New York City Getaway

My husband and I went on a little getaway to New York City right before Christmas! It was our first time being away from the girls for more than a night at the same time. We've really never gone away since we've had kids and the last big trip the 2 of us took was our honeymoon 9 years ago. It was time! I have always wanted to go to NYC. I'm not really sure why, but for as long as I can remember I've wanted to visit. We had talked about going for our honeymoon and spending NYE there, but we were broke college students then and NYE in NYC is insanely expensive. 

We decided this was the year to go. We had a lot to celebrate--my turning 30, and his almost turning 30, adopting 2 kids, buying a new house, a new job, paying off the last of our non-mortgage debt, and our 9 year anniversary. 

We left December 17, Sunday evening, and drove up to Chicago. We grabbed a late night meal at Denny's and headed to our hotel for a few hours of rest before an early wake time to catch our flight! 

Monday, the 18th, we caught an early flight and arrived in New Jersey just before lunch time.

 We grabbed a train into the city and arrived at Penn Station, then took a cab to our hotel from there. The hotel we stayed at was a couple blocks from Central Park, right on Broadway, and just a few blocks away from Times Square. So much was right there within a few block of us! 

We dropped our bags at the hotel and went walking in search of food. We kind of just started walking and finally ended up at Mom's for lunch. It was super yummy, and it felt really good to sit down and savor a meal after a long morning of traveling.

 After lunch, we kept walking and randomly ended up in Times Square. They had some cool stuff set up in prep for New Year's. The giant '18 was set up so they could switch out the '17 that was sitting up by the ball drop, and so we took our picture with that.

One really neat thing they had was this little booth where you can write a wish on a piece of tissue paper. Then on NYE when the ball drops, they drop the confetti with all of the wishes on it! That was fun.

After Times Square, we continued onto Bryant Park. They had the cutest little Christmas village set up, so we checked out some shops and food set ups, etc. We bought a personalized ornament, and grabbed a snack from Doughnuttery.

 We headed back to our hotel to actually check in, and relaxed for several hours. We were pretty spent from traveling and walking around the city. We decided to grab pizza for dinner, and just went to a place a few doors down from the hotel called Angelo's. It ended up being incredible pizza. We got a pizza with white sauce, which was ricotta cheese mixed with some other things-SO good, and sausage and mushroom. The atmosphere in there was so cute and homey-like a little hole in the wall place right in the middle of the city.

 After dinner, we went exploring again and ended up walking through Broadway, Times Square, Bryant Park again and continued onto Grand Central Station. I had hoped it would be all decorated for Christmas, but besides some wreaths hung, there really wasn't much. Still, it was cool to see. We walked the mile or so back to our hotel and crashed. Monday my watch tracked 21,523 steps (10.54 miles). 

Tuesday morning we slept in until about 11:00, which was AMAZING. I can't remember the last time I've slept in, let alone that late! My husband went and grabbed us some juices from a place right on the corner. I tried to find random ways to sneak in some healthy stuff amidst all of the other stuff we were indulging in, and green smoothies/juices were an easy way to do that. 

After we got ready we headed to Central Park for the morning. They also had a Christmas village set up, so we explored that for awhile. Food wise, we really just grazed on a bunch of stuff throughout the morning. In the village we grabbed a chicken waffle cone while we shopped and shared that. It was so good. Just literally chicken in a waffle cone with whatever sauce you choose.

 After the village, we started walking through the park. We got a hot dog to start, because you just have to have a NYC hot dog from a stand at least once. We saw a lot of the iconic Central Park stops and just walked a ton. It was strange to be in so much nature right in the middle of the huge city.

 We stopped and saw some performers for awhile, which was hilarious. Later in the day we got crepes from a crepe stand. I got the nutella coconut crepe and it was incredible.

 We were still feeling pretty tired from such a busy day Monday, and so much walking already Tuesday, so we headed back to our hotel. On the way we saw a restaurant, Brasserie Cognac, and we decided to try it out. It looked really formal and fancy, but the people inside weren't dressed up so we thought it would be ok. It was a really nice meal. We ate around 4:30 and since we had grazed all morning it was really like a late lunch. I loved the atmosphere in there. It was so cozy, dark lighting, nice music playing, and everything was at a slow pace. It was just what we needed after the morning we had. The place started filling up as time went on and it was fun to people watch as well. To start, we had this incredible goat cheese and tomato tarte, and I got the beet salad for my dish.

 I had no idea I liked beets, but it turns out they are delicious! The salad again was SO good. After Cognac, we went back to our hotel and rested for a few hours. We were having quite the dilemma because we were just so exhausted. My legs and feet were so sore from all of the walking, and I just wanted to stay in bed, but felt like that was lame. We were in New York! We should be out exploring! But, ultimately we decided we'd have a way better day Wednesday if we rested up Tuesday night. So, we ordered Shake Shack online, went to pick it up around 8:00, brought it back to the hotel, got in pajamas, and watched Designated Survivor on Hulu while we ate.

 It was actually the best. My husband reminded me that's not something we get to do often at home, and while it's nice to go see all the things, it's also nice just to relax and enjoy a night in :) Love him. Tuesday we did 14,686 steps (7.25 miles).

Wednesday, we got up and grabbed juice from Juice Generation, a couple blocks away. So many good choices.

 We took those back to the hotel and got ready, then my husband grabbed New York bagels from Pick-a-bagel. I pretty much thought a bagel was a bagel...until I had these. They were ENORMOUS, and so soft. And SO much cream cheese. I couldn't finish mine.

After breakfast, we went to the LOVE sculpture. It was our 9 year anniversary, and what better place to get an anniversary picture?!

Wednesday was Chinatown/Little Italy day. We took the Subway for the first time, which was a fun experience. Once we got to Chinatown, my husband really wanted to get some authentic dumplings. He had heard about this great dumpling place, so we walked to it and really got off the beaten path into the heart of Chinatown. It was cool to walk around and see not the touristy stuff, but really where a lot of Chinese people were working and living there. The dumplings were from East Dumplings and they were something like 10 for $3 or so. They were amazing.

 We browsed all around Chinatown for several hours, which was fun. We ended up walking into Little Italy and we both had to use the bathroom so we walked into this little cafe to sit down, grab a drink and snack and use the bathroom.  Well it turns out this little cafe wasn't just any cafe, it was Caffe Palermo-home of the best Cannoli on the planet. I got cheesecake, which they are also famous for and it was excellent. Really rich, of course, but way creamier and thicker than what I'm used to.

 My husband got a panini, and then a cannoli. I don't have a lot of experience with cannolis but it was really good!

After our little pick me up, we walked over to the Brooklyn Bridge.

 We didn't end up walking all the way across, because we had already walked so much that day and the bridge was actually super crowded, but it was a fun experience and we got a lot of cool pictures. The views of the city were amazing.

We headed back to Chinatown to catch the subway home and we rested for a few hours. Around 6 or 7, we took the subway to Chelsea and checked out Chelsea Market. I absolutely LOVED this place. The vibe was so cool. We looked at all the food options and finally settled at The Green Table. Everything was local, organic, etc. I got the chicken pot pie and it was delicious. My husband got a steak which he said was also really good. It was one of our favorite meals. It was such a cozy quaint little restaurant tucked inside the Market. Perfect spot for an anniversary dinner!

We had just a little time to browse the Market, so we did that shortly, then we walked down to the piers to catch a cruise we were taking! We booked this cocoa and carols cruise on Classic Harbor Line cruises. I am so glad we decided to do this! It was so fun and romantic and just something so different than we've done before!

 So the evening was hosted by a little jazz band and they played Christmas carols, we had spiked cocoa and cookies and the captain drove us all around to see the sights, lights, and right up to the Statue of Liberty. It was awesome. We went out and sat outside to see Lady Liberty, and though it was freezing cold and windy being on the water it was romantic and just perfect. So much fun.

 On the way back, they had all of the passengers carol along with them, which was a lot of fun! 

When we got back, we took an Uber back to our hotel. It was so tired from all the walking we did that day, and the Subway was quite a ways away, so we decided to just call an Uber. Well worth it! We logged 24,161 steps that day (12.07 miles)! 

Thursday started off with...you guessed it...juice! Hey, at least we tried different places every day :) Thursday was Joe and the Juice.

 We walked to Times Square after that and got breakfast from Wafles and Dinges. We had seen these stands all over town, and knew we had to indulge at least once. It was ridiculous and delicious and gave me such a stomach ache, but I'd do it again ;) I built my own with something like hot fudge, nutella, walnuts, whipped cream...I can't even remember what else. All I remember is that it was so rich and good, and I was freezing while we ate it.

 Overall, the weather was great while we were there! Mid 40s most days, one day even in the 50s. Sometimes the wind would hit just right that we were chilly, but other than that, we were actually very comfortable the entire trip! After our absurd and amazing breakfast, we headed over to Radio City to get in line to see the Christmas Spectacular!

 Ok, this show blew me away! Of course, I mostly expected lots of dancing from the Rockettes, but holy cow, the technology this show used was insane. I absolutely loved it! It was such an awesome show. If you go around that time of year, be sure you see it! The hall was decorated so beautifully for Christmas, as well! 

After the show, we walked across the street to Rockefeller Center. We had big plans to go ice skating at the Center and spend a lot of time exploring it, but we were totally underwhelmed with it. It was very meh. A glorified shopping mall with a bunch of stores we have at home. And no bathrooms. It really wasn't great, I am not sure what all the hype is about unless we missed something really cool. The rink itself was also pretty meh. It was dropped down a bit, so you didn't even have a view. Nothing like what I've seen on shows or movies. The rink at Bryant Park was way bigger and prettier, as well as Central Park. I kind of wish we would have skated at one of those instead, but at that point we just knew we were ready to leave Rockefeller and kind of forgot about skating. 

We subwayed back to Little Italy and walked to eat at Lombardi's, the first pizza place in the USA. It was cool to be in a landmark place like that, but overall, we both felt like the pizza we had the first night was just as good, if not better. I'm glad we went, though!

 After lunch, we walked around little Italy a little bit more, and stopped at Rice to Riches which is a rice pudding place. Random. The signs on the door were hilarious and drew us in. We got cheesecake pudding to go, and it was actually really good! We walked around the NOHO area for awhile, went in some stores like Adidas and Crate & Barrel and then took the subway home. We relaxed in the hotel for a few hours and then went to grab dinner at Black Tap. We had walked past it before and seen a line pretty far out the door. We looked it up and felt like we should go check it out. When we got there, the line was pretty long and we asked someone about halfway up how long they had waited. They said about 15 minutes, so we decided to stay. Everyone in line around us was also trying to decide if it was worth the wait. We ended up chatting with several people around us which was just fun to hear where other people were from and what they had been doing in the city. We eventually got in after about 45 minutes or so and it was FOR SURE worth the wait. The atmosphere was really cool and the burgers and fries were so good. But the milkshakes. OH THE MILKSHAKES. They had every kind of dessert-y milkshake you could think of. The cake one had a full slice of cake on top. Same with the brownie shake. The M&M one was just completely covered in M&Ms. It was hard to decided which one to get but we went with the cookie shake and it didn't disappoint!

 Every single person was taking pictures of their shakes-it was pretty hilarious. After our late dinner, we went souvenir shopping for the next hour or two and wrapped up our night. Thursday we came in at 12,693 steps (6.08 miles).
Friday we basically woke up, packed up, grabbed breakfast (bagels) and got ready to go. We tried to take a Lyft to Penn Station, and without getting into the dramatic details, we had a driver accept our request, then cancel it on us, another one accept, waited 5+ minutes for the driver when it said he was 1 or 2 minutes away, and then when we could see he was 1 block away he cancelled on us too! So, we missed the train we wanted, hailed a cab and made it to Penn Station about 4 minutes before the next train left for New Jersey, luckily! Took the train back to the airport, then landed in Chicago and made the 4 hour drive home to our babies!! And while we're on the topic of Lyft, they then tried to charge ME for one of the cancelled rides. I was NOT happy and it took forever to get it taken care of, so I am forever team Uber from now on.
One of our kiddos was sick the whole time we were gone and I felt so bad to be away from her. The others started passing it around right as we were getting home and I got it a few days later (flu, I'm pretty sure). They were in such good hands and had such a fun time with Grandma and Gramps and we are so thankful to have been able to get away and spend such quality time together! It is definitely one of my favorite trips and one I will remember forever. 

Sickness, Christmas Gifts, 8 Years, Girls Day

{one} I have been sick for 3 weeks....I just can't seem to shake it! It started as what felt like the flu, but I hit some home remedies hard and felt mostly better the next day, then it just turned into the cold gunk. Then other members of the family started getting it, then it moved into my chest and I barely had a voice, then more people in the family got it, then it started to feel like the flu again for a couple days, then it all moved into my head and has been there for a week or so. Have you ever had a cold that lasted 3 weeks? When are you supposed to go get checked? I mean, there's nothing they can do for a cold anyway, right, so.....? Now we have 2 kids on antibiotics-one for an ear infection, and one for an eye infection. Did you know you can get cellulitis of the eye?! Well, you can. And I am SO glad I took her in, because the Dr. said that it often gets bad enough that you have to get on IV antibiotics. So we are praying that clears up quickly. We also had a kid swallow a Lego this week. Of course it happened past 7 p.m. when all the Dr's close, so to the ER we went for x-rays. We called, and they said we had to come in because it could have cut a hole in the esophagus on the way down, so that's really what they were checking for. Luckily it didn't. The Lego itself just passes, which we are still waiting for.....That visit is also how we found out about the ear infection, so I guess it saved me another trip to the Dr ;) My oldest also had an appointment with a cardiologist at the beginning of the month. All was well, praise Jesus. So moral of this story is that I have basically been living at doctors offices/hospitals this month. It figures. We had a pretty low key year in terms of sickness and injury, so of course it would all hit the last month of the year, right?  {two} Today I realized that we have a few large things that need to be put together for the kids for Christmas. I mean, I KNEW we had them, but Christmas really snuck up on me! Anyone else? This month has absolutely flown by, and here we are, 5 days out from Christmas! I'm trying to figure out how exactly to do this, because I know based on the Amazon reviews, that one of the items (a play kitchen) took people 4+ hours to put together. So I don't want to save it for Christmas Eve, but how do you start it and hide it until then? I am really excited for Christmas this year. The whole "large family Christmas" thing seems like it will be really fun. And insane. But the memories of wrapping paper flying everywhere and squeals of delight from 4 little ones seeing their new stuff will be so worth it! I can't wait! What are you getting your kids for Christmas? Are you done shopping? Do you ever have those years where you just KNOW your kids will absolutely love their gifts? Most years I feel like they'll be really excited and really enjoy what they got, but this year I just can't wait to see their faces. Maybe it's because they're getting older and actually have ideas of what they want going for awhile, but I just really think they are going to be so excited and that makes me so excited!  {three} Today is our 8 year anniversary! 8 years seems really long! It is very hard to believe that it has been almost a decade! This morning I was thinking that probably within a few more years, everything from our wedding and the photos will start looking so outdated. Right?! It seems like usually when you look back at things from 10+ years they look really old. 

{four} I took my girls out for a girls day on Saturday. They were supposed to have dress rehearsal for their nativity play, but that got cancelled, along with church on Sunday, because it was -30 F with the windchill. NEGATIVE THIRTY DEGREES, GUYS. So I took them out and surprised them with a girls day and it was so much fun! I have been missing them lately. We had my dad, step mom and sister in town over Thanksgiving, then a few days later my mom came, then we've all been battling the sickness off and on and I feel like I just haven't connected with them enough lately. We got donuts first (of course), then we went to see Moana.

 It was super cute and we all enjoyed it. I had one or both girls on my lap for the entire movie, so it was pretty much the best!

 When we came out, it was snowing pretty good, so we went and got lunch at Noodles and Co. I think this was actually my favorite part of the day. We just ate and chatted about the movie and Christmas and whatever their little hearts desired. They seemed so grown up to just sit and have conversations with me over lunch and it was so bittersweet. I love watching them grow. (Also, can I just pause to say that things like going out to eat or to a movie seem SO easy with just my big girls without two wild toddlers in tow! There is no time to pause and chat when we are out with all 4!) After lunch, the snow was still really coming down, but we needed to get the girls gifts for Daddy and brothers, so we braved several stores. I think 5 actually before we all had cold wet feet and and were tired of snow blowing in our faces! It was such a great day, and I think all of our cups were full by the end of it! I could tell by all of the lap sitting, hugging and holding that they requested, that I wasn't the only one who had felt like we haven't connected enough lately. 

Consistent Date Nights

My husband and I have not always been great about having a consistent date night. It can be really hard depending on what season of life you are in. However, I am starting to see more and more just how important it is to be consistent with it, no matter what season or place in life you are at!  "Consistent" is going to look different for everyone. Maybe you have a standing date with your babysitter every Wednesday night. Possibly you do every other week or a few times a month, or maybe the last Friday of the month is your night. Pick what feels comfortable to you and schedule it in! For us, it is every other Thursday. My in-laws take the girls and we have date night. Sometimes we go out to dinner or to a movie, other times we just go on a long walk and get uninterrupted talk time which everyone with toddlers knows is priceless (!), and sometimes we do stuff around the house together, like yard work or hanging doors--you know, fun stuff like that ;) It's not always glamorous, but for us, it's the time spent together that is important.  When we had babies, we didn't get out for dates nearly as frequently. I was nursing, pregnant, or both for about 3 1/2 years straight and it just felt like too much work to get out for a date when I had to work around a baby who wouldn't take a bottle for anything, extreme pregnancy nausea, and all of that. Looking back now, I wish we would have made the time for each other. The baby would have been fine without nursing for the 3 hours that we were gone. The fresh air might have made me feel a little better, or at least I could have indulged some dessert cravings. It would have been really good for us in that crazy season of life, and in the future, we definitely plan to make it a priority as we add more little ones and keep our standing twice monthly date nights.  While family dates or dates in the home after the kids go to bed can be really great, and they are amazing options, I do really think it is important to get some time together without the kids to nurture your marriage. The most important earthly relationship you have! Some practical ways to do this would be: 

• decide how often you want to set a consistent date night. Maybe you want to shoot for once a month and if you get some bonus, unplanned dates in there, then great! 
• find someone who can babysit consistently. You can definitely do it with multiple people, but if you are hesitant about leaving the kids, having one person who knows them and their routine well helps a lot! 
• put it on the calendar and don't break the "appointment". Even if you are tired. Even if you had a rough week. Even if your sitter cancels (find someone else!). Hopefully the date will refresh both of you, and it doesn't have to take a long time. Go out for an hour and a half and then come back refreshed and ready for the week ahead! 

Do you get a consistent date night with your spouse? Why or why not? 

Day In The Life

I love doing Day in the Life posts and try to do them about once or twice a year just so that I can look back and see what we were up to at each stage of my kids lives. Things change so quickly and it is easy to forget! I did them pretty regularly on my old blog and love looking back and seeing what our days were like and how they have changed in just a few years! The last time I did one was in December, and you can read it here if you'd like.  Monday, May 18, 2015 8:00: I wake up on my own (almost never happens) and realize that my husband is also still in bed and kids aren't awake yet. Close my eyes and fall back asleep.  Around 8:30 (I think): one kiddo wakes up and the other is still sleeping. She has breakfast and watches a show on the computer while daddy and I slowwwwly wake up. Mondays are hard. 9:00: Finally up and at 'em. Girls are still finishing up breakfast (they eat slow in the mornings) at the table.

9:20: I get myself breakfast (4 eggs, with salt & pepper--keeping it simple today) and eat. 

9:35: Wrap things up in the kitchen and go have the girls start getting ready. We pick out their clothes and they get dressed, then we finish up in the bathroom with brushing teeth, fixing their hair, etc. The girls go out to play in the living room while I get ready to go. I just quickly throw in a braid, a little bit of makeup and am good to go. 

9:55ish: Get some packages ready to be mailed for family birthdays coming up! 10:05: We finally have shoes on and are out the door to run errands. We head to the FedEx store to package and mail gifts, to the bank and then to Aldi for groceries. 

11:55: We get home and start unloading groceries. I have the best little helpers who do the fridge while I do the pantry! 

12:05: Groceries are put away and I start getting lunch fixed for the girls.  12:15: I get the girls at the table and eating, throw my lunch together quickly and eat with them. I'm having a little southwestern "salad" of black beans, corn, left over rotisserie chicken, avocado and salsa and a handful of grapes on the side. 

12:30: I'm done with lunch and start working on the tornado that hit my kitchen this weekend while the girls finish up and eventually head to the living room to play. We were busy a lot of this weekend and normally dishes are not something I let myself get behind on because a full sink and dishes on the counter stresses.me.out. but that's what happened and I am paying for it now! The girls are pretending to be a pizza lady and mail lady and keep bringing me "pizza" and "mail" while I'm cleaning up.  12:55: Done with the kitchen and I head to the couch where the girls are reading books. I read them a book and we head to the bathroom for potty breaks, then into their bedroom and they get tucked in, prayers and songs.  1:05: Girls are in bed and I head back out to the couch for my quiet time.

1:25: I start getting some work done on the computer. Checking and answering emails, work for the moms fitness group I lead, Project: On Purpose stuff and start writing this post. I actually set a timer for 30 minutes so I don't get side tracked and it goes really fast.  1:55: Re set the timer for 10 more minutes so I can make some headway on this post.  2:05: Shut the computer and get the living room picked up and other random chores around the house.  2:30: Thinking that someone will wake up any minute, I don't want to get started on anything so I sit down to finish a book I'm almost through with.  3:00: Still no one is up and I am just finishing up my book. 3:10: I usually eat a snack with them when they wake up but apparently they are sleepy heads today and I am hungry, so I eat sweet potato chips.  3:20: I read some messages and look through instagram on my phone.  3:40: STILL not awake (not complaining one bit) so I get back on the computer to dump the pictures I've taken already today and put them in this post. Keep writing this post and finish up some other work on the computer.
4:00: They finally emerge! I was going to wake them up around 4 if they weren't up anyway, otherwise bedtime would be rough. I get them a snack and one of them is still pretty groggy and wants to watch a show so I agree to one episode of Daniel Tiger.

4:10: I go do a little dinner prep while they are watching their show. 
4:20: Their show is over so we play a bit in the living room. I read them a few books and we cuddle on the couch. 
4:45: I head back into the kitchen to make dinner and they pick back up on their mail and pizza lady game. I should have gotten a picture of this--they took these blue reusable grocery bags and put one handle around their neck and the bag hanging down their front so it looked like a mail bag. It was pretty funny! 
5:00: Daddy is home! Yay! 
5:10ish: We sit down to eat dinner. We are having pasta (spaghetti squash for me, brown rice quinoa pasta for them) with meat sauce, bread and Caesar salad. 

5:40: We are done with dinner. I clean up the pots and pans and the family plays. 
6:15: We get bundled up and ready to head to hubby's softball game. We were going to play at the park for a bit first but it is pretty chilly so we just sit in the car for a few minutes and then head over to the diamond. 
7:00: My dear friend Megan suggests we get hot chocolate because it is soooo cold out! We are all bundled up in coats, hats for the girls and blankets. 
7:20: We get back to the game with hot chocolate and I meant to take pictures but I am too busy snuggling under a blanket and trying to keep warm! 
8:15: Game is over and we head back to the cars to warm up! 
8:30: Home! Get the girls ready for bed. Potty, brush teeth, pajamas and clean faces and hands. We all pile into our bed under the big comforter to try to get warm. We have recently started a new routine of getting in our bed for a little bit before bedtime to wind down. We get in, talk about whatever they want to talk about, then they each get to pick a short song to sing (one always picks you are my sunshine and the other always picks skinamarink), then one "Jesus" song (tonight it was My Lighthouse by Rend Collective) for me to sing. Then we each take turns praying and I love hearing their sweet little prayers and what is important to them. One of them tonight prayed something to the effect of "Thank you for taking all of our sins away and thank you for yummy hot chocolate at the softball game" ha! It has really helped for them to wind down this way.
9:00: Finally in bed! (They normally are in bed between 8 and 8:30 but the game ran late).
9:05: I am on the couch in pajamas getting ready to finish this post. Hubby makes me a snack and after this I am planning to get back in bed and maybe watch a show because I am still really cold! Hopefully I will be asleep by 10:30 or 11! 

4 Things Your Husband Needs From You

Sometimes it is hard to know what our husbands really need from us. Sure, dinner hot and on the table is nice. A good back rub is great. A nice date night out without the kids is wonderful. But what do they really need? What do their souls most desire from us as wives? Here are 4 things that your husband needs from you. 

He needs your support Husbands need their wives support. They need their wives to be their biggest cheerleaders. Our pastor told me this at our wedding and I have heard it a thousand times since then. The whole world is going to cut him down, telling him he isn't good enough, he doesn't work hard enough, he isn't fit enough, strong enough, manly enough. He needs to be able to come home and have you there as his biggest supporter. Telling him he IS all of those things and reminding him of all of his good qualities and who he is in Christ. He needs you to support his ideas when they aren't popular or valued.
He needs you to listen to his dreams I am married to a dreamer, friends. One with big ideas that will probably never happen. I will be honest and tell you that for many years, I didn't see the point of talking about these big dreams. I know that I said to him on more than one occasion "Well, you aren't going to actually pursue this, right? So why are we even talking about it?" Ouch. Maybe you have said that or think that even now. But men are just dreamers! They like to think about what big things could come into fruition. They like to dream about the companies they could start and the adventures they could go on. Let him! Let him dream about it and even dream with him. Ask him questions about that million dollar idea he has, let him sketch you a picture of the giant piece of furniture he will never actually build. Just let him dream and never criticize him for doing it! My guy's latest dream is opening our own donut shop, and let's be real--I super hope this one plays out. Yum. 
He needs your respect Men need respect the way that we need love. It is hard for women to fully understand that, I think. It is hard because we can't relate to it. We want L-O-V-E and lots of it, pleaseandthankyou! That's how your man feels about being respected. He needs to know that you respect him, his ideas, and his decisions. Respect will look different for each man, so ask him how he feels most respected and disrespected. Take good notes! 
He needs your prayers Prayer is powerful. While sometimes we may think that men have it so easy, they really don't. They have a lot of weight on their shoulders that they carry for their families, co-workers, work places, churches, and friends. They make a lot of decisions each and every day and those decisions aren't always supported by important people. He needs you to be faithful in lifting him up to the Lord. He needs you to carry him to the Cross when he may be too drained to carry himself there, or when he is too busy praying for other people to think to pray for himself. I am guilty of praying for my husband often, but not often letting him know. I need to be better about telling him every now and then that I am praying for him. Yes, I do it daily, but I'm sure he would be blessed to know. Here are some more thoughts on praying for your husband. 
What else do you think husbands need from their wives? 

Little Things That Make a Big Difference In Your Marriage

Life and marriage can be overwhelming sometimes. Sometimes we get so caught up in the big things and the big picture that we are overwhelmed by it all. Sometimes in our marriages we feel like everything is piling up and there are all of these huge overwhelming things going on (not always necessarily bad things). What we fail to often see is that there are so many little things we can be doing each and every day with our spouse that can be a big difference within our marriage. 

Say "I Love You"--My husband is the best about this. He always says I love you. Whether we are on a 2 second phone call to confirm plans or he is leaving for the day, he always, always says it. I have noticed everyone in his family does as well, so I'm sure that's where it comes from. It is so nice to hear because who doesn't love being told I love you?! It just brightens up your mood every time. I think sometimes after people have been together a long time either they don't say it as often, or they say it but without any meaning. Say it like you mean it and say it often! 
Greet them when they walk in the door--This is something I almost had to teach myself to do. My husband almost always gets home from work when I am cooking dinner or changing a diaper or doing some chore and it is so easy to just yell a "hey!" from the kitchen and not really stop to give him a hug and say hello. It makes a HUGE difference to show them that you missed them while they were gone and are happy they are home. 

Hug--I feel like hugging can easily be one of those things you just stop doing after awhile. Or forget to do. Or just don't make a priority. It can really make you feel connected. If you have kids, taking time to hug in front of them can always show them that your marriage is a top priority and shows them that mom and dad love each other. 

Do something for them-- I'm not necessarily talking any grand gesture here, but just doing a little something for them every day. I know my husband really appreciates the rare occasion where I get up and make him a nice breakfast before church. It makes my day when he unloads the dishwasher. Little things like that each day can definitely show your spouse how much you care for them. 
What little things do you do in your marriage to make a big difference? 
Since we are talking about marriage, I want to give a big shout out to my sweet husband, whose birthday it is today! I am so thankful for him today and every day but especially love celebrating him on this day each year! Happy birthday honey!