Our favorite love letters from 2017—how we praised, swooned and loved on our partners this year

Motherhood is not always easy. Marriage is not always easy. Life is not always easy. This year was not necessarily easy. But thank goodness we have each other—our partners, our co-parents, our friends.

I don’t know how I’d fair on this wild roller coaster called parenthood without my ride or die and I’m grateful that he’s by my side every step of this journey together.

We shared a lot of love for our sweeties this year, mamas. And why not? They’re hot. They do dishes. They work hard. They support our dreams. They tell us we’re beautiful. They make us laugh. They fold the laundry. And they look really cute holding a newborn baby, don’t they? ?

Our love letters from 2017 praised, validated and swooned over our partners. Here are some of our favorites (maybe they’ll inspire you to write your own):

Partners in crime

We were grateful for our husbands, and acknowledged that we should let them know that more often. Especially because like us—they’re working so hard and are also stressed about the kids and work and balancing everything. We’re all doing our best and thankfully, we’re doing it together.

Couch potatoes

Some days—after dealing with meltdowns and mini dramas all day—there’s nowhere else we’d rather be than on our couch relaxing with our partners. Some takeout, dessert and Netflix? Those are what dreams are made of these days. And we’re all for it. (Just don’t forget that wine you texted us about earlier in the day. ?)

What really matters

Things may be different between us now that we’re in the trenches of parenthood. Date nights may be few and far between these days, we may not be able to finish a full conversation without being interrupted until we’re too tired and are drifting off to sleep, and…we miss you. But every day we’re learning that it’s the hundreds of small moments that really count in this busy season of life. (But still, babe, let’s not wait for our kiddos to be grown to make time for us. More date nights in 2018. Deal?)

They wrote love letters, too

And the love went both ways on Motherly this year. We read beautiful surprise love notes and the absolute sweetest thank you notes for breastfeeding our kids. You made us feel strong and validated each time you reassured us when we felt anxious.

We got real

We may be opposites. We may wish you could read our minds at times. Our approach to parenting may even be very different from each other. We may get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that we forget to really see you. We may hoist children at you the second you walk in the door from work. We may not have the same love languages. And we may tease you for “forgetting” to complete tasks around the house. ?

Thank you

But honestly—we are learning so much from one another, and you fill our lives with more joy than we could ever imagine.

We wanted to thank you a lot this year. For taking over bedtime, for having faith in us, for making our house a home, for being an amazing parent, for loving us at our best and our worst and mostly, for the things no one even asked you to do.

Thank you for being our equal. Thank you for being a feminist. Thank you for being our rock. Thank you for going above and beyond for us.

We wouldn’t want to be doing this with anyone but you. We didn’t think we could love you more than the day we married you, but turns out, becoming parents together amplified our love times a million. And now you’re sexier than ever.

Soooo if you need us, we’ll be under the mistletoe. ?