Husband

Looking for name change advice or some tips for newlywed life? The MissNowMrs experts have created state-specific name change articles and checklists for you. We’ve chronicled our recommendations for how to travel while changing your name AND how to handle voting during the transition.

We’ve also compiled our best guidance for how to handle difficult sister in laws, holidays as newlyweds, the ever-annoying baby questions, and much more. Why? Because, while we are name change experts, we’re also newlywed wives, moms, and sisters.

We hope our name change advice articles help smooth your transition to your new name, and a whole new phase of life. Congratulations and best wishes from the entire MissNowMrs team!

Just 5 Minutes

How many times have you asked your spouse for “just 5 minutes” of their time? Did he/she give you those 5 minutes or did you get a list of a million and one reasons why “now is not a good time?” Too often we believe that our time and needs are more important than the time and needs of our spouse. After 4+ years of marriage I’ve figured out that our needs are equally important (don’t judge me…you know you’ve put yourself first before too)! Time is precious (lets face it, we’re all busy and/or stressed out about work, bills, etc.) so why not take those few extra minutes to slow down and enjoy one another’s company or make our spouse’s life a little less stressful?

Here are some examples of what you can do for your spouse that take just about 5 minutes or so and could result in YOU making his/her day that much better!

1. Take out the trash
2. Rub or scratch his/her back
3. Hug/Kiss
4. Hit the snooze button for an extra few minutes of cuddling time (a.k.a “spooning”)
5. Listen to how his/her day was
6. Feed and/or walk the dog
7. Throw in a load of laundry and/or fold a load of clean laundry
8. Pick up his/her favorite adult beverage to enjoy together at home
9. Pick up his/her favorite take-out to enjoy dinner at home (sans cooking)
10. Pack his/her lunch for the next day

It’s the little gestures and things that matter most in married life (and life in general), so the next time your spouse asks you for “5 minutes” remember that he/she wouldn’t ask if they didn’t really need you.

What is your initial reaction when your spouse asks you for “5 minutes?” What do you do for your spouse (or does your spouse do for you) to make life a little bit easier?

Spring Fever: How to Help Your Spouse Feel Better

Desperate to help your spouse feel better? With the sudden weather and temperature changes, it’s possible that you or your spouse might come down with a cold. They may not admit it, but most men are reduced to infants when they get sick. So, if you’re dealing with a sick spouse here are a few ideas to help you help him feel better!

Make Chicken Soup – Medical studies have shown that this 800+ year old cold remedy actually works! Here’s a quick yet amazing recipe for homemade chicken noodle soup. Your sicker half will appreciate the soup AND the effort you put into making it for them!

Get Them to Take a Day Off – Your spouse may be saving his PTO, but nobody wins when a sick person comes into work. Have your significant other d stay home and rest for a day to ensure a speedy recovery. You can always threaten them with a doctor’s visit if they keep going to work and continue to run themselves down. The threat of the doctor almost always works.

Set Up a Vaporizer – If you don’t already own one, it’s smart to purchase a vaporizer. For as little as $11 you can make breathing easier and decrease the amount of congestion/mucus in your spouse’s chest. Don’t have time to run out for a vaporizer? Rub your spouse down with Vicks Vapor Rub instead.

Stockpile Hot Beverages – Did you know that drinking hot tea (or other hot beverages) increases the temperature of your throat, which impairs viral replication? Make your loved one some soothing tea with honey to help them kick a nasty virus and feel better faster.

What are your secrets to help your spouse feel better? Do you have any tried and true remedies? We’d love for you to share them in a comment.

Keeping The Weight Off After the Wedding

Need some pointers for keeping the weight off after the wedding? When you’re dating, you want to look your best because you know that’s one of the easiest ways to attract Mr. Right. When you’re engaged you put even more effort into your looks so that you can ensure that you look fabulous on your wedding day. And, of course, you want to look awesome on your honeymoon as well (hello bikini pictures). But what happens when you come home? Studies show that once the wedding and honeymoon are over, newlywed couples start to gain weight.

While your spouse may love you no matter what size you are, it’s very important to make sure that you keep nutrition as an important focus of your life. It’s far too easy to put on a serious number of pounds in just a few years when you’re not making an effort to keep the weight off. One of the best things about being married is that you’re in everything together, and together you can make a plan to stay healthy and maintain a healthy weight.

Good nutrition is a vital step to making sure that you keep the weight off and stay healthy. This can be tricky when you’re married, especially if your spouse is a meat and potatoes or take-out kind of guy. But don’t let that deter you from eating healthy. Sit down together each week and discuss what you’d like to eat. If you find that you’re craving something, like wings or pizza, work together to figure out how you can make that specific meal a healthier dish. You can substitute baked chicken with buffalo sauce for wings, and pizza can be made over with low fat cheese, whole wheat crust and the addition of veggies. Here’s a site with several other great ideas for healthy substitutes for junk food.

Would you believe that exercising together can be a great deal of fun? It can! Especially if you find something that the two of you enjoy doing together. Ladies, it may be difficult to get your new husband to try out that dancing workout DVD that you just bought, and guys need to realize that not all women love to lift weights. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t work out together.

A few times a week why not find some aerobic activity that the both of you enjoy doing, like running or playing basketball, and making a date of it. Not only can you have fun playing together and working out, but all sorts of fun things can also happen when you’re showering off!

Have you and your spouse put on a few pounds since the wedding? What changes have you made as a couple that are making a difference in your health and the numbers on the scale?

Balancing Marriage And Guy Friends

Recently I ran across this great article about ways to remain happy in your marriage, and the article made a reference about married men and women, having friends of the opposite sex, so I wanted to share this with you and find out your thoughts! Platonic friendships seem to be very prominent and normal in some marriages, yet in others, it is something that is not looked at as Kosher. My husband and I both have friends (some old, some new) of the opposite sex that we will keep in touch with from time to time and see once in a blue moon.

At this point in our life, a best friendship with a member of the opposite sex that includes one-on-one bonding time may not be considered appropriate for us, however, we both agree that it is important to have friends of the opposite sex. We feel as though it’s healthy for us to be able to hang out with and converse with people- male and female, without feeling as though there are restrictions or jealous feelings between us! Personally, I have seen that men more readily accept a female having male friends, than a woman to accept a male having female friends. Let’s be honest, some of us women are like cats (at times I can be one of them), we are naturally structured to be more territorial and yes maybe more jealous than a man, so we don’t want another woman to have a friendship or get too close to what is ‘ours’! For others this is a completely normal concept and neither husband nor wife is bothered by or has a problem with opposite sex friends. I believe this is one of those topics that is completely situational, and based upon the individuals themselves in the relationship, and your personal feelings on the issue. No matter how you want to look at it, the bottom line comes down to your respect for one another and knowing your boundaries!
Be courteous and respectful of your spouse’s feelings. If one of you isn’t comfortable with the other’s friendship with someone of the opposite sex, then you need to talk about it. Remember, communication is key to an amazing marriage! What are your thoughts on this? Do you and your spouse have friends of the opposite sex? Please share your thoughts!

Compassion Leads to Passion

Did you know that compassion leads to passion in a marriage? We all know that not every day in life is the best day ever…as a matter of fact we also know that none of us are immune to bad days, weeks, months and unfortunately even years. When I have a bad day all I want to do is go home and be with my spouse. Truly, nothing makes me feel better than a nice warm embrace from him because he knows what to say or how to act to put a smile back on my face. He is a compassionate person by nature. Are you?

I consider myself to be a compassionate person because when something goes wrong in someone else’s life I naturally find myself thinking of ways I can attempt to make them feel better (i.e. by listening, being a shoulder to cry on or even through humor). Compassion, by definition is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering (Dictionary.com).

As a spouse you should always want to make your husband/wife feel better when they’re down, but the truth is that sometimes you don’t know what to do or say. There are circumstances that unfortunately almost nothing will make your spouse feel better in that moment (i.e. a death or loss of job); however, that doesn’t mean you can’t just be there.

Here are a few things that may help your spouse feel better the next time he has a rough day:

Cook their favorite meal: We know the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so if you get home before he does whip up his favorite meal (even if it isn’t part of your strict diet). No time to cook his favorite meal? Try taking him to his favorite restaurant instead…there’s no prep in that!

Watch their favorite movie: So what if you’re not into war movies or raunchy comedies like he is…just cuddle up with him on the couch and know that you are helping him feel better. Here’s a list of 50 Best Guy Movies of All-Time in case you need a little direction…sorry ladies, but The Notebook didn’t make the list.

Give them a massage: The poor guy’s feeling stressed out and could use a good rub down. You can use massage oils or lotion if you have it…if not, I’m sure he’ll be happy with your hands all over him.

Give them a surprise in the bedroom: Dress up in your sexiest lingerie, give him a lap dance, or…we’ll leave it up to your imagination!

The point here is to always do whatever you can to make each other happy because life is too short to do anything less. Have you found that compassion leads to passion in your own marriage? Tell us what you do/have done to make others feel better in their time of need.