Baby Fever

When Arsen and I got married, the first thing people said after "Congratulations!" was "So when are you having babies???". I'm not gonna lie to you, it annoyed me. Why on earth would we be thinking about babies already? We actually had people AT the Armenian wedding asking when we were going to start trying. Really? I couldn't believe it.

In fact, two months after our wedding we were having a dinner for Arsen's birthday at our house, and his dad asked what was wrong with us because I wasn't pregnant yet. Apparently in their culture you pop out a baby exactly nine months after the wedding night. Arsen quickly informed him that we had "a plan". The plan was to wait about three years after the wedding and then try. You can imagine how that went over.

We had discussed it quite a bit, and there were SO many reasons that we wanted to wait. To become a little more financially secure, to travel, to enjoy ourselves with our friends, to enjoy being newlyweds....and there were several more. Three years seemed like a good amount of time. I would be approaching 30, which would still give us plenty of time for the three little ones we wanted. And this way we could continue to be selfish and do whatever we wanted to do whenever we wanted to do it for three glorious years. Perfection.

And then it happened. I got the fever. And he did too.

Baby fever is vicious. It's intense. All the adorable babies in their adorable baby clothing at every restaurant, store, and gas station you enter don't help either. The store windows with their cute little displays of mannequin babies are torture. And then you have friends who have the audacity to bring their cute babies around you. It's unfair, I tell you.

So here we are, nine months after saying I do, having the baby conversation. Now I see it all so differently than I did just four or five months ago. We both got new jobs with pretty substantial raises. Financially secure? Check!

Travel? Well, it's super expensive to travel, and if we're trying to save money, how much will we really be traveling? And if we have little ones we can go places like Disneyland and not be judged. Okay, so we'll mark that one off too.

Our dear friends. I do adore them, and I love spending time with them. But it's seriously ridiculously expensive to go out every weekend. And if you're drinking? Well, I think I've already covered how my body tolerates late nights out. We can just have barbecues at our house and I'll tell people to keep it down when the baby is sleeping. Alright, sounds good. Check!

Enjoy being newlyweds. Okay. Here's what being newlyweds is: being in love, fighting over every little thing until you figure a few things out, having fun cuddling on the couch watching TV, fighting a little bit more, talking about going out to dinner and then picking up sushi and eating on the couch in your sweats instead, another little argument here or there, and yeah....that about covers it. We've done this for almost four years now. We have basically spent everywakingsecond together since we met. So although I adore my husband and love him more than anything, this is old news. To be honest, marriage hasn't changed much for us. So yeah, we can mark that one off.

And wait until I'm 30? Who am I kidding. I want three kids (right now I do, talk to me after I give birth the first time), I don't want to have to give birth every year or two, and I really hope to have them all before I'm in my late thirties. So we may need to get going here.

So basically, now we are trying to find reasons we shouldn't go ahead and have little blonde Armenians. And it's getting harder and harder to find them (although the fact that my body will be destroyed is at the forefront of my mind at. all. times.). So while this is by no means an announcement of any sort, it could happen. And now I'm scared.

Speed Date!

Hi friends! I'm super excited to be linking up with This Little Momma for her Speed Dating Party. Being pretty new to the blog world I'm always looking for new bloggers to follow, and hopefully get to know. I thought today I would start with the very most basic of information about me. So here we go!

I'm originally from a teeny, tiny town in Oklahoma. Population less than 3000. 

I am an only child, and I both love and hate it. I was pretty spoiled growing up, so I can't complain, but I do feel like I've missed out on that special bond people have with their siblings. 

My parents are amazing, and I consider them to be some of my very best friends. They divorced when I was about 22, and I think it was the best thing that could have happened for all of us. They now get along wonderfully, and are both in happy relationships. 

I have had the same best friend since the age of about nine (with one little friend break-up in junior high). She is an amazing lady and I adore her and look up to her more than she knows. She's more like a sister than a friend.

After a failed attempt at college (I hated it SO much) straight out of high school, I decided to move to Los Angeles to try and make it as an actress. I moved out there knowing basically no one, with a roommate I had met once or twice, and not a whole lot of experience. Needless to say I was back in a year. I was way too homesick to stay.

After returning from L.A., I wandered around aimlessly for a bit before ending up at Oklahoma State University. Best. Decision. Ever.

I met my second best friend, and my future husband at OSU. I also finally completed my Bachelor's Degree in Public Relations.

I married my husband (Arsen) in September of last year. He is funny, charming, kind, outgoing, crazy, thoughtful and super duper ambitious. He is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I feel incredibly lucky to have found him.

Arsen is Armenian, and moved here at the age of six. Actually, today is the 20th anniversary to the day of them arriving in America!

Since my husband is Armenian, my children will be half (obviously) like the Kardashians. Here's hoping we have children who are that exotically gorgeous...

I am the proud, proud mama of a little furry shih tzu named Addie. Addison Jane to be exact. She is the apple of my eye, and I am shamelessly obsessed with her. 

My favorite things in the world are laughing, reading great books, shopping (for clothes, home decor, plants, paint, books, you name it), working on projects, lounging on the couch with my hubby and dog watching good TV, being outside when the weather is gorgeous (rare in TX), traveling to new places, learning new things, and spending time with family.

I am a super friendly person, but I'm also very reserved. I hold back before getting to know people. This has not helped my social life since moving to Texas, but I can't help it. I would rather have two great friends than 20 so-so friends.

Marriage has been quite a learning experience thus far. It's the best thing I've ever done, but it's also super challenging. I'm lucky that Arsen and I communicate wonderfully...if we didn't, I can't even imagine.

I am love, love, loving everything about blogging, and hope to be able to take it more seriously in the near future. It's a bit intimidating coming into something like this with not a lot of knowledge, but I'm excited to be giving it a try!

My Best Friend's Wedding

One thing I have learned is that weddings are completely exhausting. It doesn't matter if it's your wedding or you are just a part of the wedding, you will be completely drained when all is said and done. I had every intention to be in bed sleeping by 9 pm tonight to try and recharge from the weekend....but of course that didn't happen.

That said, Katie and Quentin's wedding was beautiful. It was a super stressful day trying to get everything done before the wedding was set to begin, so we didn't even have time to feel any emotion other than stress for the most part. About 5 minutes before it was time to walk out, Laura, one of the bridesmaids, decided to say a prayer. We all gathered around and OF COURSE we all had to run for tissues as soon as she said Amen. I don't think I've ever been a part of a pre-wedding prayer that didn't end in tears.

 Lacey and Chelsea

 The bride, her junior attendant, and the most gorgeous bouquet ever.

 

Me and Laura

Katie's dad is a pastor, so after he walked her down the aisle he actually officiated the wedding. Imagine how that went! About thirty seconds into things he said something along the lines of "Katie is my baby girl" and his voice cracked.....and all the bridesmaids dissolved into tears. My mom said the best part was watching all four of us try not to cry. Katie actually held it together quite well. I had a good view of her, and I saw her eyes glistening, but never saw a tear fall. Impressive!!!

Overall, it was a beautiful, emotional wedding, and I'm so honored that she chose me to be a part of it. I thought I had remembered all of my Maid of Honor duties, but on the drive to OKC on Friday morning, we were chatting and Arsen says "So do you have to give a speech?".

Umm. DO I have to give a speech? Crap. I text Katie and she is like well, duh. I'm not one to really prepare for public speaking. I actually really enjoy it and usually just kind of say whatever comes to mind, but for some reason this completely freaked me out. I think it's because I wanted to get across how much I love my amazing friend and her super wonderful man, but I also didn't want to burst into tears. So I tried to come up with something, but ended up just kind of rambling once I got up there.

My mom was so sweet and she decided to record it on her phone so I could see it later. However, she had one of her famous blonde moments and just held her iPhone up on camera mode the entire time and didn't get anything. Gotta love Vicki and her ditzy moments!

It was a weekend full of love and extreme emotion (good and bad) and friends and laughter and dancing and all of the things a good wedding weekend consists of. I'm so incredibly happy for Katie and Q, and I'm even more happy that Katie doesn't have to worry about wedding planning anymore. I know how horribly stressful it can be and I'm still thankful that I will never have to do it again!

I'm also thankful that I am not a part of any weddings in the near future...it's hard work! My wedding was last September, one of my oldest and dearest friends was married in December and I was a bridesmaid, and now Katie in April. Luckily no one else is on the radar. BUT, I am blessed in the fact that I have TWO best friends, and my Rachel is still on the market, so I know someday I'll have another one. As long as she gives me some time to recover, I'll be ready to do it all over again when it's her turn.

I'm feeling super mushy after being around so many people that I loved this weekend, so I'm just going to stop before I get all emo on everyone. But to all my friends who might be reading this, I adore you all :)

 Me and the hubby

 The Newlyweds!

 Two of my very favorite ladies :)

My lovely Mom

Randomness

I have nothing important to say tonight, I just realized it has been a super long time since I've blogged. And since my brain feels like a big jumbled mess and I don't feel like thinking much, I think I'll just ramble for a bit....

I've noticed that there is no way possible to get anything done. I mean, sometimes I get things done, but never, ever do I get all the things on my to do list done. I think it's just something I'm going to have to embrace.

Arsen and I have both been working a lot, and by the time we get home we are exhausted. I literally feel like the house is a disaster, but I'm just too tired to care. Thankfully, I have a fabulous and thoughtful husband who had the entire house clean and the laundry done when I got home on Sunday from being in Tulsa all weekend. How lucky am I?  Buuut it's not exactly still tidy. And it probably won't get that way for awhile...

Saturday we're heading to Oklahoma to see my family for the day. We're planning on going by my dad's for a few hours and then heading to my grandparent's home (my mom's parents) for a little get together. I haven't seen them since Christmas, so I'm pretty excited. Then Sunday we will go to the Armenian church for Easter, and hopefully have lunch with Arsen's family. Quite a bit to pack into two days, but we've attempted much more in the past :)

On another totally random note, my dad's girlfriend has a great camera and took tons of pictures at our weddings, and she gave them to me awhile back. Things have been so crazy that I haven't taken the time to sit down and look at them. I finally got around to it yesterday and they are so good! I'm that obnoxious girl on Facebook who has uploaded about a million wedding photos, but I can't help myself. I've printed maybe 10 wedding photos so far, so it's really the only way I have to look at them. Yeah, that's my excuse....

SO, I'm putting some of my favorites here, just to be even more annoying :)

 My oh-so-proud parents :)

 My Dad and my gorgeous bridesmaids

 Someone looks a little stressed...

 Arsen's sister Lena and baby Haik

Me and my wonderful, supportive, and super-duper loving parents.

Sweet Relief

We made it. Our wedding was a little over a month ago, and I feel like I can finally breathe. The wedding was amazing, beautiful, SO much fun, all of the things we were hoping for. And I'm so glad we had this big wedding with all of our family and friends who mean so much to us. But oh my good Lord I am so beyond happy that it is over.

The eleven months of wedding planning were quite possibly the most stressful of my entire life. Not only was I planning the wedding, but I started a new job a couple of months after we got engaged, we bought a house about midway through, and I'm pretty sure Arsen and I argued more in those eleven months than we did in the two years before.

But it was worth it! Everything was gorgeous and everyone had an amazing time. Of course there were the little wedding day disasters that had to happen. First of all, this summer in Texas has been the hottest, driest summer ever. We didn't have a drop of rain for what felt like 3 or 4 months. Well, wouldn't you know there was a massive thunderstorm during the rehearsal dinner, and a more than 50% chance the day of the wedding. I wanted my beautiful outdoor wedding SO BAD. I was furious. I made everyone wait until the very last minute to make the final decision, and we ended up doing it indoors. I was so upset, but it all worked out.

Then, as soon as I showed up to the venue that day I was told to go look at the cakes because they were so amazing. And they were! However, there was one small problem: our Oklahoma State University groom's cake was iced in white and RED! Like OU, or OHIO State. Arsen didn't care about many details, but he was set on an OSU groom's cake from day one. I had a momentary, internal freak out, but our wedding coordinator was on it. She had them come out and re-ice the cake before it was even time for the reception. And it looked beautiful and OSU orange! No one would have ever known :)

Hideous Original Cake

Cutting the Re-Iced ORANGE Cake

Other than that, the biggest freak out came courtesy of one of my lovely bridesmaids (love you Amelia!). They all decided to get ready about 45 minutes before the wedding was set to start so they could help me closer to show time. I saw a little whispering going on, and a few concerned looks....and then I was told one of the bridesmaids had two right shoes. She called the David's Bridal where we got them, which thankfully was right down the road, and wouldn't you know...they had a box with two LEFT shoes. So we sent my uncles racing to David's Bridal to exchange the shoes, and they made it back just in time. Disaster averted. And it makes for a great story!

My Mom With the Missing Shoe!!!

After all of that, everything went pretty smoothly. The ceremony was short and sweet, just like we wanted, and the reception was SO. MUCH. FUN. It was a non-stop dance party from the minute they cleared the plates after dinner until we had to leave. Definitely everything we were hoping for and so much more!

So now that all of the wedding craziness has passed, it's back to life as usual. And I'm loving it. I've been working on getting the house all put together, Arsen has been watching a lot of sports, and I'm pretty sure Addie is relieved that life is back to normal. 

Hopefully now I will be able to keep up with the whole blogging thing. I've never been great at doing it on the regular, but I'm hopeful that now that I am a mature, responsible, crafty little wife, things will change. 

I'll leave you with a few wedding photos. If we are friends on Facebook you have had the joy of seeing about 8 million of them, but just for fun I'll add some here as well. Until next time!