Happy Birthday To My Amazing Husband!

I thought what better day than to post a blog dedicated to Matt and how we came to be then on his birthday. Today, September 11, is Matt's 40th Birthday.

Matt and I met in November of 2002 on the internet highway. We were both members of a matchmaking site, with my trial membership about to end. Matt e-mailed me mid-November and we began corresponding. It was right around Thanksgiving when we exchanged phone numbers and I was supposed to call Matt on a certain day and around a certain time. He likes to remind me I didn't call at that time, I called earlier so I could leave him a message and he would have to call me back. After talking a few times on the phone, Matt asked me for a date. We had our first date on December 7, 2002. It was a great date, always conversation. We learned a lot about each other and Matt said he knew he wanted to marry me when he learned I didn't really like to dance. (There is no Arthur Murray in my genes nor in his!) We had a lot in common from our music to our sense of humor. At the end of our date, Matt walked me to the car and asked me if he could kiss me on the cheek goodnight. I called my best friend and said, "Chivalry is not dead, he ASKED to kiss me goodnight." He has always been a gentleman...opening car doors, bringing my mother candy on Valentine's Day, and always thinking of me before himself.

Six months into our relationship we started talking about marriage and children. "How long do you think you would want to date before getting engaged? How long would you want to be engaged for? How many children do you want?" For our 1 year "dating" anniversary we planned a weekend in Manhattan. It was December 6th, 2002, aka "Blizzard of '02". I was ready to cancel our plans but Matt and my father were insistent we forge ahead. We spent the day walking around the city and seeing the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Now of course I was thinking "well, maybe this could be it?" but Matt showed no signs of a future proposal. What I mean by signs is he wasn't nervous. I usually could tell when something was going on because he was not good at keeping his nerves or surprises to himself. We were going to go on on a horse and buggy ride but they weren't running because of the weather. (It was later I found out this was Matt's original plan.) We were able to get dinner reservations at Tavern on the Green. During our dinner and photographer came over to us and asked if we liked to have our picture taken. He proceeded to lead us to a open hallway where, 1 day shy of our 1 year anniversary, this happened...

We got married 16 months later on April 17th, 2005. It was an amazing day and we not have changed a thing about it. And yes, we both danced!

We knew we wanted to have a family right away. Since I was diagnosed with PCOS we knew it would be struggle. We battled infertility and we won the fight. One June 13, 2007 we entered a whole new level in our marriage, we became parents.

Matt and I like to say our history together follows a special timeline. Each year we have a major event happen in our lives.
2002-We met
2003- We got engaged
2004- We bought our first home and moved in
2005- We got married
2006- We got pregnant
2007- We became parents
2008- Hmm... the year is not over yet!

Not only is Matt an amazing husband, yes ladies he does bathrooms, his own laundry and
takes out the garbage, he is an even more amazing father. Having never been around children, Matt had to learn fast and times 2! He'll be the first to admit, he was a little awkward at first, as we all are. Today, he's the best daddy. He loves to sit on the floor and let the twins crawl all over him, he reads them a bedtime story, and ventures out on his own with the both of them. He lets me sleep in some days and gets up with the twins. Whenever he calls home one of the first things he asks is "How are the babies?". It's no wonder their first words were "da-da".

I asked Matt what he wanted for his 40th birthday. He responded, " I have everything I want, you and our babies." How could I top that?!

Happy 40th Birthday Matt! May we celebrate many more birthdays together, each one better than the last. Katie and Ryan love you, Daisy loves you and I love you.