Oh Crap Do I Need to Buy a Gift?

I have to admit my husband is the more romantic one in the family. He's written me poems for anniversaries and valentine's day, bought me expensive soaps and stuffed doily hearts in my daytime. I'm the one who lets these events sneak up on me and then panic about getting a gift. I once bought him pie plates and a nice teapot, I think it was our 2nd valentine's day. In my defense, I'm a practical girl, Dutch Babies were one of the few things he liked to make and he kept complaining he was missing his plates since his move.

Like everything since kids, however, we have less time to ponder the perfect gift, or maybe he's just run out of ideas. There's been a lot of gift certificates, and I shouldn't complain, but I have a bad habit of losing them, and they just don't have the personal touch. For a recent spa gift certificates, instead of finding a place within his self-imposed budget, he got an amount that doesn't quite cover a whole treatment. He occasionally still scores, with a nice journal after I started blogging, and a beautiful artsy business card holder which I needed and loved. Some he gets eventually, like the GPS, where the first eBay score was a bit of a bust, but he made up for it at Christmas. He's also bought me stuff he himself would love, like coffee cups and a mouse pad with the kid's photo on them, which I'm expected to use at work or I'm not a very proud mommy.

But frankly it's the less expensive, but more personal gifts that I have treasured. The photo of the kids with "I Love Mommy" photoshopped in. Scrapbook pages he made with the kids, when he doesn't even know what scrap booking is. A $50 jar of face cream is nothing to scoff at, but when finances are a source of tension and I already know what my face likes, I just can't help but think of what we could have done with that money. What I have always wanted was someone else to be in charge of breakfast and dinner one day, or for my husband to do something like go through the kids clothes and donate all the too small ones...a girl can dream.

I love the idea of Get In Her Head, the sponsor for this weeks Parent Bloggers Blog Blast. It's "a free service for couples who want to get it right every time." Plus this way I won't have to remember that CD he's asked for, or have already got stuff he didn't want when he drops that hint. I'm glad to see there's also a get in his head option.