Hello, my Gals! ๐๐
So I am 34 weeks with baby number 2 as of writing this! ๐ฅฐ๐คฐIt happened so fast! โฒ๐จ
In my post about my third trimester with Vinny, I mentioned that I had to get my ring cut off due to me leaving it on swollen fingers for far too long. ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ Needless to say I was not having that happen again! ๐
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At 33 weeks, while I was still able to take my wedding and engagement ring on and off with relative ease (it did start to leave a bit of an imprint, though), I took that lil muh off, stored it in its original home and switched it with my temporary ring! ๐๐

Back in November, I had gone to Charming Charlie’s and found this cute lil fella for about $8! ๐ I figured it would be cute for Valentine’s Day time, which is when little Mikey is due. ๐๐๐
So, while on the topic of rings, I thought it would be fun to share my proposal story. ๐๐๐ I like that kind of stuff, and I know some of you might, too, so I figured why not? ๐๐
Before I tell you the actual story proposal, though, let me take you further back in time a little bit. โณ
๐Leap Day, 2012โ
โI’m leaving my then boyfriend’s house. More accurately, his parents’ house, where he was living at the time.
When you’re a young adult (we were 21 at the time ๐ป๐ฅ๐) still living with your parents, sometimes things can get a little heated when you don’t see eye-to-eye. Around this time, there was a little healthy tension between my boyfriend and his parents, and he started getting some phase of life blues.
He walked me to my car in the heavy snowfall, no jacket on, no socks under his old sneakers. I could tell something was up, so I asked him. He took my hand and reiterated to me that he felt “trapped,” and like he wanted to get out from under his parents’ roof and start our lives already.
๐๐My heart fluttered when he said “our.” I looked him in the eyes and before I knew what I was saying, out my mouth came;
“Then let’s leave together right now and get married.” I looked earnestly into his eyes, stepping closer so that we were chest to chest. “Town Hall is still open. We can stay at a hotel until we find an apartment. I think I have enough for a week at an okay place…”
It was definitely wishful thinking, and I know it sounded ridiculous as I said it.
But a tiny part of me sincerely hoped he would say yes. ๐ค๐ค
He laughed. “You know I would love that,” he said, his genuine love pouring through his deep brown eyes and directly into my heart. “But that’s not what I want for us.” ๐๐
I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Okay. But you let me know if you change your mind.” I joked.
๐After a few kisses, I got in my car to go back to my father’s house to work on my sociology homework (I was a senior in college at the time).
About an hour into the essay I had hella procrastinated, my grandmother who had been living with us at the time came home, and she stopped in front of my door. I felt her stare at me for a moment, and I turned to see her with the biggest sugar-eating grin I had ever seen. She continued to stare at me for a bit. ๐๐
“May I help you?” I finally teased.
“Do you know what day it is?” My grandmother asked, still wearing her Cheshire grin.
“…Leap Day…?” I replied.
“No,” she smiled. “It’s Sadie Hawkins Day.”
“Oh, okay?” I shrugged.
My grandmother’s eyes lit up. “That means when a girl asks a boy to marry her, he has to say yes.” ๐๐
She smiled at my aghast expression for a moment, and then made her way to her room.
It was either the weirdest coincidence ever, or the woman somehow knew about my spur of the moment idea for elopement, and furthermore that somehow, some way, my wildest dreams were destined to come true. ๐ญ๐๐๐ญ
I mean I can’t say that my spontaneous suggestion was by any means an official proposal, but if he had agreed to elope with me, I would have gone with him so fast our grandkids would have whiplash. ๐โโ๏ธ๐ฐ๐๐
I’ve told my now husband this story so many times since then, and each time he just rolls his eyes and smiles to himself.
He doesn’t want to admit I asked him first. ๐๐๐๐
โFirst Day Of Summer, 2013๐
Fast forward a little over a year. I was just about to finish an opening shift when a coworker of mine had called out. ๐ So I volunteered to stay a couple hours on top of my shift to cover until someone could close.
My boyfriend had “Plans” for us that evening, so I couldn’t do a double (darnit ๐).
๐ณI got out of work and rushed home to put on some very casual clothes, under the impression that we would be having a calm dinner at his parents’ and be relaxing before a weekend off. ๐๐น๐ต
I pulled up to his parents’ house, thinking I was obscenely late, and sure enough, my boyfriend is late coming home from our friend’s house.
โโฑIt should be noted that my husband has a bit of an on-time intolerance, if you will. He operates on what friends and family lovingly refer to as “Tony Time,” which means if something starts on the hour, you can expect him anywhere from quarter to half past at least. โฑ๐
To be fair, with important things he’s a little bit better, but still.
So, I was a little irritated with him. He finally got home and I expressed my aggravation with his tardiness for probably the 9000th time in our then three-year relationship. I told him that if he was serious about being with me, he needed to make more of an effort to be on time, and that if he were ANYONE else, this constant lateness would have been a dealbreaker (being on time is very important to me ๐ฏ).
He took my hands in his and looked me deep in the eyes and promised me he would always keep trying.
Looking back, that emphasis on always… ๐คฉ
Then he excused himself to go up to his room and change, as he was in workout clothes at the moment, and asked if I wanted to go for a quick walk before dinner, to which I responded with a hesitant yes, as I was beat from my extra long day at work. But I could never pass up an opportunity to be out and about with him. ๐ซ๐ฒ๐
๐คตHe came down after several minutes in a handsome button up shirt, a pair of classy dark jeans, and dress shoes. He had run some gel through his hair and dabbed some cologne on. ๐๐ฅ๐
“We’re just going for a walk, aren’t we?” I asked, gesturing up and down to my comparatively scrubby ensemble, messy hair and after-work makeup. ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ
“Yeah, I just felt like looking nice…” he said, looking at the floor, fidgeting…
๐We left his parents’ house on our usual route around his neighborhood. As we were leaving, he squeezed my hand and asked me, “So, what are you doing the rest of the week?”
I returned his squeeze and replied, “Ummm, working??” At the time I was pulling nearly full time hours, which he was aware of.
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense.” He muttered.
In his old neighborhood, there is a pond which has a bit of a natural “bridge” connecting it to a trailway around the pond, which in turn connects to another neighborhood–the neighborhood of his very early childhood. ๐
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We used to love going on this trail through the woods, admiring the pond and the nature surrounding it. It was hella romantic. ๐๐
However, this particular day the pond was flooded, so we had to turn around to go back to his parents’ house.
Once we got back, he led me to the swing-set that sat in his parents’ yard, saying he wasn’t ready to go back in. I was still tired, but shared his sentiment of wanting to stay out a bit longer and enjoy the nice weather. The summer sun was just beginning to set. I’ll never forget that beautiful evening. โจ๐
We swang side by side, hand in hand for a moment or two, just chit chatting without a care. After a bit, I yawned, and he turned to me and said, “Aww, are you tired?” He got up to stand in front of me.
“Yeah, it’s just been a long day,” I shrugged. He knelt down and took my hands. I thought nothing of this gesture, although looking back… ๐คฉ๐คฉ
“So,” he began, his voice wavering. “Remember when I asked you what you were doing the rest of the week?”
I snorted. “Yeah?”
“Well, when I asked you that,” he continued, reaching in his back pocket, shifting onto one knee…
๐”What I really meant was, what are you doing the rest of your life?”๐

That Sapphire, tho. ๐คฉ๐คฉ๐คฉ Sapphire is my birthstone and favorite stone, and apparently what they used to use in England to propose with, according to my husband. He planned the whole ring himself! ๐๐ญ๐
The first thing I saw was the Sapphire.
Its brilliance, complimented by the twin diamonds and rows of smaller diamonds shocked me. I stared at it for what felt like forever and like no time at all. I looked back at my boyfriend…or, who was to be my boyfriend for only another mere second or so…
“What is this?” was all I managed to say.
“I’m asking you if you would do me the honor of being Mrs. Ramon Antonio Ruiz.” He said, his eyes misting, earnest, and full of love, and full of anxiety.
๐ณ๐คฏThis is the moment when most girls would have begun their cute cry, with the hand over their mouth or hands over their eyes, fanning their faces and nodding through tears of joy. It was the classic “Hallmark,” “Every Kiss Begins With Kay,” “He Went To Jared,” “Netflix Original Christmas Movie” moment that sells so many rings a year. ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐๐ญ
But if you’ve been reading a while, you probably know I’m not like most girls. ๐คทโโ๏ธ๐คทโโ๏ธ
๐คฃAt this moment, Mel.exe stopped working, and I burst out laughing
“This is a bad joke!” I sputtered. “I hope you know this is a bad joke!”
My fiancee stared at me. “It’s not, though…I’m serious.”
I fought to regain my composure. I had just been so overcome and caught off guard that my all my brain could do was blue screen and send me into a nervous fit of laughter.
“Okay, okay!” I said, and then kissed him hard.
“So, that’s a yes, then?” He confirmed.
I nodded. “Yes.”
With that he put the beautiful, delicate ring on my finger, and the rest is history.
๐ฅฐ๐Some pictures of us from our engagement, and some from our wedding September 20, 2014๐ฐ๐คต
๐We’ll have been together for 9 years this Summer, and have been married 4 years as of this past September. It feels like it’s been this way my whole life.
๐Maybe because my life truly began when we fell in love๐
Even though his snoring can be heard from the four corners of the Earth, he can be a bit more of a homebody than I’d like at times, he can be a little bull-headed, he takes forever to leave places and keeps the server around way too long because he won’t stop chatting, and he still has trouble being on time, I could never, in a million, billion, zilion years, in any reality, imagine myself with anyone else. Ever. ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฏ
I had prayed for someone like him to come into my life since I was a child, I had prayed that I might have a chance to be married and have a family with someone amazing. I had prayed for a love like this…and to this day I still can’t believe that it’s real…
I don’t know what I did to deserve it, and I still wait for something bad to happen. I still wait to wake up from this dream.
But when he tells me he loves me, when he looks at me with those big, beautiful eyes, when he holds onto me with those big, strong, yet gentle, loving arms…I believe him.
And I love him. And our children. More than anything. ๐๐๐
๐I don’t know what I did to deserve this dream, but I thank God above that He blessed me with it๐
๐So that’s our story! Thanks for reading all of that! ๐๐
๐ฌHow many of you are engaged or married? What are your engagement stories? If not, what is your fantasy proposal? Share in the comments!
Thanks for reading, my Gals! ๐ฅฐ๐
๐If you’re new here, and if this or any of my upcoming content seems interesting to you, add your email and follow so you don’t miss any updates! ๐๐ And if you’re already following, thank you and bless your heart and soul! ๐ค๐
๐Upcoming Content: What’s In My Hospital Bag Round 2, Why Time Away Makes Me A Better Mom, and My Son’s “Home-School” Curriculum: Toddler Months/Years