Twue Love

Happy Valentine’s Day my friends!  I’m surrounded by the debris of the Valentine’s Eve marathon of last night.  Hand-made Valentine’s for 2 classes, cupcakes for one, 2 Valentine’s boxes to create and decorate…it’s all a chocolatey blur of pink and red.  But oh, aren’t they so cute?

It’s really funny how special occasions and perceptions change when you become a parent.  Valentine’s Day used to mean angst and rejection, and now it means mess and exhaustion. It’s a good trade. No really, it is. And I have to admit that nobody holds a gun to my head to make things more complicated than they have to be…obviously I find the creative porcess fun (just not the cleaning up and doing it at 11pm part…why do I persist in procrastination? Why? Tell me why??!)
You know what also changes after you become a parent? Your perception of true love. When you are a parent of a small child, true love goes from being the person who will whisper sweet nothings in your ear, who strokes your ego and buys you chocolates and diamonds, to the person who will let you sleep for an extra 30 mins and the person who will give you a break from life when you are a zombie from fatigue.
I wrote an article about this when Finny was a baby and nothing has changed my friends. Nothing.  Actually that was pretty fun to dig up and reread. Because Nothing Has Changed. (Except for the amount of grey hair I have.)
I think we can all agree that with maturity in general, true love ceases to become the stuff of romance and more about the stuff of self-sacrifice and consideration. And it comes from friends and well as lovers. Let me tell you a tale of such love.
The night before last Ella slept not a wink. Well maybe 2 or 3 but not consecutively and if you blinked (or tried to sleep)-you missed it.  Aaron and I were crazed with exhaustion by morning time.
When my friend Claire texted me to ask about getting our little girls together, I , of course took the opportunity to whine about my bad night and reluctance to engage in a social endeavour with an exhausted kid who would need an early nap since I also had much shopping to do. To which she replied, “Ok here’s a plan, drop her off, go do your shopping, be back in time to get her home for early lunch and nap….won’t take no for an answer!”
She went on to insist that she would actually pick Ella up right at that moment and that I should not even get her dressed or give her breakfast! 
People! Do you know what this means to an exhausted mother with a busy agenda? It’s like the clouds parting, angels singing and having the first uninterrupted hot shower in recent memory. Do you know how much you can get done in 3 hours without a cranky toddler in tow?  Well not that much if you are as tired as I was (I shop like a MORON when I am tired..just walk around in dazed circles touching pretty much every item in the store robotically) but infinitely more than when tired WITH a tired baby.  It was a miracle and a marvel and I shall never forget this act of mercy and sacrifice.
Claire is one of the busiest people I know. She has 4 kids (one around Ella’s age) and a successful business but she’s also one of the kindest and most considerate. I really am blessed to know some incredibly selfless people.  I don’t deserve them.
Anyway switching gears here for a moment- as Claire was transferring Ella’s carseat into our car, she mentioned that she hadn’t seen one like it before. Do you know why that is? It is because it is a relic from another decade. Actually it’s a very nice relic in beautiful, like-new condition passed on by kind friends, but it occurred to me that using a car-seat that old was not really optimal in terms of safety.  And so we are in search of a replacement ASAP. But what? Such conundrums.
Up until now (like a week ago),we had her rear facing in an infant seat-which was touted as being good for up to 35lbs. She’s not yet even close to 35lbs but that seat was nowhere near to getting her there and had become very uncomfortable for everyone involved. (Wedging her in there every day was lots of laughs-not).  And so now I am in search for a new one.
The people from Britax approached me to let me know about their Baby Travel Systems at www.britax.co.uk which have become my new obsession and I am coveting.  Do you have any idea how much these things have come along since I last had a toddler? I am noticing that they now have this thing that we used to call a “carry cot” in S.A-which was wonderful and I used to wistfully fantasize about going back in time to be a mom when my mom was a mom to littles, just to use that thing-it made so much more sense for a newborn than the little bucket carseats-basically it’s a bassinet for the car,  but now it’s actually safe. Imagine! I really just want to have another baby to make use of such a thing. But then I remember the whole having the baby part and I reconsider. 
Here’s another way parenting changes you. I used to fantasize about roses and perfume for Valentine’s Day…now I’m fantasizing about carseats.

Happy Valentine’s Day my friends! I love you! If I could give you all a bouquet of 8 hour stretches of sleep, I would. xoxoxox

*This was a sponsored post. While I am offered many opportunities to write sponsored posts, I only accept those that I can sincerely and genuinely endorse. All comments and opinions are strictly my own.

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