Living

In an ideal world, every child would rush to the craft drawer immediately following his birthday and handwrite a heartfelt thank you note to acknowledge each gift. After which, he’d clean up his workspace.

While I’m pretty laid back in most areas of my life, as far as party planning I cannot let one detail go overlooked–handpicked favors, handmade invites, the works. When it came time for my baby shower, you can imagine that I was a full-blown nutcase.

My first child, I’m fortunate to say, is healthy as a horse. But my second child: Ear infections up the wazoo. Even though there wasn’t a ton of medical info to keep track of, especially compared with children with real illnesses, there are many times I wish I’d written down what that Motrin dosage was or which antibiotic had her spewing fluids from both ends.

I’ve gotten so used to emailing people that when I actually need to write a nice little note, I’ve had to resort to white computer paper and a business envelope.How embarrassing!

With all the hormones rushing through my body and my brain cells being sucked awayby the minute,there’s no way I could possibly keep up with everything that goes along with having a baby. OB check-up stats? Baby Registry? Daycare interview? Ack!

I’ll suspend my cynicism for a moment and assume that Valentine’s Day really is all about celebrating love. Even so, why would you save up all of your sentiments and hard-earned cash and blow the entire wad on a single day? I say, spread the love around during the rest of the year too!

As much as I love written correspondence of any kind, I’ve never sent a single announcement – not for graduations, my engagement, marriage, or the births of either of my children. Mostly because, to be blunt, the pickings are pretty slim. Or to clarify, the decent pickings.