3 years....

Andrew and I celebrated three years of marriage yesterday.....

 We married in Colorado on one of the warmest November 1st on record.....

 The outdoor ceremony was lovely.

 We kissed a lot...

and danced a lot.

It was a very fun day, but I can honestly say the days following have been even better.

I am so thankful Andrew is the guy God asked me to do marriage with.....Happy Anniversary babe! Here's to year 4!!

Our Weekend Away

Earlier this year Andrew was asked to usher a wedding in Wisconsin for a college friend. In our naivete as new parents we thought we'd take Julianne and make it a fun filled family weekend in the Midwest. Thankfully this year has been packed full of weddings and we have learned the hard way that quiet churches filled with lovely people trying to enjoy the nuptials of friends is not the place for our baby. Not only to we spend the entire time trying not to disturb others, but our girl ends up exhausted and on edge for sometime afterward. All this to say, we elected not to take Julianne on the 6 hour trip and asked Gran and Gramps (Andrew's parents) to babysit instead.

They were eager to oblige us and came to our house for the weekend. I feel like I was supposed to feel sick about leaving and anxious about someone else taking care of Julianne for 2 nights, but honestly I was super excited over the idea! Getting some alone time with Andrew, going through airport security with just my stuff, sitting on a plane without breastfeeding, eating meals without worrying about when and what Julianne would eat, and waking up whenever I wanted, was all very appealing to me. I knew we would miss her, but knew also that it is good for our marriage to leave every now and then. She has been much easier to care for lately too and I had gallons of milk stored up in the freezer, so I knew Gran and Gramps could handle it. 

We had never been to Wisconsin and I have to say it is beautiful there in the fall! My goodness the colors were amazing! The wedding was lovely too and it was also fun to catch up with old friends. We had a nice time, but were ready to get back after all the festivities were over. Turns out we missed Julianne more than we thought! I also didn't sleep all that well so the whole wake up when I wanted thing was not realized. All in all though a nice time, and a good exercise in leaving our baby in capable hands in order to spend time together. We will be better parents if we are good spouses first.

Dating Again

I never quite appreciated a night out with Andrew before we had a baby. Now it is such a treat to eat a meal together and not have to worry if our daughter is going to awaken or disrupt other diners at any given moment.

Currently our typical eating out experience consists of constant rocking of the car seat or taking turns bouncing her on our laps while the other one scarfs a few bites. Conversation is completely out of the question as we have no time to chat between chews and are completely distracted with keeping Julianne happy. As soon as the food has been consumed we are eager to leave the eating establishment before our girl has a total meltdown or is ready to eat herself. Even if we get through the meal without incident, we have spent the whole time waiting for the other shoe to drop. All that to say, it is an undertaking going out as a family. The gear required to leave the house is in itself a load that takes significant energy to haul.

So you can understand how delightful it was when Andrew and I got to go out to dinner alone last week for his birthday. It was our first real date since Julianne was born and although it was hard to leave her, we very much enjoyed ourselves! I got dressed up and made it out of the house without spit up on my shoulder. I was also able to take a purse with me rather than the diaper bag....glorious! We held hands, lingered over our food, and utterly enjoyed an appetizer, entree, and dessert without interruption.

We are truly blessed to have many good friends and family around who love Julianne and are happy to watch her for a few hours. We miss her any time we are away, but also realize that going on dates now and then is important. It is nice to be dating again!

p.s. the above pic was taken at a wedding I was in last weekend. I didn't have a picture of us on our date night but the wedding was another time we took advantage of child care. Just felt I needed to clarify...

2 years

This weekend marks mine and Andrew's second anniversary. He he has asked me out for a date tonight to celebrate and I am getting really excited! I cannot believe it has been 2 years since I walked down the isle to become Mrs. Andrew McClish. I found some old shots in facebook today to commemorate the occasion. We were married on November 1st at an outdoor ceremony in Colorado. People thought I was nuts to plan a wedding that late in the year in Colorado's unpredictable climate. The fact I wanted the event to take place out of doors on a mountain was even more ridiculous (it usually snows this time of year). You know what happened though? God gave us the most beautiful day! The weather men were astounded and kept talking about how it hadn't been as warm in over 35 years. It really couldn't have been more perfect for our nuptials.

 I wanted to carry orange flowers and I thought these were so pretty.

 Ceremony location and set up. My entire extended family helped decorate and I am still trying to thank them for all of the hard work they did.

 

Getting ready to marry Andrew! I was so excited and eager to get the show on the road

I asked my brother to give me away in absence of our Dad. I loved that he walked me down the isle. When we got to the end of the isle I took part of my bouquet and set it in an empty chair next to my mom we reserved for my Dad. It was a special moment.

We're hitched! Too bad Andrew was looking down for this moment

posing for the photographer...she liked when Andrew dipped and kissed me...we have a lot of these kind of shots

It was a great day. Looking back I realize how much I have learned and grown in the last 2 years. I am so thankful God called me to be Andrew's wife. I can't imagine anyone else loving me as patiently and selflessly as he does. Happy Anniversary babe....I love being your wife and can't wait to see what this year brings as we become parents! 

4Th Of July with My Guy…and an Untimely Bathroom Break

As you well know our Nation’s Independence Day was celebrated last weekend. Our friend’s asked us to watch their dog while they were away so we settled in for a much needed lazy long weekend at home. We thought perhaps there would be others like us holding down the fort in Dallas who would want to share in the festivities with us, but it seemed most folks we know left the DFW area for the weekend or had other plans. So we made our own fun and went to the fireworks at a local park by ourselves. It was actually quite romantic minus the ants…

We packed a picnic full of deliciousness. This was my first attempt at bruschetta and it turned out to be amazing thanks to tomatoes being perfectly in season and basil growing like crazing in our herb garden. Yumm!

A couple of hours later the sun was setting and we knew it was finally time for the fireworks!

Trouble was I needed to pee all of a sudden. Other problem: the bathroom Port-o-Jon was at least a 10 minute walk from our lovely picnic location. At first I tried to suffer through the discomfort, but after some reflection on what it would be like to try to reach a toilet after the firework show (lines, people, craziness, more darkness…you get the picture), I determined it was best to get to one ASAP. I shared my feelings about this with Andrew. At first he thought I was kidding. Probably because we had already taken a trip to the bathrooms an hour before and in his mind it was time to relax and enjoy the whole reason we made the venture out there to begin with. What can I say…I have a small bladder. I offered to go and come back but he was not comfortable with me walking around in the dark with thousands of strangers without him. So, we packed all of our stuff up and starting walking toward the bathrooms and our car (it was also in that general direction) all the while knowing we would likely miss some or all of the evening’s pyrotechnics. We got some odd looks from others wondering what crazy couple packs up before the fireworks, but we hurried on until we finally made it to the Port-oJon. While these are not my favorite form of public restroom, I was very grateful for it. As I exited and grabbed my germ gel I realized we hadn’t missed the fireworks at all! In fact we were able to re-situate right next to our car and still had a great view of the show. The other fortunate consequence was immediately afterwards we were able to jump in the car and beat most of the traffic out of that place. Who’s laughing now that we packed up early? Next year I will try to time my bio breaks a little bit better though….the situation gave Andrew lots of fuel for teasing.

Nathalie

Lesson’s from Early Marriage: The Bath Mat

***Update: I thought Bath Mat was two words when I wrote this in Word. However, it wanted me to make it one word and even had synonyms: rug, mat, etc! I have now changed it back to two. Stupid MS Word. Thanks for your grace! ****

I have been in a reflective mood lately thinking on married life and what I have learned in my 1.5 years of wifehood. One of the first lessons was that to two people, the word “bath mat” can have very different meanings. I became aware of this fact the first week of living with Andrew. It was an exciting time. We had just come back from our honeymoon in Jamaica slightly tanned. Slightly tan might be an overstatement, because that week there was a hurricane on the neighboring island, and needless to say, the sun was not out much. It didn’t matter though, Andrew is very fair and I have grown out of my obsession with having the perfect bronze glow. I still like to have a tan, don’t get me wrong, but the consequences that come with it; wrinkles, skin cancer, wrinkles are enough to make me slather on SPF 45 anytime we venture outdoors. Anyway I digress….

So it was our first week home and our first week to live together (besides on our honeymoon, but that is not real life). It was wonderful to be together all the time. We got to wake up in the same place, have the same address, and not leave each other at night. We also got to share a bathroom. Now let me explain for those of you not familiar with our master bedroom/bath. The house was built in 1960 during a time where apparently the Jon was a place to be close to your spouse. There is one small sink/vanity a toilet, and shower all in a 5X7 foot room. I am guessing on the dimensions…just take my word for it. Perhaps that design didn’t work out so well and why you see much larger master bathrooms today with two sinks, lots of drawers and towel racks etc. I am not complaining. We are truly blessed with and love our home, even the bathroom. It has built character and taught us lessons about who we are and where we come from.

Which brings me to the incident at hand: One of these first mornings Andrew took his shower first. It is our usual custom that I shower first since it takes me more time to get ready, but this particular morning was an exception. I heard the water stop and gave him a few minutes to towel off before I made my entrance. Again, it is a small room not really made for two. When I felt ready to take my shower I entered the bathroom still wearing my PJs and socks. Andrew was now at the sink brushing his teeth or shaving. To my utter discomfort, as soon as I stepped foot onto the bathroom tile, my socks filled with cold water. I looked down and noticed the entire bathroom was covered in a shallow puddle. How could this happen I thought…do we have a leak somewhere? Then I noticed the bath mat next to my soaked foot was also completely saturated. The rest went something like this:

Me: Eww…why is the floor all wet? (begin removing sock)

Andrew: I don’t know…I just got out of the shower it is always a little wet

Me: Seriously? Babe there is a huge puddle here. Did you not towel off in the shower before getting out?

Andrew: What? No…that is what a bath mat is for

Me: You mean you don’t towel off first?

Andrew: No…I get out, drip on the mat and then I like to put the towel around me without “toweling”. I prefer to air dry.

Me: That is so weird and not what a bath mat is for. A bath mat is to keep your feet warm after you step out of the tub after drying off as much as possible with a towel. Or from slipping, but a towel is for soaking up water not the bath mat. Can’t you see my feet are drenched here?

Andrew: Laughing…it is for dripping but whatever.

We agreed to disagree. It is a lighthearted example but a lesson for me that Andrew is not always going to see things how I see them or do things like I do them. He can’t meet every expectation. Not having expectations is something I will always likely struggle with. However, this situation at least made me aware of it, which was a good lesson to learn in the first week of marriage.

Nathalie

House Divided

In the collegiate culture, when a man and woman marry across school lines, it results in a “House Divided”. You may be familiar with these bumper stickers or flags (we do not have one of these stickers/flags by the way). My alma mater is Baylor University located in the fine town of Waco Texas. Yes that is the place all that crazy Branch Dividian stuff happened in the 90ies, but it really it has a lot of charm. I loved attending Baylor and you could say I was and still am proud to be a Baylor Bear. Andrew got both of his degrees from the University of Texas A&M hence the “division”.

Texas A&M is a rival school to Baylor. Now I use the word “rival” loosely, because A&M really doesn’t see Baylor as a rival (according to Andrew). It may be because Baylor historically has not been known for its competitive athletic teams, and was always an easy win for A&M. In any case, A&M is a very traditional school and the students/alumni are passionate “Aggies” as they call themselves. This passion is expressed through a series of chants, cheers, school songs, and of course the “WHOOP” that are sung, yelled, and waved at any school function, wedding, or athletic event. Andrew is slow to participate in these expressions of association to Texas A&M, but is certainly proud to be an Aggie. He also thinks A&M is a far superior school to Baylor academically as well as in athletics which is an on going debate in our household. I don’t see us resolving this any time soon, and if I am honest, it is pretty fun to be on opposing sides. I have had moments where I have thought about what it would be like to be one of those couples walking hand in hand on campus years after graduation with our little children dressed up in the school’s colors. Those families are so cute. BUT since I never want to be married to nor have children with anyone other than Andrew that will never be our family. I am OK with that and even cheer on A&M when they are not playing Baylor. I also embrace some of their traditions especially the one where you have to kiss every time the Aggies score…who doesn’t like that?

Now, prior to our marriage, Baylor’s list of athletic accomplishments included one women’s basketball championship and a long list of Olympic runners. However, Andrew and most of the general public don't really know about that. The funny thing is, since we have been married, Baylor has made quite the showing in football and men’s basketball, the two sports Andrew follows regularly. In fact, the picture of us at the top of the blog was taken on a bus traveling to the 2008 A&M vs. Baylor football game where Baylor went on to win! It was an exciting day to be a Bear! Sort of like today as Baylor is competing tonight for a spot in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite 8, something the men’s basketball program has never achieved! As our house is “divided”, I can’t say Andrew is as elated as me (A&M was eliminated from the tournament last week) but he has to admit Baylor has “rival” potential!

SIC’EM,

Nathalie

The McClish Household Celebrates the Coming of Spring

To the rest of the world, spring is marked by budding trees, warming weather, and longer days. However, the McClish household prides itself in the untraditional. Therefore, each spring as other husbands trim their lawns, mine works on another type of landscaping......on his face. I have come to call it the annual Beard Transition Day. It is the one day Andrew takes his beard to a new and often scary place. Once he receives a reaction from his co-workers and our church Home Group, he is contented with shaving until November when he will re-grow his beard to begin the cycle once again. Each year he chooses a different "style" as doing the same shave each year would prove boring and predictable. He wears it with pride causing poor innocent bystanders (new people at small group, grocery store clerks, etc..) to question the seriousness of it all, and finds it particularly funny if they think he seriously chose the look for his face. Below are the pictures from the 2009 Transition Day. Here he chose to go with the "Pedismile" as it has come to be know because...well...I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

For the 2010 "Transition Day" there was much more mixed interpretation of the "look". Some suggestions were: Leprechaun, Civil War Soldier, and Elvis.

The picture quality is not so great, but I hope you are still able to appreciate the "chops"....it makes me laugh anyway.

Have a great day!

Nathalie

What is a girl to do....

When her hair dryer catches fire?! Yes...not exaggerating folks. This morning I took a shower, washed my hair, did other primping, then went over to my hair dryer and switched it on. Thankfully my head was not yet near the thing, as it began to glow bright orange then proceeded to "cough cough" red sparks across the room. Startled, I screamed in the sort of way one screams when discovering a huge bug in the shower, switched it to the "off" position, but the glowing coils did not recant! Andrew, responding to my scream from his shower, shouted "everything OK?" and I replied "my hair dryer is on fire!" no flames mind you...but to me at the time it seemed like a fitting way to describe the situation. He then instructed me to unplug the appliance. Not being totally useless in a crisis, I had already pulled it out of the socket, finally causing the coils to slowly turn back to a blackish color.

As my adrenaline began to subside, I realized how fortunate I was not to have a burnt section of hair, skin, or face. However, I also found myself with a sopping head and 20 mins before I needed to head off to work. I toweled off what I could and headed to the back yard for a few minutes to allow it to dry. Unfortunately for me, this morning proved to be extremely humid and possibly made my hair wetter. My new plan was to drive with the windows down all the way to the office then sneak into the ladies room for a quick pony tail before heading to my desk. Haven't I mentioned before how resourceful Andrew can be? Well...he is and set me up with this solution:

The shop vac has a "blow" feature so here I am attempting to get some hair dry...Great idea babe...it just didn't work so well because the air was cold and I have quite the thick mop of hair. I was able to get it dry enough to wear in a pony tail though and I doubt anyone noticed.

Nathalie

Ft. Worth Cowtown 10K

Running is a hobby I picked up after college. I really enjoy running. Scratch that...I enjoy the benefits of running: eat what you want, runners high, muscle tone, etc... Over the last few years I have ran 2 marathons, countless 1/2 marathons and pretty much every Saturday. Well that was until I got married anyway. Andrew and I actually share a passion for running. Our fist conversation was on the subject of running and during our engagement we completed the San Francisco Marathon together. I had high hopes of us making the 26.2 mile trek annually and being the "married runner couple". However, here we are 1 1/4 years into marriage and our marathon count? ZERO. The challenge lies in sharing a bed with a man who is great at convincing me on cold mornings (okay any morning at this point...I am weak and unmotivated) to stay there in the warm covers and "run later". Not a problem unless "later" never comes which often times is the case. Despite our digression from our former intensity of running, we still make the occasional venture out around the neighborhood on nice days and weekends. And you know what? I am OK with that! Entering local races is truly the only way we are now held accountable for running, and honestly we were a bit under prepared for this race. It was a tough 6.2 miles, but we finished, burned some calories, ate a huge breakfast and felt proud. Check out the pictures: We left the house at 5:40 AM....one downside of organized running...there is no sleeping in!

Here are my shinny shoes...as you can tell they haven't had as much wear as the should...

Someone wishes we were back under those warm covers....notice the bed head he didn't mind wearing out in public. I love that he is confident even with bed head.

This is our friend John Paul...without him we may not have left those warm covers. Thanks for the accountability John Paul!

The boys...a little happier now that they have had some time to wake up...

I really should put on some makeup before these things....oh well..trying to decide if I should wear my sweatshirt.

A local told us about this place...a greasy spoon that has not changed since the fifties...I had eggs, sausage, biscuits, hash browns, and coffee for less than $5! Check out the refrigerator. It is still functional....

Glad we got out of bed for this race. That is the thing about running....you never regret going once you have finished.

Nathalie

Snowed in....

I figured I would join the thousand other Dallas area bloggers out there and discuss the recent, record breaking snow storm we've had. Now I grew up in Colorado, and have never considered the light dusting of snow once a year in Texas anything special. However, this storm puts some of our Colorado snows to shame. It snowed all day yesterday and when we got home from work there was at least 6 inches of snow on our lawn. Andrew and I played in it for an hour like two little kids. We threw snowballs, wrestled with the dogs...it was great fun.

This morning was another adventure entirely....

First, I awoke when it was still dark out feeling a little colder than usual. I turned to check the time and the clock was black. Still half asleep I got up to use the bathroom and realized when the light wouldn't come on our power was out! Not to worry I thought...our heater is gas.... I got back in bed. An hour later we were up...still no power. Andrew then informed me that our heater does indeed need electricity to run even though it is gas. Darn! I elected to take a shower since hot water was a luxury we still had. It wasn't until I got out that I realized my hair dryer would not be working without electricity. Shoot I thought...not only will I now be colder with a wet head, but my hair is going to look terrible today! With nothing I could do about it I brushed it out, put on about 4 shirts, extra socks and a scarf and thought what to do next. Andrew and I had both brought work home with us, but without power we could not get online to access it. Too bad right? So...our next thought was breakfast. Hot coffee and pancakes sounded perfect, but how can one cook on an electric stove without electricity? Not to worry...said Andrew..he would make pancakes on the grill! Thank goodness grill manufacturers include skillets on grills these days for emergencies such as this! And....those pancakes were SOOOO good! Coffee on the other hand I passed on, while Andrew made himself some instant (warmed the tea kettle on the grill). My man is resourceful! It was such a fun little morning! We ended up going into work after breakfast since the roads were clear and our house was so cold. Hopefully the power is back on soon! Enjoy the pictures....

Nathalie

Things never to say to your husband....

The other night I was in bed watching Andrew change into his PJs by the closet. He was at the point where he was only wearing his boxers and I noticed they were the tight fitting ones. Trying to encourage and love my husband, I said, "wow babe...looking good! I love those tight undies on you". He looked at me...down at the undies he had chosen for the day and said...."Nope..these aren't them". I insisted..."yes they are...I remember folding them recently...those aren't them?" Andrew...defeated..."NO-PEh...feel like a fatty now though...thanks babe" ...now I was back peddling..."Well you look great babe....I love you...it is kinda dark in here" the damage was done. Luckily I married a man with tough skin and who understands my intention was say something nice! Reflecting on it again we both burst out laughing and he threatened to tell everyone about my comment...guess I beat him to it. I will file this one in "Lessons from Early Marriage...things not to say to your husband"....whoops.