7 things I learned in my first 3 months of marriage

John and I are coming up on our 3 month anniversary of being married – it’s really exciting 🙂 We are at the point where we’ve gotten pretty accustomed to living together, we’ve developed a somewhat routine, we’ve purchased the majority of the “newly married house things,” and life’s been pretttyyy good. There are also some interesting adjustments that being newly married brings too – like now living further from friends and family than is preferred, newly-married obligations, learning some new and not-so-romantic things about your partner in crime…but all in all marriage is pretty much the coolest adventure I’ve been on.

Here are a few things I discovered during our first 3 months of marriage:

1. EVERY NIGHT IS A SLEEPOVER.

Sleeping in the same bed is really the best, but the best part is waking up next to each other every morning. For us, it usually looks something like this: All the covers and pillows end up on my side because John kicks them off every single night without fail, Guen (John’s cat) is sleeping on my head and Winston (my cat) is sleeping on my feet, and in the midst of our sleepy groans waking up at noon we somehow always manage to find each others’ face to give some morning breath kisses. Now that I tell ya, is the good stuff.

2. ONE WORD: LAUNDRY.

I used to do my laundry once every week and a half when it was just me, but DANG…you should see the size of our hamper at the end of each week. When I hoist it over my shoulder to walk it down to the laundry room in our apartment complex, it looks like I’m hauling dead bodies. No joke. I learned what is a water pressure regulator because of this. I also learned that we need an energy efficient air conditioning and heat pump installation. Also, what is the reason for the AC not turning on? An expert will check the causes and fix them promptly. We have something similar to this one from Walmart, and it can hold a lot of clothes. There’s also a nifty zipper pouch (ours holds quarters) and a bigger pouch (which holds our detergent). I can only imagine how much more I’ll be doing laundry once we have some littles.

3. ANOTHER WORD: POO-POURRI.

One of the greatest inventions for marriages and for your toilet time. This was a silly subject to initially discuss when we got married (I’m talking faucet on, shower running, or only-go-when-they’re-not-home kinda thing), but we have officially conquered and won the poo talk. Now, when it’s about that time, John and I use “poo-pourri” as our code word for number 2. Ah marriage…the next level of relationship TMI. It’s great.

4. ARGUMENTS WILL HAPPEN.

There will be times when you get poked (John and I use the word poke for when we’re hurt, it stemmed from this stinkin cute video). The best thing to do when you’ve hit a speed bump on the road to married bliss is to talk it out right then. John’s great at wanting to fix things ASAP, whereas I’m the one to sit quiet and process for a while before I’m ready to talk. But nevertheless, we always work it out and the day ends on a good note every time. Which leads me to my next point…

5. DON’T COME IN WITH HIGH EXPECTATIONS.

I think one of the things that definitely takes getting used to being newly married is clearing the slate of expectations. Going into marriage, I had some expectations hanging out in my subconscious that I didn’t realize I had until they “weren’t met.” Not setting unrealistic expectations going into marriage makes things so much easier for both parties – because it’s not fair to put that kind of pressure on your new spouse to know exactly and instantly what you think/want/need as a wife (or husband) immediately into marriage…

I mean hello you’re both new to this married thing and you both will start out on wobbly new baby giraffe legs trying to figure out how to be married (though I do admit that taking a premarital class beforehand – one that spans out over a few weeks – does insane things for deepening and strengthening your relationship to better equip you for a solid marriage off the bat). Over the first several months into your married life, you will get to know each other on a hugely deeper level which will prompt things to happen that you’ll be glad you didn’t expect or ask for initially. <3 John always tells me “isn’t it better when I do things on my own without you asking? It makes it more special!” ..and he’s right. 😉

6. MY HUSBAND ISN’T FUNNY ANYMORE. HE’S HILARIOUS.

I mean I knew he was funny and cute from the start, it’s one of the things I initially was drawn to. But MARRIED funny? MARRIED silly?? Now that’s totally different than dating-funny/silly. My sister-in-law told me a while ago that things just get weirder and sillier the longer you’re married…and I’m totally seeing it now. The things John does when it’s just he and I, oh boy. The silliness has gotten to the snort-milk-out-your-nose-and-choke-and-almost-die kind of laugh level. As far as married-silliness goes, John is #winning.

7. DOWNTIME TAKES ON A WHOLE NEW MEANING.

What married life has come to show me is that sometimes, it’s when I don’t get dolled up and we’re just lounging where our time is the sweetest. John makes me feel just as beautiful when I’m rockin pj’s, messy hair and I-probably-need-to-shave-like-yesterday legs as he does on days we get ready and go do stuff. But slow mornings where we sleep in late, walk around with messy hair (Both John and I have thick curly hair; we give Ana a run for her money in the mornings), hang in pj’s until after lunch, and binge watch something on Netflix (right now it’s Fringe) is the best kind of (down)time together. It’s in that realness of #iwokeuplikethis where our i-love-you turns into i’m-IN-love-with-you.

SO! What did you learn in your newly married days? Any newlywed bloopers or wins you’d love to share? Let me know in the comments below!