4 Years

Ned and I celebrate 4 years of marriage today.

Last year, I posted about our early days: how we met, became engaged, and had an appendectomy before our wedding.

We've crammed a lot into four years, as I highlighted on Facebook this morning.  In that relatively short amount of time, we've had 2 babies, 3 pets, almost 2 moves and 3 houses, and 8 weeks of bed rest.  Of course, those are just the some of the large milestones; there was and is an awful lot of life squeezed in between and all around.

We don't live a fairy tale and never strive to give the impression that we do.  In each of our years of marriage, there has been good and there has been could be better.  I would certainly say that this last year has been our most defining thus far.  We've been through a lot of stress and tribulation, but ultimately, those struggles have turned into blessings.  Ned has even said that all husbands should have a wife on bed rest.  Of course, we wish that on no one, but those weeks did challenge and help us to appreciate each other more, practice patience, and find humor in the trials.  As we start a new year of marriage, we are proud of ourselves and our relationship and know that we can get through just about anything {not asking the universe to test that, though}.

Tonight it's leftovers, bath and bedtimes, and probably some late-night wake-ups, and that's just fine with us.  We know that it doesn't have to be shiny, fancy, or a little better than everyone else to make it really good.