Moments of Musing

Valentine’s Day Weekend 2016

Filed Under: Marriage, pregnancy //

This Valentine’s Day was our last as a family of two… and we couldn’t be happier about that. But we also know it is important to treasure each other before Baby L is added to the mix. So we did “us” things.

We went to an Open House.

We did some registry things at Babies R Us. 

We went out to dinner Saturday and ordered in Sunday before going to see Deadpool late Sunday night. 

We snuggled and enjoyed each other. 
I love that Valentine’s Day is about love because I love love. (See what I mean? I just used the word love four times in one sentence.) And I think it’s important to let our loved ones know–and show them–just how cherished they are. 

Love Week: Preparing to Become Parents

Filed Under: pregnancy //


Each day it seems I love my husband more. But the love we share right now during this amazing journey is so much stronger and different than before. We are preparing to become parents together. We are making crucial decisions together. And soon enough we will raise and shape the life of our very own child together. 

We have been very fortunate to have traveled the world and to have experienced new and exciting things. But this has surely been the greatest time of our lives yet. I am so glad we get to be on this road with one another and to welcome our beautiful baby boy in a few months. 

I hope we look back at these precious memories whenever times get tough and remember just how sweet life is together. 

I love you, forever and ever. 

Love Week: Changing to Married Name

Filed Under: Marriage, wedding //

I always knew it would be tedious to change my legal name to my married name. What I didn’t know it how I attached I’d been to my maiden name. Thankfully, I didn’t have a middle name so I was able to make my maiden name my middle name. After I made that decision, I got to doing the procedures needed for a legal name change. The process was not only longer than expected but there were also some challenges–one of which was pretty costly. The steps I went through were as follows:

bride, bridal portrait, anniversary photos, changing to married name, last name change, married name change

1. Request another marriage certificate from the county we were married in. Wait for it to be mailed back from New Jersey to Chicago where we lived at the time. 

2. Submit a name change application to Social Security, along with our marriage certificate and my passport. I received a letter confirming receipt of the application and then a few weeks later, all my documents, including my new social security card. 
3. Submit my application for a new passport to reflect my new name, along with two color passport photos, my old passport, my new social security card, and my marriage certificate (for good measure). 

4. When we moved back to New York, I then applied for a new driver license. For this in-person application, I brought my current (at that time) NYS driver license, new social security card, and marriage license. 
***5. Applied for a name change with my student loan servicing company. Because I was completely unaware that I had to do this, this step was the costly one. Sure, the others may have had small fees but this one cost me thousands. This is why: I didn’t learn that I had to change my name until I attempted to reapply for my loan repayment program late last November. The name change took about a month to process. By the time I made sure my name was changed and reapplied for my loan repayment program, my enrollment had lapsed and I was charged the normal loan payment fee for January. To say I was upset, irate and disappointed is an understatement. I have never missed a payment and I had gone about doing the things I had to but it felt like I was being penalized. Thankfully, the situation was resolved and my repayment application was approved once again!
I’m hoping this post will help any of you who are getting married and/or changing your name in the future. 

Love Week: Baby L is a …!

Filed Under: pregnancy //

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I am dedicating this week to love-related topics. Welcome to my Love Week! I’m kicking it off with super exciting news.

This past weekend was a busy one for us. We had birthday dinner, a Sweet 16, a Superbowl party… and our baby’s sex reveal! You’ll notice I did not say gender because male and female is not technically a gender. (There still are a lot of people, including medical professionals, who call it that.)

I still don’t know how I managed not to peek inside the envelope in which our ultrasound tech put a card where she wrote the sex in and a photo showing the baby’s parts. Actually, I do know... Tim hid the envelope from me!

Before we get to the most exciting part, let me share some of our decor. It was football-themed to keep the Superbowl feel going. Plus, football is Tim’s favorite so pairing it with his other favorite (our baby) was a win-win.

And now for the big reveal!

(Video available on my Instagram)

We are so excited!!!

Snail Mail Announcement

Filed Under: Baby L //

Remember when I blogged about our Christmas card? Well, what you didn’t see was the bottom part that I’d cut off.

Here is how we let most of our family and friends know we’re expecting:
The bottom says: 
& Happy New Year! 
The best gifts don’t come from under a tree. 
Love, Our Soon-to-be Family of 3
If the recipient wasn’t reading carefully they just might miss the message… Like one of my sorority sisters who thought it meant ::wait for it:: we were announcing that we were getting a dog! This was particularly funny to me because 1) I have no desire to (ever) own a dog (this is a point of contention between Tim, a dog lover, and me…) and 2) I’m pretty sure I would not make a card announcement even if we were getting one. 
Needless to say, we had a good laugh while on the phone after she thought my Facebook pregnancy announcement was the first time she was finding out.
What are your favorite pregnancy announcements? If you’re pregnant or have been, how did you announce it?