Happy Birthday!!!

Saturday we celebrated Brian's 29th birthday by hanging out at BW3's with some friends. Brian's parents also headed over for the celebration which was nice. One of the most memorable moments of the day had to be when Brian did a shot called Statue of Liberty. For those of you who have never heard of it, a Statue of Liberty consists of dipping your thumb in the shot, lighting it with a match, downing the shot and then blowing out the flame coming from your thumb. It was actually pretty funny. I think Brian's finger was still a little sore Sunday. OH! Let's not forgot, I was the typical "You have a baby...In a bar" mother Saturday afternoon! After BW3's we headed over to another "bar" to hang out. The night ended with Brian cooking Ben, Steph and myself dinner.Iit was actually very good. But again, pretty amusing.

Sunday we headed to Ikea for a new new piece of furniture. I love that store. I could have spent the entire day there but Brian's more of an "in and out" shopper. We went there for a particular item and that's all he really wanted to look at.

Which brings me to the huge change occurring in the Laurent household. Brian will no longer be working for the Columbus BlueJackets! We are taking a leap of faith and venturing out into uncharted territory...at least for us anyway. Brian is going to be an independent consultant for two different companies. We are turning Camden's playroom into an office, hence the reason for our Ikea trip. We had to purchase a new desk (and some lucky bamboo). He will be working from home on the days he's not traveling. We are both extremely excited about this opportunity but also very nervous. I've been praying every night and have realized that sometimes you just have to take a chance. It's a huge step but I truly believe it's a step in the right direction.

Honey - I am so proud of you and excited to be taking this journey with you.

I'll post pictures of Brian's new office when it's done. He's actually painting it right now!

To My Husband...

I still love saying it and hearing it, husband and wife. The past three years have just flown by. To be honest, the past ten years have flown by. Can you believe we've been married for three years and that this fall marks ten years together?

You are such a great husband - supportive and loving and now seeing you as a father...I can't put into words how much you mean to me. Thank you for always being there and for loving me with all your heart.

Here's to three years and to the lifetime of memories still to come....

Happy Anniversary!

Love,
Your Wife

Happy Two Year Anniversary!

Little girls typically dream about growing up, marrying their prince charming, starting a family and living happily ever after. I was no different. However, little girls usually don’t think about or can’t envision the journey along the way to happily ever after. Last night, while trying to fall asleep, I watched you sleep. I started thinking of our relationship over the past 9 years…all the struggles, the ups and downs, the fun times and happy times we’ve shared. Those times are what got us to where we are today. Our relationship as changed and grown so much over the years and it grows stronger each day because of the moments we share.

Last night as I watched you sleep I also started thinking of all the little things I love about you. The way you get this little grin on your face when our fibbing about something and the way you can fall asleep in 2 seconds flat (love and hate that). I love the way you sometimes use your thumb to gently rub your arm when you’re sleeping. Your laugh. You have this great laugh that makes me smile and laugh even when I’m upstairs and I have no idea what you’re laughing about. When I watch funny shows with you, you have this way of making them funnier. And when you watch sports I can always tell when something good/bad happens because you yell or shout at the TV and you can be so animated. I love the why you calm me down when I’m stressed out over something stupid and how you make me feel like I can do anything. I love how you can make me smile for no reason at all. And I love they way you have taken such good care of me over the past four months. I am so happy that you are so happy about our baby. I love that you want to be so involved with everything from finding a daycare and pediatrician to registering for baby items and decorating the room. I am so lucky to have a husband like you and our baby is lucky that it’s going to have a dad like you. I can’t wait to see you holding our little one this summer.

I love you!

Taking Risks...

Risk - exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous chance

I was recently told I don’t take risks. Actually the conversation was more like, “You don’t let me take any risks!” After thinking about it, it's true. I don’t take risks. I’m a planner. I like to be organized and know what’s going on. This is especially true when it comes to money. I log on to our checking and savings accounts everyday or every other day to make sure everything is accounted for. I have a breakdown of where every paycheck or bonus check is going for the next 6 months, how much credit card debt we should have at the end of the 6 months and how much we should have in savings. Yes, I have to adjust this monthly but at least I have a plan of what should happen.

So, what happens when one of us wants to take a risk that might affect us financially? The idea of not knowing exactly how much income is going to come in monthly scares me. Although I know that we’ll be fine, I hate the idea of not knowing - Not knowing if the risk will be worth it, not knowing how much of our savings we will have to use, just simply not knowing…. I have so many what if scenarios that play out in my mind.

So again, what happens when one of us wants to take a risk that might affect us financially? I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and well, I guess it depends. If the risk involves taking money to Vegas with hopes of winning at the blackjack or poker table then you laugh and say NO (unless it’s $ you saved for that reason). If it’s something that has to do with your husbands career, his passion, and his dream of being his own boss then you support him. You prepare as much as you can for the unknown and let him go for it. The last thing I would ever want is for him to look back 5 or 10 yrs from now and regret not taking the risk and I wouldn’t want to be the reason he didn’t take the risk or follow his dream.

I know we will get through whatever life throws at us. I might do a lot of praying along the way and he might have to calm me down every now and then but we’ll get through it and I’m sure the risk will be worth it in the end.

Unanswered Prayers

I’m not sure of the name of the song or who sings it but it goes something like this…. “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers, Remember when you’re talking to the man upstairs, Just because he may not answer, doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. Some of God's greatest gifts are answered prayers”.

The song is about a man who thinks he wants to be with a particular person and he prays about it all the time but his prayers are never answered. One day he runs into this person, he thinks about their relationship and how he prayed so hard to be with this person. Then he looks at his wife and sees all the good things that have happened in his life and how he can’t imagine being with anyone else.

I hear this song from time to time and just smile. I think of my past relationships and how I prayed and prayed for those relationships not to end. At the time, I thought my prayers where not being answered but the truth is they were. God had someone better in mind for me, I just had to wait for him.

Surprise!

I have the sweetest husband and friends in the world! They threw me a surprise birthday party last night. It was exactly what I needed! I was down and out about turning 29 and they all made me feel so much better (so did the bottle of wine I drank)! I thought we were just going over to Jared and Cindy’s for dinner but when we got there, everyone was there to surprise me. It was perfect!

Thank you honey. I love you!!!