February!

So here we are, a week into February already!

This month there's a couple of pretty important dates I need to get organised for. Especially now we have a baby, she has to be able to take part too!

Valentines Day

Valentines day is a day to express love, appreciation and be more romantic than usual. Actually, me and Jodie aren't huge over-the-top valentines advocates, but we do make the normal effort with cards, little gifts and maybe a nice meal. We tend to reserve the big romantic stuff for the anniversary, I guess it just feels more significant.
But this year the game has been changed. I have a daughter.

This is a perfect opportunity to teach Willow about love, obviously she's WAY too young to understand. But what I mean is, I think it's important for her to grow up seeing what a stable and happy relationship looks like. Me and Jodie are as solid as solid can be. Both coming from families where the parents went separate ways, it definitely had an effect. But it's made us appreciate things more, and not take a relationship or family for granted. Pushing us both to strive for a happier and more positive future. If Willow can grow up watching the two of us be happily married and adore each other, perhaps she will look for something similar herself and not settle with the wrong person and be unhappy in her life.
There's an old quote kicking around by John Wooden "The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." And I think that is really important.

So now the question is, what do we do for Willow on Valentines day? I want her to be a huge Daddy's girl so I think I'll treat her to some sentimental gifts and a card every year. I mostly want her to have that day where she can feel appreciated and loved as well as her mother! I'm definitely outnumbered now with two ladies in the house so whatever we decide to do, I'll have to make it super soppy and sweet, I'm an avid collector of brownie points.

Next comes the next big day. My Wife's 25th birthday! Now the birthday is just another day to some but this one is different. It's the first year Jodie will get a present from her baby! Willow has to get her a gift! Now of course, being just shy of 7 weeks old, her gift selection skills haven't quite reached their full potential. The only "gift" she can give so far is a little on the smelly side.

This year I'm going to have a look down the personalised route for gifts, I've never really dabbled too far in the personalised things but for the first gift to Jodie from Willow, I think it needs that extra touch. SO I'm open to ideas!

As for my gift to her, she pretty much likes anything Disney related, I tend to get her something collectable each year, something she can wear (I like to think I'm somewhat of a fashionista) and a few other sentimental things. But I'm still a little stumped this year. What do I give the woman who has given me the most amazing gift? (I still owe her the "push present" which I'm working on as well!)

So I think a Daddy/Daughter shopping day is in order soon, I feel somewhat nervous about having her on my own for the first time, Jodie has never left her sight so I think she deserves a bit of a break to catch up with herself as well. I'm actually looking forward to the idea of having her on my own soon, there's a certain level of confidence I think it'll bring like "yeah I'm doing this and look how amazing my baby is". But we haven't even gone for a trip in the car yet without having one of us in the back seat watching her like a hawk!

Needless to say this month will bring a few special moments to our family, and plenty of firsts. We are finding our confidence day by day and Willow appears to like us quite a bit (success!) so I can't wait to make little memories and start the first year of family traditions. I want to hear from a few readers, what do you do for these days with your children and partners? Any tips, amazing gift ideas and traditions, feel free to share!





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