Reflecting on One Year

On July 20, David and I celebrated our first year of marriage!  This year has flown by and without a doubt this has been my favorite year!

To celebrate we went out to dinner at Maggiano's.  This is where we had our rehearsal dinner, so we thought it would be a fun place to reminisce, plus it is so yummy!

During our delicious dinner and that enormous piece of cheesecake, we talked about our first year of marriage.  I wanted to come up with a list of questions that we answer each year on our anniversary to see how we grow and change.

After doing this, I realized one of the most challenging aspects of this year for me and also where I have grown the most is in cooking, grocery shopping, and meal planning.  I cannot even begin to tell you how many tears were shed over those three things!  Seriously, looking at ads, cutting coupons, meal planning, grocery shopping, hulling those groceries up to our third floor apartment, cooking the food, and then burning it never ends well :)

Since this blog started as a way to share what I was learning in marriage (and pregnancy... and parenting), I want to try and help other wives out that are trying to figure out all this as well.  My most frustrating moments have come from not knowing what recipes to make or choosing the wrong ones and ending up making a frozen pizza.

I am excited to begin posting more recipes on the blog and tricks I have learned over the year to save money grocery shopping.  One crazy idea I have is to even calculate the cost of every recipe I make to figure out which meals are the most cost effective and which meals will be considered splurges.

We still go over our grocery budget most months sometimes by $5 and sometimes by $30, but we are in a much better place than a year ago!  In other budget categories we don't have as much control over, but the grocery bill we definitely determine and can change!

Keep a look out for fun recipes that I promise taste good, save money, and reduce your stress level :)

If you feel like you are failing in the whole cooking area, I will leave you with this fun story.

In the first couple months of being married, I got really excited about freezer cooking.  David's dad had given us a lot of potatoes from his garden so I wanted to make a lot of mashed potatoes then freeze them for future meals.  I also had recently gotten a Kitchen Aid mixer.  My thought was I would boil the potatoes and then mash them using the mixer.

So, I boil them, put them in the mixer, and turn it on.... and mashed potatoes hit the ceiling.  I cried and some how probably blamed it on David.  Proud moments!

Now, I am much more careful when I turn on the mixer and use a potato masher to make my mashed potatoes!  There is definitely a learning curve!

Gwyneth Eden: Weeks 11 & 12

3 months old!  It both feels like she was just born and that she has always been here.  Gwen is doing so well!  I can't believe this little girl weighed 4 pounds when we brought her home from the hospital.  I wouldn't be surprised  if she is approaching 10 pounds now.  We have been cloth diapering now for a little over two weeks which is a little of an adjustment :)  I think we may be getting the hang of it though.

Gwen's "Firsts": Wearing cloth diapers of course!  I also read a book to her for the first time.. she cried the whole time.  Well, I tried!

Proud Wife Moment: I went to City Flea kid-free last Saturday morning which meant David had Gwen.  We were still in the beginning stages of figuring out this whole cloth thing so I didn't say anything to him about using them.  I thought it might go over better if I learn how to do the whole prefold and snappi trick and then teach David since I am a cloth diaper researching addict.  I left and thought he would use disposable which was 100% fine.  When I got home she didn't have on a prefold, not even a BumGenius.  She has on a perfectly snappied prefold.  Seriously, he did a better job than I do.  Good job, Husband!!!!

Funny Moment:  Gwen is down to pooping like 1 time a day (TMI?)... anyways, I don't like when she poops in her cloth diapers because they are still new and who wants poop on new things?  I told her multiple times that she should only poop in her nighttime disposable like it would make a difference. You would never believe it, but for almost a week after we get her a bath, her disposable, pajamas, and swaddle, we lay her down, and then.... POOP. Seriously!  She listens so well :) We then have to change her and use another disposable which defeats the purpose of cloth, but eventually I will get over her pooping in her pretty diapers.

High of the Week: Gwen coos so much now!  When you smile at her, she starts making all kinds of fun noises.  She is a happy girl!

Low of the Week: This is barely a low... I hate how with cloth diapers they make clothes fit way tighter.  She just moved into 3 month clothes a couple weeks ago and now some of her onesies are tight.  Anyone ever get onesie extenders?  

Something I Learned: I have read on multiple websites that sleeping through the night is defined as 5-6 hour stretches.  Really?!?! I don't really know how that is sleeping through the night because I personally want 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep... minimum.  I can't bring myself to claim she is sleeping through the night at 5 hours.  I can go for 7, but not 5.  If I can function well and not day dream about a third cup of coffee, then that is sleeping through the night.  Don't get me wrong I will take what I can get!  I just thought when I hoped and prayed for sleeping through the night I would get a little more than that!

From now on when I say Gwen slept through the night, that means I got at least 7 hours of sleep without having to feed her :)

Facts for the Week(s): 

Blow out diapers: NONE!
Times sleeping through the night: 10
New favorite accessory: flower headbands
Fun fact: Gwen has a large space between her big toe and 2nd toe

11 weeks

12 weeks