I’ve had a number of different jobs and positions throughout my life, but none will ever be more important than parenting. In a little bit more than six months, my husband and I will be adding the position of resume to our titles, and I’m absolutely terrified. Being a parent is, obviously, a large responsibility for a tiny human being, and it’s a lot of pressure for new parents. Now granted, it’s not my first rodeo with a baby. I’ve held a baby and babysat for my cousin when she was little, but that’s different. It was my cousin who I could give back to her parents, and I had my mom there to …

As we come upon our first year of marriage, we’ve considered making another big commitment and step in our life. We’re considering buying our first home, but there’s so much to review and decide before we even begin to make those steps. We’re trying to line up the finances, looking at different first-time homebuyer programs and, of course, trying to figure out our needs for a home. Honestly, big decisions and purchases tend to make me nervous. I remember having panic attacks over my college decision and buying my first real car. And I expect nothing too different for buying a home, but we …

One of the main things I first admired about my husband when we first began dating was how similar our religious viewpoints were. We both grew up in dominantly Christian homes--his family was nondenominational while my family was Baptist--but both families didn’t spend a great deal of time at church. However, his family did have a church in their home for five years through friends in the neighborhood. Therefore, when we came together, we both had strong religious beliefs, but we never established going to church on a continuing basis. In Tulsa, OK, months before we got married, we had …

With Valentine’s Day a little more than a week away, cupid’s arrow has definitely struck me. As I mentioned last week, love should be 365 days of the year, and not just surrounded by commercialism. And you can take others’ words for it. This week, I focused on speaking to those who have more marital experience than I do, preferably those who’ve been married around the five-year mark. I asked them to speak about keeping the love in marriage. Through Facebook and interviews, we heard from a number of people about what it takes to make sure to keep the love and relationship going. Florissant …

Before the gift wrap could be picked up from our trash or recycling containers, it seemed stores had already begun to hang their red and pink décor with hearts. That’s right, we’re talking Valentine’s Day. Stores in Florissant have already announced their chocolate-covered strawberry sales as well as plans for that special dinner for your special someone. But has the holiday become too much of a commercial holiday—like everything else? Back in our days of courtship (that’s right, some young people do court), Valentine’s seemed like an important day, where we went out and had a special time. …

Did you hear that my husband and I might now fall into an endangered species? That might be a little extreme, but it does look like soon we’ll fall into the minority. The marriage rate in the United States has declined by 5 percent, which accumulates to a 20 percent drop since the 1960s, a Huffington Post article states. According to the American Community Survey, in Missouri, the marriage rate has hovered just above the 50 percent mark at 53 percent. In Florissant, the marriage rate is near 46.9 percent, while the divorce rate remains at 12.8 percent. Does that spell doom and gloom for …

Aja Jonelle Williams. I still can’t get used to that name. It’s been more than six months, and I thought it would be much easier to sign my name correctly or—at the very least—remember it. But it hasn’t been that easy. More importantly, balancing my new role hasn’t been the easiest. Among the number of adjustments to the first year, none are bigger than figuring me out. Okay, I have to confess. Part of what inspired this column was Kim Kardashian’s rant heard around the world about how she didn’t know who she was in her marriage that lasted all of 72 days. I would like to argue and show that …

Despite the ringing in of the new year, a few of the complications from 2011 seem to have rolled into 2012. Toward the end of the year, my husband was laid off from his job, and in turn, it’s been a trial and a testament time to our marriage. This has probably been one of the biggest hurdles for our marriage, especially in that it’s always been essential for him to be a provider for our household. But we’re holding strong. With unemployment in Florissant hovered near 8.4 percent, according to the preliminary data from Bureau of Labor Statistics for the month of November, and a continued …

  2011 was a great year. We got married, we traveled, and despite all of the ups and downs, it was one of the most exciting years of our lives. As we kiss 2011 goodbye and get into 2012, we’re taking a different route to the new year. Instead of making a number of resolutions about what he or I will do in the next year, we’ve taken it to another level to have short and long-term goals for us as individuals and together, both personally and professionally. But for all intensive purposes, we’ll cut down to what we plan to do in 2012. Professional development: For me, I’ve dedicated 2012 to …

Usually, Christmas is my favorite time of the year. There’s not a memory in my mind where I had a bad Christmas or holiday experience. It’s always been a magical, happy time for my family and me, but this year has been a bit different. Especially with my first holidays as a wife. We’ve had a few personal difficulties, and the holidays have lost a little of their sparkle and luster for me. The familiar Christmas tunes haven’t inspired me, and it took awhile for me to even get my gifts wrapped, which is one of my favorite parts of the season. Don’t get me wrong. I’m definitely beyond grateful …

Our first Thanksgiving holiday together proved to be a bit rough, bouncing between households. While we made sure that we had seamless transitions, it proved to be a fun but busy day with family. There’s something we noticed about that day, though. It’s something we’ve thought about for years, but since we’re newlyweds, we knew we needed to change it. We didn’t spend a single second by ourselves to enjoy the holiday. The few moments we were alone, we were busy packing food and coordinating everything we needed for a full day out. The rest of the day was spent talking, eating and entertaining …

Christmas shopping has been a bit of a beast this year. It’s required a bit more thinking and creativity to celebrate our first Christmas as a married couple together. I want it to be truly special and memorable, and I hoped to give him a special gift to commemorate the holiday season spirit. That seems to be a taller task than I had imagined. In past years, we’ve given each other a list and a budget that we would stay within. This year, we exchanged lists, but we didn’t set a budget, and we each had our own ideas of something else we wanted in addition to the lists. We entered dangerous …

It’s been an awkward couple of weeks to look at my husband’s hand. You see, a few weeks ago, we had to take his ring to the jeweler to be resized and dipped in white gold. They said it could be three to four weeks before the ring returned, which meant my husband would be without a ring for the first time since we’ve been married. I understand that nothing changes just because he doesn’t wear a ring, but it’s still a very strange experience. For one thing, some people think that our marriage might be on the rocks because he doesn’t wear his ring anymore. Sorry to disappoint the rumor mills, …

When we first got engaged, there was no doubt as to who would be my bridesmaids—my best girls in the world. We’ve all been friends since middle school or high school, and we’ve seen plenty of good and bad times. We used to talk or text each other once or more each week, always chat on Facebook and at least once a month go out to dinner or for drinks together. Robert and his best friend were the same way—they went out for beers, hung out and were like a dynamic duo. A lot of that changed after June 18. Since then, we’ve seen our friends less and less, and we’ve been getting used to spending …

Last week, my husband celebrated his birthday with a private dinner celebration at home and a lot of other events throughout the week. At the end of it all, he proclaimed to me, “You’re the best wife ever.” Of course, I’m completely humbled and honored to hear that statement, but I considered what that meant. How do you figure out how to be a good wife, or spouse for that matter? By the time I was 6, my parents had already divorced, and I don’t have a clear image of their marriage. Obviously, I’ve learned a lot from my mom about how to be a good parent, but I’m not sure I entered my marriage …

This week I had my first big family event into my newly extended family. However, it came in the form of an unfortunate, serious situation. Robert’s mom became seriously ill to the point of needing hospitalization. He’s his mother's next of kin, so we spent a great deal of time at the hospital on Monday. Throughout the rest of the week, I continued to check in on her when my husband was unavailable.   Thankfully, she’s on her way to a full recovery, but it was a different experience for me this week. Obviously, we’ve visited our families since we married, but this felt for the first time like…

We’re deviating from our regularly programmed marital banter to discuss something a little different—being a pet owner. As I’ve mentioned previously, it’s my first time owning a pet ever in my life, and it’s definitely been an emotional—and financially draining—rollercoaster. It’s been three months since we’ve adopted our lovable Maltese, and we’ve visited the vet twice since then. Once for kennel cough and another time for a lesion that apparently formed from his addiction to licking. We’ve also spent a great deal on toys, food and treats as well as cleaning supplies for our carpet for those…

I’m a huge fan of watching The Biggest Loser. Robert and I sit down each week—when we can—and admire how these people not only look to change their body image and weight but their lifestyle. This has always been a goal for each one of us, but it seems that since we married, we’ve started to focus more on changing our eating habits and workout routines. We’ve always played tennis during warmer weather and played Nintendo Wii in colder times, and, obviously, we each worked hard before the wedding to look good in our photos. Now, it’s more about a commitment to a healthier lifestyle so that we …

Even as a young, newlywed couple, we’ve started seriously considering what we want the future to look like. For our personal life, that means those conversations have focused heavily on children. Although we’re a few years off from actually starting a family, it’s not too early to start weighing the options of how to get there. We’ve been looking at some of the obvious factors, such as financial and professional considerations—can we support a child, are we comfortable in our career path, are we ready to focus on family over career sometimes? But there are other aspects to observe, such as …

Children learn at an early age that sharing is an important part of growing up. When you’re an only child such as myself, not figuring out this tool early on can hinder you in adulthood, especially in relationships. It’s something that I’ve struggled with for a good part of my life, but my husband and I have grappled with it in our marriage, too. It can be as simple as sharing a cup of iced tea or a bowl of popcorn, and it can be as complicated as which chores get done. Lately, it’s been the TV that has become the contention point. We have a single TV that has cable in our apartment. While …