Engagements, Weddings, and Kids

            Where to start this week? We continued with our discussion in class with the topic of engagement and marriage. Let’s start with engagement. Much like dating, it has changed a lot in the last decade. Today being engaged is just the next step in dating. Like dating, there seems to be no commitment between the two people getting engaged. Getting engaged is more than just asking someone to marry you. It is telling or rather showing that person that you are willing and already are committed fully to them and the relationship. If you have dated the right way as discussed last week, being engaged should follow naturally. By the time you are ready to get engaged, you should have already worked together to make decisions. Getting engaged shouldn’t be something you decide to do one morning. I remember when I was dating my wife, I had thought about it, and we had actually talked about getting engaged. I planned the engagement and stressed over it. When it finally came time, I knew I was ready to commit more fully than I had previously and give her everything.  After she said yes, we jumped into planning a wedding. We both knew what we wanted and we worked together to make all of the decisions as a couple. Sure, there were rough spots as in all wedding plans, but we worked through them, and when it came time to get married, we were ready. It was the best day of my life and I will remember it for forever.

            After getting married, we knew we wanted a family. We wanted to have some time married together first before having kids. I know that sounds weird to want a family so soon, but it was something we both wanted. We had been married for 5 months when we decided to have a baby. It was another one of those decisions that we discussed for a while before coming to a consensus. As of writing this, our baby is due tomorrow and we finally have everything ready for him to come to our family. We are both so excited for him. However, having a baby can be very stressful at times on both of us. Sometimes, dads feel like they aren’t as loved or as important when the baby comes, because mom is always taking care of the baby. One thing to combat this is to be very involved both before and after the baby comes. I plan to change him and burp him when he feeds at night so that I can have some bonding time with him too, and so that my wife doesn’t have to do all the work. This will also help my wife and I grow closer together as a couple. We are planning to go on walks all the time around the block so that we can still have time to talk to each other and ask about each other’s days. Date night will be ordering food, that I’ll probably go pick up and bring home to eat and watching a movie on the TV.

            Marriage and family are important to both my wife and I and we will do all we can so that nothing comes between us and our family. Having kids is stressful, but we are determined that it will only strengthen our relationship. We want to strive for a strong family full of love for each other and teach our kids the values that we learned so they can someday have a family of their own.