2 amazing years!

Tomorrow (well, actually 23 minutes) marks our 2nd anniversary. I can't believe it's already been 2 years since our amazing wedding in the Dominican Republic. We recall moments from that trip all the time and feel so very lucky to have been surrounded by all the people we love on such a special occasion. On Saturday evening Joan reminded me that right about that time 2 years ago I was swinging on a trapeze, and right about this afternoon I was discovering a very black ankle and a jelly fish sting! And despite the injuries, it was the most amazing trip we've ever taken.

Reflecting on the past year, once again this is a year full of firsts and moments that are hard to beat. This past year we've faced more challenges than we ever thought possible, and those challenges have tested our patience and our relationship, but we both agree that those challenges have also brought us even closer together. We are husband and wife, but we're also best friends, and family. Now we have a wonderful new addition to that family. Our little Trent is such a joy to be around. And we look back on those early months of sleepless nights and evenings full of colic and crying, and leaning on each other to get through it with a sense of pride because we got through it. Not only did we get through it, we blazed through is with flying colours and learned a lot along the way. We really did earn our parenting stripes with this kid. And now we feel prepared and ready to tackle anything.

We spent this past weekend celebrating our two year milestone with a trip to Houston to visit Trent's grandparents. Trent was the perfect baby on our trip. Sleeping all the way to Houston, waking up at the appropriate time for food, and behaving like a little angel at dinner on Friday evening.
Grandpa had spent a lot of time baby proofing the house. More so than we have even done at our own house. There wasn't much that Trent could get into to cause him harm, which was so very sweet of him to do. It's so cool to see how much Trent's grandparents love him. He may never quite understand these little acts of love that they do for him, but they're certainly not lost on me and Brian :-)

On Saturday, Joan made French toast, which Trent seemed to really enjoy, then he spent the whole day with grandma and grandpa, who took him to the splash park nearby. Brian and I took the opportunity to spend the whole day by ourselves and we went to the Houston Zoo. The Houston Zoo is pretty awesome and we spent at least 5 hours there. I used my Nikon zoom lens, which I rarely get to use, and took som really great pictures of the animals. Brian was so patient as I lingered over all the animals looking for the perfect shot. I had such a great day. You can see pictures here: zoo pics

I know going to the zoo isn't classically a romantic day, but it was something we wouldn't get to do ordinarily, and we got to bum around, just the two of us. There were many baby animals at the zoo, though, and they seemed to remind us of Trent somehow. Their manorisms, the way the parents interacted with them, or sometimes just their physical appearance. It made us appreciate our little guy and miss him.

A side note, we just recently bought a lightweight stroller for when we go to Switzerland/Spain, and so I found myself oogling other people's strollers to see if there was something better out there. I don't think so, though. The one we got is pretty perfect I think.

After the zoo we headed back home to get ready for dinner. We had dinner at Churrascos. A Latin American restaurant. We had high hopes based on the reviesws on city search and were not disappointed by any means. I had a fillet and Brian had their signature dish. Afterwards we went to the Black Labrador, an English pub, where we sat at the bar and finished off the evening with a nighcap.

Joan got me the most thoughtful present for no reason at all, which is my favourite kind of present :-) She gave me an LCD picture frame keychain that you can load photos onto. Today I filled it up with 60 pictures of Trent. I can't wait to show people my cool new gadget and show off my very photogenic little munchkin!

So it's now 12:12 am on our anniversary! Tonight we are going out to dinner while Trent spends some fun time with Aunt Tara at her new house.

And one final thing before I go to bed: Welcome home mum and dad. I'm so glad you had a great cruise and I'm really happy that I got to talk to you today. Only 16 weeks till we see you, and based on how the first half of this year has gone, that's going to get here in no time flat!

G'night, Y'all!