How to Shop for Your Wife

Buy one gallon, get one free!

Spend time talking with your wife. This is good for your relationship overall. Listen for clues as to what interests her at the moment. Try to be very involved in the conversation and ask pointed questions without being too obvious.

Buy a calendar or a personal organizer. Mark her birthday and other important occasions like your anniversary on the calendar and also mark a day, weeks in advance, to remind you to begin shopping for her. An electronic personal organizer is also very useful for this.

Become involved in activities that both of you can participate in. This makes shopping for accessories much easier. For example, if you both start playing tennis together, you can buy her some new equipment or take her on a surprise trip somewhere out-of-town to play tennis. Other activities may involve hiking, camping, or horseback riding.

Start shopping with her if you don't already. I know that clothes shopping can be excruciating for some men, but it allows you to spend quality time doing something that she probably enjoys and if you watch her closely and pay attention, she will identify things that she wants as you go. Only sit in the department store's comfy chairs while she is in the dressing room, trying on her clothes. Get back up and walk around with her when she comes out! The point is to spend time together and to learn more about what interests your wife.

Do not buy clothes for her! This is not a good idea! Also, do not buy anything practical. She may want a blender, but don't give it to her for her birthday. Save practical gifts for non-important occasions. It's also a good idea to check before you buy certain items. Be sure she's finished that half-gallon jug of perfume before you go out and buy her another. (that's a joke, by the way!)

Your wife will recognize a well-though-out gift when she receives it and she will appreciate even more that you have started spending more time together.

How to Make Your Wife's First Mother's Day Special

Mother’s Day is a special day in which we remember the important women in our lives who have earned the distinct honor of motherhood.  The most cherished celebration of Mother’s Day is the first one for a new mom.  Here’s how you can make it memorable.

Celebrate every Mother’s Day by doing special things for your mother and your grandmother. When your wife becomes a mother too, it is crucial that you don’t overlook the importance of recognizing her on this special day. She will remember her first Mother’s Day for the rest of her life. The goal for a caring husband is to make the day special so that she will remember it fondly. Start planning Mother’s Day for your wife months in advance to allow you enough time and savings to make it extra special.

Begin Mother’s Day by allowing your wife to sleep-in.  Attend to the baby’s every need without asking your wife for help and keep the house quiet so that she can rest.  Fix a nice breakfast including her favorite foods, like omelets, pancakes, or crepes.  Serve her breakfast in bed and give her some pretty flowers, but don’t go overboard.  Arrange a few bright and colorful fresh-cut flowers in a pretty vase.  When she is finished with breakfast, give her a long foot massage followed by a soothing body massage.  If the baby is still sleeping, you could also use this time for a little intimacy and maybe share a warm shower together.

Plan an event-filled day and include activities like a trip to the park and a picnic.  Be sure to take your baby along so that you all get to spend time together.  As the strong and loving husband that you are, you should take over the responsibility of feeding the baby, changing all diapers, and carrying as many baby supplies as you can on your own.   While you want your wife to enjoy the company of your child, you also want this day to be very stress-free for her.  Take lots of pictures to include in your photo albums.

Enlist the services of a babysitter, preferably a trusted family member, and take your wife out for an elegant dinner and some entertainment.  Try to plan something that you don’t normally do.  Take her to a nice restaurant that you’ve never tried.  After dinner, go see a play or take a romantic night cruise.  Explore whatever couples-friendly activities are available in your area.  End the evening with a romantic stroll through a safe and well-lit area.  When you find an especially beautiful spot, pull the piece of paper with the special poem from your pocket and read it to your wife.  Share a sweet and passionate kiss with her.  If all of these things are done with love and sincerity, she will remember them in perfect detail for the rest of her days.  If your babysitter is willing to keep your baby all night, surprise your wife even further by reserving a nice hotel room with a Jacuzzi tub.  Find the coziest bar that you can in your area and take her there to enjoy a few of her favorite drinks before retiring to the hotel for the night.

At the end of the evening, when you’re both snug and comfortable in the room and your wife is expressing how wonderful a time she’s had; provide her with one last sweet surprise.  Give your wife her actual Mother’s Day present.  An ideal gift for a first Mother’s Day is one that represents her, you, and your baby in a keepsake that she can hold onto forever.  A picture of the three of you in a nice frame is one idea.  If you are resourceful enough to have made something with your baby’s hand or foot prints on it, this is a good occasion to give it to her.  When it comes to the gift, it’s not the dollar amount that’s important, it’s the thought.  The dollars all go towards the events leading up to this moment.