but on our way there, it began to pour.  At that time, we noticed a church that was about to begin, so we decided to check it out.


Not only did we like the church, the atmosphere, the pastor, the music... but they also gave first time guests FREE movie tickets!  YES!  So when church let out, we figured the kids were going to be on their way to have their nap, so again we took advantage of our freedom and went to the movies!  (This is also a rare treat... we never go to the movies anymore).


We saw Moonrise Kingdom.  We liked it.  When we got out, we figured the kids were probably still sleeping (ok, maybe not but hey) and took advantage by watching a second movie!  Yes, we did just go to church and now we were sneaking in to a movie... shame shame... whatever.  We saw Spiderman.  


So after sneaking away for almost two whole days, we now knew it was time to go back to reality.  Plus I missed my babies. 


When we got home and saw our kids, this was the welcome:
To Mauricio from Marco:
"Papai!!! I've MISSED you, I LOVE you".


To me from Marco:
"Mom!  We went to TARGET". 


Great.  I can feel the love.  Thanks a lot.  So a day is long enough to miss Dad but not long enough to miss Mom.  I see.  


So that was it.  Our Staycation.  And it was so fun!  
Maybe not quite as fun as a weekend trip to New York, but it'll have to do.
For now...

A Horrible Honeymoon

Today I will recount to you a horrible journey that began 5 years ago today... no, not my marriage... my honeymoon.

Every girl dreams about her wedding day... the flowers, the cake, the guests, the DRESS.  But they also dream about their honeymoon... the sun, the sand, the romance, the SEX.

We had our wedding, it was beautiful.  Then we spent two nights in a luxurious and modern hotel in downtown Miami.

 Then we headed off to our exotic week long vacation at an all-inclusive hotel in Puerto Plata,  Dominican Republic.

The first day, everything was ok.  We were a little disappointed with the hotel, but we kinda let it go seeing as the DR is a 3rd world country and all.  The room had a kitchenette, a living area, a bedroom with a balcony and a bathroom... none of which were luxurious.  The worst part was that there was a "window" that was basically an opened wall between our bedroom and the hallway with a wooden shutter covering.  No glass.  Not soundproof.  On our honeymoon.  In our bedroom.  You trackin'?

Anywayyyyy...

We go down to the buffet and the food was good.  I was careful not to drink any water... but I was not so careful about eating salad.

The next morning, I woke up with a TERRIBLE stomach flu.  Terrible.  Disgusting.  On my honeymoon.

I spent the next two days between the bed and the bathroom, not eating a morsel of the food we had already paid for, watching bad Spanish tv.  I was miserable.

And the sex?  What sex?  Sex and a stomach flu just dont' mix!

On one of the days, I was strong enough to make it out to the sand for a few hours and we decided to book an excursion.  I had had big plans of doing several awesome excursions throughout the course of this trip, but we were only able to do this one.

We booked it for the following day.  A bus picked us up and took us through the city.  It was really sad to see the children running beside the bus asking for candy while rich American's tossed it out the window... (I made a mental note to bring toothbrushes to toss out the window the next time I go).  We ended up at a trail where we had to hike through brush and streams in order to reach a waterfall.  From there, we could climb further to see more falls.

 Remember, I had not eaten in 3 days... I had survived on Saltines and Gatorade.  I had zero energy.  I couldn't walk more than 20 steps without feeling fatigued.  This is when I learned that my dear new husband really loved me... he CARRIED me to the waterfall.  Like 5 miles.  On his back or in his arms or over his shoulder.  But basically somehow, we got to the first waterfall... just barely.  Then we had to  turn around and go back... carried again.

I was dragging my @ss... it's about this point where he just decided to carry me.  My shirt is quite fitting, don't you think?

So the next few days continued to be the way the first few had.  I would leave my room for small intervals to go lay on the sand.

this is my sick face... not my sexy face.

I wasn't finally feeling better until the day we had to leave.  It was my happiest day.  I couldn't wait to get back to the luxuries of the States and have some good ol' American food!

I crossed every line that shouldn't be crossed that early in a marriage.  Any noise or smell that he hadn't heard or smelled before the wedding, he certainly had during that trip!  There was no mystery left between us.

So that's the story of our Honeymoon.
Not luxurious.
Not romantic.
Not sexy.

I think we need a re-do, don't you?!

5 Years Strong

Today is our 5th wedding anniversary!

On July 14th, 2007, Mauricio and I said our "I do's" in front of 250 family and friends.  It was a wonderful day! (see more wedding pics HERE)

By July 14, 2008, we had survived a full year as husband and wife.  We were on our own in a city away from family, but had developed awesome friendships along the way.  We knew we were ready for phase 2.

On July 14, 2009, we celebrated our 2nd year of marriage with our first born son.  He was only 3 weeks old and had to be our third wheel on our date night.  He ruined our date... but we forgave him.

By July 14, 2010, we were celebrating 3 years and expecting our second child later that year!  We found out just a week later that it was another boy.

By July 14, 2011, we were finally getting settled.  Phase 2 was officially complete.  And then, we decided to move back to Miami just a week later. (I was really skinny back then... whoa)

Today is July 14, 2012.  5 years in.  Still in love.  Still going strong. And on Tuesday, we will officially be HOMEOWNERS!  Now, there's a GOOD anniversary gift!  Yeah, my husband got me a house for our 5th year anniversary... booya!

Challenge {never} Complete

Remember last month when I posted about a 21 day Challenge?  It was a post for ladies eyes only.  Well, here's my recap.

Although I completed my 21 day challenge, I realized that the challenge is never really complete.  Because it's not a challenge that's meant to last only three weeks.  It's meant to become a life-time change... a way of life.  And it's a pretty good way of life.

I started off really strong.  My first 7 days were really thoroughly planned and recorded.  But then week 2 landed along side Thanksgiving, so I missed a day here and there in trying to plan our holiday... but I didn't throw in the towel, I picked back up where I left off.  By week 3, I figured out the gist of the challenge. You don't have to follow the challenge to the letter.  So by week 3 I began to do things that were not stated in the book but that I knew would please my husband.  I was thinking outside of the box and personalizing it.

What was most striking to me during the whole experiment was just how simple it was.  Really, it took no time at all to be sure that my husband was extra blessed.  Some days it was as simple as taking a few minutes to send him a flirty text.  Or when I'm already out at the store, picking up his favorite drink as a little surprise.  It didn't take much thought and really no time at all, but it blessed him and made him feel special.

Now, since this challenge is intended for MARRIED couples, it's not rated G, if ya know what I mean.  But you know what I think made the biggest splash with my husband?  And it's not what you think... it's not one of those X rated challenges.  The thing he liked the most was when I made the bed.  Yep, that's right.  The day(s) I made the bed, he just went on and on about how nice it was and how he really appreciated that and bla bla bla.  I was like, really!?  Making the bed?!  Not "being in the bed"?!  Oooooookkkkk...

So all in all, I think it went well and continues to go well.  I don't think of things to do EVERY day, but like I said, it's so simple that it's not a chore to do it every day.  And, every day he didn't notice.  In fact, there were many days he either didn't notice or didn't comment.  But that's ok... it wasn't about receiving recognition.  

I realized it was just as much for me as it was for him.  While blessing him, I became blessed as well.  My heart softened just a little bit more towards him.  I was brought back to the reason I married him.  I was reminded that regardless of the kids and the routine and the responsibilities, HE was the one I chose.  And that nourishing our relationship is more important than all the other things.

A Challenge

Ok guys... as in my male readers... this post is not for you.  Don't worry, you wont miss anything fun... I'll just be ranting for paragraphs about girl things, like periods, pre-natal vitamins and placentas.  Ew, gross, right?  Ok, now scoot.

And if you happen to be my husband, seriously, close this page right now.  Not even kidding, just do it.  For real.  NOW.

Ok, ladies, we should be alone now... and if we're not, this is your LAST chance!  Get!

I've decided to challenge myself.  I'm starting The Husband Project tomorrow.  What is The Husband Project?  Well, it's 21 days designed to bless your husband.  It's a challenge to go above and beyond your norm to give extra blessings to your man.  It probably wont be easy, but I hope it'll be fun.

In the book it says that it's for 21 days because it takes that long to make or break a habit.  And in this case, I'd be setting a very good habit into place.  I occasionally think of special sweet ways I can make Mauricio happy, but not consecutively... and not for 21 days in a row, that's for sure.

At first I decided to do this because I was hoping I'd also bring a change about in him.  He is wonderful, but he's not spontaneous and he never splurges on me... and sometimes I want to be spoiled.  He loves me in other ways, but sometimes I wish he was a little more romantic.  So, I thought, maybe if I showed him I could do it, he'd start trying too.

But then, in a matter of a second, God changed my heart about my motives.  My good friends were visiting us this weekend, and my friend pulled me aside and said, "Wow, Mauricio is such a gentleman... I wish my husband was a little more like that".  And it hit me.  Dang, I am soooo blessed already.  My husband has an AMAZING servant's heart.  He cooks, he cleans, he changes diapers.  He gives the kids baths and sometimes lets me sleep in.  He takes care of all the "man things" and even some of the "women things" too.  He's truly amazing.  And, shouldn't I try to go above and beyond for him?  Shouldn't I bless him to show him just how much I appreciate and love him?  Yes!  So, tomorrow I embark on this journey.

Although I wonder how he'll respond and react, I know that I'm doing this just as much for me as I am for him.  Sure, I want to bless him, but I also want to learn to be a more thoughtful and considerate wife.  Sometimes my marriage gets pushed to the second page, that happens with kids.  It'll be nice to make my marriage a top priority and put some real effort into it.

So for the next 21 days, I'll be doing sweet things to try and please my man.  Some of them are simple and silly, while some of them really stretch me out of my comfort zone.  

I'll recap the whole experience when I complete my project, but in the mean time, please keep me in prayer.  I'm sure I'll need it. haha.