Author Archives: Paula Rollo

About Paula Rollo

Paula Rollo: Paula & her hubby have been happily married for 4 years. They decided to tie the knot after knowing each other for just 35 days! They now have 2 rambunctious kiddos known as Little Man (2) and The Princess (7 mos). The family resides in Texas in a small but lively apartment. Paula and her hubby love to play board games, take long walks with the kids and they both LOVE the Texas heat! Paula also has a passion for writing. Her compositions have been featured many places around the web, including her own blog Beauty Through Imperfection where she writes about motherhood and strives to be an encourager through her writing.

7 Ways to Keep the Romance Alive After Baby is Born

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If you’ve been reading this blog for any period of time, you likely know my pathway to children has been a windy one. That’s why I’m so grateful for all the wonderful contributors of this club who give a beautiful perspective on remaining blissful in marriage…even after children.

Enjoy one of our favorite bloggers, Paula Rollo.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

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Life with a newborn can be challenging, never mind trying to keep the romance alive in marriage, knowing full well that the baby could interrupt at any moment. So what’s a couple to do?

Alex and I have successfully made it through the newborn stage twice in less than 3 years, so I’m here to share a few tips for keeping the romance alive and the marriage strong, even with tiny babies!

Plan Ahead - Before kids, you could go out on a date whenever you wanted or stay up all night chatting, with a baby, it takes a lot of planning ahead to make any of that happen, but it can still be done!
Expect Plans to change - All the planning in the world can’t change a sick baby or a sleepless night! Many times the best laid plans will fall to pieces, don’t get discouraged when this happens, just keep trying!
Date Night - After baby comes along, date night becomes much more complex; organizing babysitters, bottles and bedtimes it can sometimes seem like more of a hassle than it’s worth, but don’t neglect it! If you don’t have a sitter, there are some fun ways to bring date night to your house, and have a romantic night in! All it takes is a little imagination and the desire to make it happen.
Take a Nap - It sounds silly but sometimes napping can be important to a marriage! If you run yourself ragged taking care of kids all day (and night), by the time your spouse comes home you have nothing left to offer. Don’t let yourself feel guilty if you need a nap, taking time to rest is good for you, and your marriage!
Talk about it - Keeping the lines of communication open is important now, more than ever before. Discuss the challenges you are each facing as you create your new life, warn each other if you are having a rough day and find creative ways to support each other through it all! A little chat can go a long way in keeping the romance alive.
Remember your spouse - After my kids were born, it was so easy for me to get wrapped up in their needs, and even my own that I would forget that my husband had needs too. Take time to think about your spouse and ways you can show him love, the extra effort may take a bit of energy, but it will be well worth it to let him know how much you love and appreciate him!
Be patient - Even though it feels like it might, this season of life won’t last forever, the baby won’t always keep you up all night and you will have energy again (yes, even before the kids are out of the house!).

Marriage does change a lot after baby, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing! Take it from Alex and me, we know.

QUESTION: How do you keep the romance alive with kids?

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Date Night Game: Pandemic

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With two small children at home, the majority of mine and my husband’s dates end up being at-home date nights. We’ve discovered lots of ways to have fun at home, one of our favorites being game night! We have found several 2-player games that we enjoy and so I decided to share one of them with you.

The game I want to introduce to you today is called Pandemic. We’ve owned this game for almost two years and we still love it. It’s a 2-4 player game that can be found in most Target stores and on Amazon priced between $30-$40.

Photo Credit Amazon.com

One of the best things about Pandemic is the fact that it’s a cooperative game. This means that, instead of competing against each other, you will actually be teamed up together to beat the game. At first, I was skeptical about how a game like that could still be fun after a few times playing it but I’ve been pleasantly surprised! The game is a little bit different every time we play, and it is always a challenge!

Game Play: At the start of the game each player is assigned a unique role (examples: research specialist, medic, scientist etc). The roles all have different strengths and characteristics that can help the team when used correctly. Players then travel around the world (the board) interacting with each other and trying to cure the 4+ diseases that have broken out worldwide. You do this all while trying to avoid disease outbreaks and hoping to completely eradicate the viruses.

I have been thoroughly impressed by the re-playability of this game. It is always a challenge and requires a lot of strategic thinking and teamwork. The difficulty level is easily adjusted so the game can get harder as you become more experienced with it.

Pandemic is a perfect date-night game that will have you and your spouse working together to save humanity!

Happy dating from Paula Rollo @ Beauty Through Imperfection

Write Your Story

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Looking for something a bit more romantic than “just” another evening at home? Ready to walk down memory lane with your spouse in a fun and creative way? Then I have just the date for you! This is a simple, but fun date that can be completed in one night or stretched out over many evenings for even MORE fun!

For this date you will need:

2 pens
Some paper or a notebook
Your spouse
And LOTS of memories!

The great thing about this date is that it can be done so many different ways. You can do it all in one sitting, or break it up over several different nights. It’s all about personalizing it and doing it your own way. After you gather your materials, it’s time to get to writing and reminiscing together.

Start with the first moment that you saw each other. Take turns writing out what you remember; your first thoughts and impressions of the person who was later to become your spouse! Write it all out and compare notes. Then keep going! You can continue taking turns writing special events from different perspectives OR write them together and find creative ways to voice both of your thoughts and memories at the same time.

This could get really fun as you will both remember things that the other didn’t and be reminded of tiny details that you might have otherwise never recalled! If you need help with details or just need some extra inspiration, dig out old picture albums (or facebook photos) and try to remember what was going on in each photo as you write your story. Don’t worry so much about writing a grammatical masterpiece or recording each memory perfectly. Focus on having fun, laughing together and flirting as you re-live those early moments of young love! Be sure you save your writings someplace special so that you can revisit them on special occasions like anniversaries. Your children might even enjoy reading them one day! Still not sure what to write about? Here are a few prompts:

The Moment You Met
First Date
The Moment You Knew He/She was “The One”
Favorite Dating Memory (His & Hers)
First “I Love You”
Meeting the In-Laws
The First Kiss
The Engagement Story
Wedding Day – His Perspective
Wedding Day – Her Perspective
First Anniversary

Happy dating from Paula Rollo @ Beauty Through Imperfection!