Family

Angelo and I met in a bar sometime in 2005. We went to that bar a lot, so we became friends. Then we started dating in the summer of 2006:

Those first three months together were rough. We weren’t very good to each other. In fact, we were actually pretty mean to each other. I could read the writing on the wall, and so could he, but for some dang reason, neither one of us wanted to walk away.

So we finally just gave in and actually tried to make the relationship work.

Then we bought our first house together 5 months later, in March of 2007:

We lived through 18 months of DIY renovations on a shoe-string budget. And we discovered that we’re actually pretty good together.

After we sold the house, we traveled together and had a blast:

In 2010, we added a furry housemate, Enzo:

And finally, Angelo proposed in April 2010, while we were on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

Wedding planning was immediately put on hold, though, while Angelo decided to go back to school (after being a bike messenger for 13 years).

I was totally cool with putting off the wedding. But there was something I wasn’t cool with putting off any longer… As we crept towards our mid-thirties, I knew I wanted to have a baby soon. Turns out, so did he. So in August 2010 we started trying to conceive.

Our first attempt didn’t turn out so well:

Following an ectopic pregnancy and losing my left Fallopian tube, we discovered that we would need medical intervention to get pregnant. Angelo and I were stricken but hopeful, and we got on the waiting list at the Infertility Clinic.

But then, in January 2011, while still waiting for the clinic to call, I missed my period. It turned out the doctors were wrong, and we were able to conceive naturally. Our baby boy was due September 10, 2011.