Well, it's Valentine's Day. I don't have anything profound to write, no romance tips to offer, no great presents to suggest for your beloved, no original poetry you can rip off to put on the card you're making at the last minute. And lately "getting hot in the bedroom" has elicited the cranky comment, "Can you please turn down your side of the electric blanket?! I'm frying over here!"
But then I got to thinking about my favorite Valentine's Day -- the one where the man I was madly in love with made me a heart-shaped chocolate cake from scratch. After an hour of kitchen clattering, he came up to tell me, "Don't come downstairs for a while; it's a surprise!" As he turned to walk away, I saw two perfect hand prints in flour on his dark jeans, one for each side of his adorable butt. We were snowed in, built a huge fire in the fireplace, took a bubble bath, ate cake on a futon in front of the fire wearing nothing but a sheet...
That was love. This is still love, but now it's also marriage. While the stability and longevity are wonderful, the "why are the dirty clothes on the floor clinging to the legs of the empty laundry hamper?" can sometimes dull the passion that came with living in a borrowed house on a grad student salary. And we've got the baby carriage. Which means fire + nudity + futon + chocolate cake ain't happenin' around here right now.
So in the spirit of reaching out to all of you who adore your spouses (except momentarily when they forget it's their night to pick up the kids at daycare), and who have found yourselves in the Baby Carriage part of that nursery rhyme, I offer the following tips. They aren't too Valentine-y, but they are certainly good ones. And if you've been home all day with the kids, and need to bust on past the stress of those poking fights in order to get your romance on with your honey later tonight, maybe the following will do the trick and lighten the load.
Valentine's Day and Every Day
8 comments:
What do you mean, no shoes for teething?
Works with dogs, no?
;)
Haha, I needed that! Thanks.
Although, I have to confess. I do pick my kids noses. I know, I know, it's gross. What can I say. I get upset when my pinky nail breaks because it's my booger nail. :) I feel better now that I got that off my chest.
I remember before kids I would have been upset about a broken nail, but not for that reason!
I LOVE the baby sitting in the fishtank! Now, just to clarify that's a "no" because the baby would displace so much water that it would slosh all over the floor, right?
Wow-I wish that guide was around when my children were babies. I had no idea how many rules there are for proper child care! Thank goodness my girls are okay! Whew.
Wow, you just managed to suck the fun RIGHT out of parenting! :-) Happy Valentine's Day from my House of Plague to yours (aka, we ALL have had the flu all week, which really, truly sucks!)
Bah-ha!! LOVE IT.
WHY in the name of all that is holy would I ever need to WAKE a BABY?!
And that baby featured in the "Checking Baby's Diaper" plate? Looks like nobody needs to check -- he's punching a grumper in front of our eyes.
Very funny stuff!
I feel better now that I got that off my chest. You crack me up, Robin!
MIQ, yes, that's right. I have a hard time deciding whether that one, the turkey leg, or the air horn are the best pieces of advice to keep in mind.
Well, Caffeine Court, just count yourself lucky, I guess. :)
Foolery, obviously you need these little lessons more than I thought. You need to wake newborns to feed them if they don't wake on their own every three hours. My very own postpartum nurse told me that with Daughter. Her suggestion was to strip the baby naked and tickle her feet. Which, to 24-hour-old babies is probably pretty much the equivalent of an air horn, since they're not so used to the whole cold air thing. I, personally, prefer the air horn, as it's much easier. ;)
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