Starting our family - Wait! Haven't we done that already...

I’ve toyed with the idea of starting this blog so many times I can’t even tell you. My intention was to post about starting our family and our new marriage. Well, we haven’t gotten pregnant yet, so I’ve been putting it off and putting it off. My mind has been so focused on getting pregnant and starting our family, that I sort of forgot that we already have started our family – just between us.

So instead of continuing to wait, I decided that I’d go ahead and make use of my little chunk of internet space and start our little family blog! But where to start?

I suppose if you’re here, then you probably know the basics. But for the sake of being complete, let’s start at the very beginning – a very good place to start… (okay, now I’m humming The Sound of Music songs). Anyway.

Richard and I met through eHarmony in May 2008. I was in the middle of several huge transitions in my life. I’d started the process of buying a house, had just been promoted at work, had been accepted to a graduate program, and had just ended yet another bad relationship. I had finally taken charge of my life and decided on a direction. I was buying the house so that I could start my family – without having a man to share it with. I was so tired of waiting for Mr. Perfect to just show up and sweep me off my feet. I joined eHarmony to have some fun while I got my ducks in a row and saved up the money I would need to have a baby. No, I was not looking for a sperm donor. I’d already figured out how I was going to go about that.

My good friend Jennifer went out with Richard first. She didn’t think they were all that compatible, but suggested I might be more interested. Meanwhile I’d gone out with a guy named Todd. Since I was “playing the field” I agreed to go out with Richard. He and I had shared some fantastic emails and I thought he seemed pretty awesome. Our first date was fantastic. We talked nonstop. We had similar thought patterns so it didn’t matter that we changed topics at lightning speed or that we’d go from a heated political discussion to musing over cheesecake toppings. When I dropped him off at his car, he insisted that we see each other again. I agreed. It was a three day weekend, so we planned to see each other again on Monday.

After that it was a whirl wind. We couldn’t seem to get enough of each other. We emailed several times a day, texting constantly, and spoke on the phone whenever we were both free. He worked weekends and was off on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. He would come down and stay with me on his weekends. Sometimes I would go up and stay with him on mine. All in all, we were together nearly all the time. Within 5 months, he moved in with me. In July 2009, we went to Alaska – where he was from. I met his mom and a few of his friends. Then, on a hike he planned for us in Seward, he proposed to me. Wow. Just thinking about it now gives me goose bumps.

We got married in May 2010, just shy of two years from our first date. We did a lot in those two years. I got a Masters degree in Psychology. He started going to school for Accounting. He became a poker dealer for the Hollywood Casino. We’ve done a million changes and upgrades to our house. We’ve gone on trips to Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Blackwater Falls, Ocean City, and more.

Richard is amazing. He’s everything I could have ever asked for and so much more. He totally changed my life before I’d even met him. I won’t get crazy sappy here, but he means everything to me. I’m so glad that I didn’t go through with my plans to have a baby by myself. I’m so happy that we get to start our family together and that our children will be ours. I’m so excited that we get to grow old together and experience life together. I love having someone to share everything with. Someone who never judges me. He loves me as much as I love him and that’s the best feeling in the world.

This is how we began… And this is our story. :o)

(Interesting side note: Jennifer, the girl who went out with Richard first, ended up going out with Todd, the guy I’d gone out with first. They are now happily married with a two year old son.)