Valentines Day - Pre & Post Kidletts

A Pre-Kidletts Valentines Day Story:

Husband wakes up wife with kisses and a morning romp.
Whispers and promises of more fun to come later.
A sweet ado, and off to work he goes.
Wife spends the afternoon doing whatever the heck she wants and, most importantly, getting ready.
And when pre-kidlett Wife gets ready, she does it right.
Long hot shower, carefully shaved legs, lotion and perfume, curling the hair, curling the eyelashes, make up; the works. And of course, picking out that hot little number, most likely black. Black is slimming.

Husband arrives home from work with a bouquet of favorite flowers adorning his arm.
Husband is super pleased with the hotness of wife. Wife is pleased husband is pleased.
Some flirting, some kissing, and they leave on-time for their romantic dinner.
They drink wine and take long, slow bites, fully enjoying every piece of food that touches their lips.
They look lovingly and longingly into each others eyes. They whisper some more.
They return home, Husband carries Wife over the threshold, and...if you have any imagination at all, you know what comes next.

All in all, a perfect romantic evening.


Post-Kidletts Valentines Day Story:

Wake up bleary eyed from a long night with a newborn.
Husband says, 'I love you'. Bleary eyed Wife says 'Happy Valentines Day babe' and sticks a boob in the baby's mouth and falls back asleep.
Instead of a whisper waking her up she hears ' Mom!! MOM!!! MOOOOOOOOOOM!' thundering from her toddlers room.
She stumbles down the hallway, changes a massive poop diaper and totes toddler downstairs to watch Sesame Street. With both kids spoken for, she bolts into the shower.
Showered, dressed, make up & hair thrown back into a messy chignon in under 4 1/2 minutes.
Wife spends the afternoon changing diapers, nursing, and building skyscrapers with toddler and his blocks.
Husband texts Wife on the way home from the grocery store 'Got into an accident. That was fun.'
A few moments later Wife learns it was minor, Husband is fine and it wasn't his fault.
Wife breathes sigh of relief, then feeds toddler, toddler gets oatmeal everywhere, Wife bathes toddler. [What do you call a woman who bathes a kid and nurses at the same time? SuperWoman.]
Bleary eye and tired Husband arrives home mildly annoyed from the accident, with a slightly crushed single rose adorning his arm. Husband kisses wife, puts away groceries, opens a beer, takes baby from Wife's arms and sits on the couch.
After putting toddler to bed, Husband and Wife start cooking. It's 8 pm. Baby wakes up crying, Wife straps baby in the Moby. With baby finally asleep they finish cooking and sit down around 9 pm to a tasty and hot meal of filet mignon, risotto, and mozzarella caprese. Baby wakes up, of course, so Husband eats meal one handed while holding baby. Toddler rouses, and which parent went to soothe him; this story teller doesn't remember. Wife drinks wine too quickly.
Husband starts to say something romantic, when he is cut off by Wife. Not by her lips, or saying something romantic in return, but rather a fart. Wife had a baby 3 weeks prior and she doesn't have full control of her sphincter muscles yet.
Husband and Wife break into laughter. 'Were you going to say something romantic...and then...I farted???' she sputters in between laughs.
'Yes.'
'Well....let me finish your thought. All.....things.....considered........I  love....you.....aaaaand....?
'...this was a really nice evening.'
'I love you too. Welcome to life with children. Happy Valentines Day babe.
'Happy Valentines day love.'

Husband and wife crawl into bed, with baby, and with a quick kiss, they crash.
No romping for this tired, kidlett-clad couple. There's always next year.

[Re] fresh

I recently shared some fears about the next baby. There's something to be said about getting things off your chest, sharing, putting yourself out there...and with the right support team around you, there's no judgement or shame. Just encouragement. Love. Support. And that is the case for me. I am in a MUCH better place. My heart is refreshed. I'm thankful.

I am also thankful for......VACATION. Saturday my family and I are headed to Siesta Keys, FL for a week. This is our first vacation in over a year! My parents are joining us for 5 days too! I am so looking forward to some good QT time. It will be Rue's first trip to the beach (well, we took him to Hawaii when he was 5 months old, but that didn't count because then he was just eating the sand! Now we will be playing, building sand castles and searching for sea shells!) AND, it's my gorgeous mom's birthday! I see lots of laughs, delicious food, and fun in the future. And, 80 degree weather. HELLO. It snowed last weekend...so I'm thankful for some sunshine! 

I should go pack. But that would mean pausing this Grey's Anatomy rerun, getting up off this couch and out from under this warm blanket. 

Ain't gonna happen.

;)

success

As a mom, life is constant. One big clean up, following around a giant moving tornado of giggles and messes and whines and spills. Some days I have achieved to-do list 'success' : 4 loads of laundry, made a scrumptious meal, got my toddler napping & eating, gone to the bathroom in peace, bought groceries and done it all in a cool, calm & collected manner. Other days I don't get any thing 'done' except manage to stay in my pj's all day and be available to hug my toddler as often or as little as he wants. But even on those days I know I succeeded because I have LOVED him. 'Success' is subjective and it's definition is exclusive to your set of values, but as the quote below describes, it's all about the little things, and people matter most.

~ To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Valuable lessons 101

1. RUN THE DISHWASHER DAILY. I have always thought that my frugal hand washing skills saves on water consumption. But, it doesn't. Google told me so. Look it up. Don't you believe everything Google says? Running my dishwasher daily keeps my kitchen clean. Which, keeps my man happy. Which, keeps me happy. Happy happy Brink Haus.

(thanks Samantha for that little life changing suggestion)

2. DON'T GO CLOTHES SHOPPING WITH A TODDLER. Or, when you must don't bother to try on clothes. If you leave him in the cart as you shop, he will writhe and contort his body around and reach the rack behind him and pull all the clothes off the hanger. Or, start screaming! If you bring the cart into the room, he might reach the door handle and open it up as you are trying on a bathing suit and 3 target employees see you in your underwear. OR....if you take him out of the cart (because you want to stop the screaming) he might just escape under the door and run away. More embarrassing underwear sightings. So, instead...simply pick your favorites, buy them all, bring 'em home and put on a sexy bra and do a fashion show for your husband. He'll love it and he'll let you keep them! Win!

3. ASSUME YOU WILL BE OUT LATER AND LONGER THAN YOU ANTICIPATE. Bring lots and lots of food and water for your growing munchkin's-bottomless-pit-belly. If you don't you WILL regret it. Avoid the screams. Avoid frantic stops to scary gas stations. Bring food. Lots.

4. ASSUME THE MENAGERIE OF CHEERIOS SCATTERED ON THE FLOOR ARE INDEED WET AND WILL FEEL GROSS IF YOU STEP ON THEM WITH BARE FEET. Clean up food particles promptly.

Do you have any good ideas/tips/lessons learned to share? I am sure there are a few moms with multiples that have some goodies!

xo, Y