Celebrating 6

On December 22nd, Travis and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. Now that’s crazy! In some ways it feels like it’s been a lot longer than that, but it also feels like it’s flown by…

This year, we didn’t go on any fun trips to celebrate like we did last year (wonder why?!), but we did manage to go out to eat BY OURSELVES! We were in Trussville, so we had built-in babysitters (Gramps and Rae Rae–thanks again!). We were really looking forward to eating dinner without little miss B, and the evening did not disappoint.

We went to Fleming’s at the Summit, and it was one of the best meals we’ve ever eaten. (It should have been for the price we paid! More on that in a minute…). It was one of those restaurants where we automatically knew when we got there that we were out of our league :) We skipped the valet parking and decided to park the ol’ Mazda ourselves…haha. Once we got inside, the hostess gave me a rose (we’d made reservations, and they knew it was our anniversary), and she showed us to our table.

Our waitress was really great, and she was at our table almost immediately after we were seated. She asked us what we’d like to drink, and we both told her we’d have water. We knew it wouldn’t be a cheap meal, so we figured we’d save money on our drinks. Her second question took us by surprise: “Would you like still, sparkling, or tap water?”. I’m sure I looked completely flustered. I knew what tap water was (duh), and I was pretty sure about the sparkling, but still water? I was about to order tap water when Travis spoke up. “I’ll have still.” I was pretty sure he didn’t know what still water was either, but we were both too embarrassed to ask. I was just going to get tap water, but the waitress offered to bring some still water to the table for both of us, so I said that was fine.

A minute or two passed, and the waitress returned with what looked like a wine bottle…except it held water. The label read “Acqua Panna”, and it stated that it was “bottled directly from the source in Tuscany, Italy”. Uh oh. This was definitely not going to be free.

The water did taste good…definitely better than regular old tap water. We drank some while waiting on our food. They brought out some bread, and Travis got a salad with his meal. Before long, we’d already drank half the bottle. Whoops…

Our meals were awesome! I got the colossal shrimp skewers, and Travis got the prime rib dinner. I’m not sure that I’d ever tried prime rib before, but it was great! My shrimp was kind of spicy, and his side dish (chipotle cheddar mac and cheese) was too, so needless to say, we were out of water pretty quickly. So guess what we did? Ordered another bottle, of course! We weren’t sure how much this water was going to cost (the menu didn’t list the price), so we decided that we better finish off that second bottle too. Gotta get your money’s worth, right? We ended our meal with their signature dessert, the chocolate lava cake, and it was definitely a great choice. Yum! By the time we were finished, we were both STUFFED. It had to be because of all the water we drank! ;)

The moment of truth finally came. How much were our “cheap” drinks? Almost $14!!! OUCH! I guess you only live once. All I can say is that we would be broke if we ate (or drank) at restaurants like that regularly. We would also be broke if Travis still tipped like he did on our honeymoon (you’ll have to ask him about that if you don’t know the story…hehe). It’s nice to splurge for a special occasion though! In the future, at least we’ll know what “kind” of water to order at fancy restaurants though :)

This year has definitely been the most challenging of our married life so far. You would think that it might be pretty tough to be married in college, or that it would be an adjustment to transition into the working world, but being parents tops it all. If you’re looking for a way to add some stress to your marriage, have a kid. Seriously! It’s like learning a whole new way of life on less sleep with less time to do it. And for some strange reason, it’s much harder to get along when you’re exhausted. Now, all of the times we thought we were “busy” in the past seem laughable now. I’m sure we were busy studying, working, fixing up our house, etc., but it’s a much different kind of busy when you’re “mommy” and “daddy”. Before, we could just relax at home when we were needing a break. Go running, read a book or magazine, watch a movie, etc. But, you can’t just take your “mom” or “dad” hat off when you’re tired or stressed. (That’s why that dinner at Fleming’s was so nice!). Babies require 24/7 supervision that can leave you feeling drained by the end of the day (especially when you start out tired). Maybe that’s why I’m still dealing with “baby brain”? Baby brain is definitely not a made-up phenomenon. Otherwise, I would not have forgotten to get Travis a card for our anniversary. Seriously! I knew it was our anniversary, but somehow the thought NEVER crossed my mind that I should get him a card. That NEVER would’ve happened before this year. It’s scary and frustrating to be so forgetful like I’ve been since February! And that’s just one example…

I’m certainly not complaining that we have Brooklyn. I would never want to go back to life before we had her, and she’s the best gift we’ve ever gotten…but she’s also the most challenging. She definitely keeps us on our toes! I guess we’ll continue to adjust to less sleep, less “us” time and “me” time, but it’s not easy. Hopefully, this coming year we’ll be able to make more time for date nights and time for just the two of us minus a crying baby/baby who is getting into everything in sight.

I’m thankful we had 5 years of marriage where it was just the two of us. It gave us a great foundation for the more challenging years in the future. I wouldn’t trade the time we had in college or just working for anything. We have some great memories from those times! It’s also neat to see Travis in his new role as a dad. I’m very blessed to have a husband who doesn’t mind changing diapers, babysitting on his days off (so that I can work one day a week), and pitching in on chores around the house. I don’t know how single moms do it all by themselves! Travis is definitely a wonderful dad and husband!

I’m looking forward to this next year and seeing how we all three grow and change. I’m sure we’ll have some new and different challenges, but hopefully we will get more and more adjusted to this new way of life. It’s not easy for “creatures of habit” like Travis and me :)

Happy 6th anniversary, Travis! I love you so much!