Daddy's Little Girl.

Happy Sunday!! 

No confessions today. I promise that next week we will be back to our regularly scheduled Sunday Confessions link-up.

Not today, though. Today I want to dedicate a post to the two most important men in my life.

Dear Michael, 

Happy first Father's Day!! Watching you become a daddy to our little girl has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. As I saw you hold her and welcome her into the world with tears in your eyes, I knew that there was no one else in the world I would rather have beside me on this journey.

Every day I watch you as you hold our sweet baby, showering her with kisses and telling her how much you love her, and every day I am grateful to call you mine. I see the love in your eyes as you put her to bed at night and kiss her goodbye each morning. I hear you sing to her to calm her, and it's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. As I watch these tender moments unfold between you and our daughter, my heart overflows with joy. There is no bond quite like the one that exists between a father and a daughter, and I want you to know that you will have that special bond with our little girl. You are her father - you will love her no matter what, forever and for always, and for that I am thankful.

I love you, Michael. Thank you for helping me bring this sweet spirit into the world, and thank you for being her daddy.

Love, 

Alyx

Dear Dad, 

Happy Father's Day! I hope you realize how much I love and appreciate you. It is really difficult for me to put my feelings into words. I'm so thankful to you for never accepting less than my best, and always pushing me to do better. I'm glad that you let me know when you didn't approve of my choices. I'm thankful for the days you left work early to come to my swim meets in high school. I'm glad that you were always there with a big hug when I needed one. Thank you for tucking me into bed each night with a bear hug and snuggles until I moved out of the house (even though you sighed when your 17-year-old daughter asked to be tucked in, I think you secretly liked that I still needed you).  Thank you for encouraging me to get a college education. Thank you for teaching me the value of hard work. Thank you for loving me in spite of my mistakes. Thank you for being my dad - I wouldn't be where I am today without you.

I love you, daddy!

Love, 

Your little girl

Remember, Remember the 1st of Octember. What Makes Us "Us."

You. Guys. 

It's freakin' October 1st. How did this even happen? I don't know. I also don't know how I've forgotten to answer emails for like, the past week. Or how I totally forgot to pick a blog of the month for October. Oops. I'll get on that asap. Oh, and I promise I'll give you guys an awesome points update later on this week.

Anyway. I guess I'm just a scatter-brain. I'll work on that, but I get the feeling that it's not going to get better anytime soon. In fact, it's probably going to get worse. A whole lot worse.

So. I was talking to that husband of mine last night on the way home from his parents' house (yes, we had a wonderful time, yes, I have pictures, yes, I will share them eventually) about us. We had a few questions about our relationship that we tried to answer.

What makes us a good couple? What could we do better? Why are we awesome? Why do we suck? I've compiled a list of it all (and sprinkled in some pictures of us, just because I can't handle a post without photos... and I wanted to make you all sick).

-- We talk about everything. Poop, cats, babies, movies, family, friends, hopes, fears, dreams, loves, hates, wishes - we talk about it all. There is no such thing as an uncomfortable topic for us.

-- We always work out our arguments... eventually. There are days when we fight over stupid things. I mean really stupid things. There are days where these arguments get out of hand and last way longer than they should. There are hurtful words that are said, but we always work things out. It may take a day or two, but we resolve them.

-- We hardly ever cook. I don't know what we do, because we don't ever eat out, either. I guess we just fend for ourselves or something, but we could definitely use some more time at the dinner table.

-- We sometimes ignore each other. Instead we pay attention to things like computers and video games. Our precious time "together" is spent worlds apart.

-- We're besties. I think that's pretty self-explanatory.

-- We laugh - a lot. There's not a day that goes by that roaring laughter isn't heard in this house. I love that about our relationship.

-- We are selfish. We each have things that we want, and aren't always willing to sacrifice for the other person.

-- We share. I realize it is ridiculous to say this after I just barely told you how selfish we are, but I promise we share. Unless it's the leftover pizza in the fridge, then Mike eats it all. RUDE.

-- We love deeply. Obviously. Our marriage wouldn't function if we didn't love each other more than we love ourselves. Yes, we're each selfish, yes we fight over stupid things like leftover pizza. Yes, we can be overly sensitive. Yes, we know what buttons to push to make each other mad. Yes, we sometimes want to rip the other person's face off. And yes, we have days where we just want to be alone.

You know what, though? That's marriage. It's not easy, but when you love each other more than you love yourself, those things don't matter. The problems, the struggles, the fights - they are so small in comparison to this thing that we have called love. 

They say that love conquers all. You know what?! I think they're right. Love is an amazing thing, and I'm happy and incredibly blessed to have found it with Michael.

What makes you and your significant other awesome? What could you do better? What do you have that makes your relationship special or unique? 

If you don't have a significant other, what do you look or hope for in a relationship? 

Two Years. I Guess it's Time for a Sappy Post.

Why hello, my little Lovemuffins. 

Is that one word or two? I'm just gonna leave it at one.

Anyway. Today is August 10. That might not be a significant day for any of you, but it is a pretty important day to me and the husband. I even marked it in my planner. Right alongside my dinner plans and Mike's work schedule, see?

And don't go all hater on me for having to write it down - I'm super busy and would probably forget to get dressed in the morning if I didn't get so chilly after showering.

Okay, I got way off topic there. This is supposed to be a mushy post about how much I love and adore Michael and how happy I am to be with him. But you know what? I feel like he knows that, so I don't need to tell the world.

       

Instead, I'm going to tell you guys how much fun I have with him... and take a little journey through our second year of marriage in pictures.

Right before we left for Germany, we got anniversary pictures taken together. 

We moved to Germany in August and were welcomed by craptastic weather that didn't stop the entire time we were there.

             

 We went on a ton of trips - many cities in Germany plus France, Spain, Scotland, and the Czech Republic.

We spent some time Skyping with the family and friends we missed back home.

 We flew back into Kansas and spent some quality time with my parents.

 We played at the lake.

 We spent the 4th of July with Mike's parents in the Black Hills.

Now for the semi-mushy stuff. 

Michael - In the past year, I have come to love you more than I ever thought was possible. You are my best friend, my confidant, my companion, and my favorite trouble-maker. We have so much fun together, and I love that about us - our relationship is never too serious, and I think that's perfect.

              

I love that you love me for who I am, even though I'm easily stressed, high-strung, ridiculous, and sometimes get lost in the future instead of the present. I love that you let loose and aren't afraid to be yourself with me. I love your bear hugs, your smile, your stupid jokes, your teasing, your ninja coding skills, your "woman" jokes - I love it all.

Thanks for a great two years - I can't wait to see what the future brings. Maybe a mini-you? He'd have me wrapped around his little finger. Except I hope he doesn't look quite as... interesting as this little guy... girl... thing.

Oh, and in case you were looking for it... DAY FOUR, PEEPS!! After this week I'll just do weekly updates. 

True Love is...

Seeing your wife looking like this: 

Realizing that she's crying and saying things like this:- I just wanna be a fat American! - I want a sausage McMuffin, donut, and cupcake with frosting!- I want my car!- I'm not ready to go home! - I hate Germany!- I don't want to pack my life up again! 
And then promptly grabbing the camera and getting the whole thing on video. I'd share it with you guys, but I was wearing my underwear, curled up on the bed in a ball. Maybe I can get Hubby to separate the video from the audio, and I'll share it with you guys, because it's hilarious. Sadly hilarious. Until then, here's a little gem that he took about a year ago.