In year 2 of marriage, no one asks you how married life is anymore. That seems to be reserved only for the first year after marriage 🙂 So since no one is specifically asking us anymore I thought I’d document it here so I can look back and see how our relationship is growing.
This year’s wedding anniversary looked a lot different than last year’s. Last year, we were living in Ottawa. Our amazing tenant cooked us a mouth-watering steak dinner. We drank champagne and even watched a movie in our backyard. This year, we’re living in Port Alberni, with newborn twins and Mike’s parents cooked us a lovely anniversary prime rib dinner for our big day.
Lessons Learned from Year 2 of Marriage
- I don’t have to do it all. With being pregnant from December until the end of July I have spent the majority of this year getting ready to welcome the twins into this world. The twin pregnancy was not easy for me. And while I’ve always been the one to organize groceries and do meal prep, this year Mike really stepped up and did the majority of the grocery shopping and became a chef in our household to ensure we were well fed. His dinner creations were amazing and I hope they continue.
- When creating a honey-do list for weekends I’ve learned to only present Mike with 1 – 3 items on the list so I’m not giving him an overwhelming amount of things to make or do around the house.
- Mike will never enjoy hanging pictures so I just need to step up and do that myself in our relationship LOL.
- Mike is definitely learning that it’s ok to share his feelings with me and that he doesn’t need to power through them on his own. He is a very stoic man and very rarely shows stress. I’m learning more and more of his signs so he has a hard time hiding things from me and the more I ask him to open up the more he is learning to let go of bottling everything inside.
- It’s ok for me to be utterly vulnerable in front of Mike. With the twin pregnancy this year, I was reduced to experiencing many vulnerable moments in front of Mike this year. From peeing myself mid-way through the pregnancy to having accidents around our house that he would offer to clean up. To have him care for me almost completely in the hospital after birth complications. We have definitely reached a new level in our relationship where I’ve gone from embarrassed to nonchalant around the state of my current body.
- Bad days will happen. And some really crappy ones happened this year. I had to remember our wedding vows to remind myself of the promises I made to love my person more than the bad days and obstacles that would come between us. I know they make us stronger whenever we encounter them and communicate through them. However, some bad days this year were really tough and I’m not going to lie but this year really tested me. However, I love the man I married and promised to love him as he developed into the man he is today and continues to develop into the man that he will one day become. I promised him that I would love him unconditionally and every year seems to bring us a situation where this concept is proven time and time again.
Here’s to our next year together!