A SUCCESS in the Romantic stakes!
Initially I thought it would be as successful as Gwyneth Paltrow's 1998 Oscar speech. The 'fresh' peppercorn sauce, that was in a sachet, burst everywhere in the shopping bag. I found James eating the hard cat food which meant that he was coughing and spluttering everywhere whilst soaked in the cat's water as he had pulled her drinking bowel over (I'm convinced that baby James is either a. from the planet Krypton or b. preparing himself to be the next Usain Bolt).
However, the thing that made me cry, even more than Gwyneth did in 1998 if that's possible, was the fact that the two children slept for over 2 hours on Valentine's Day afternoon. Ordinarily I would be over the moon as it is extremely rare that I get two hours to myself on any day. I have already planned what I would do if I had a free two hours one afternoon...nothing! I would sit on the sofa, close my eyes and maybe, just maybe if there was time, listen to the afternoon play on Radio Four (with my eyes shut of course).
I spent most of the two hours I had free yesterday afternoon panicking. I was panicking because I knew that this would mean the children would not go to bed until later than usual which would spoil the romantic itinerary I had planned.
Following James' attempt to try baby-led weaning with a packet of Iams, I then panicked about forgetting what to do if I found my child choking. Then, I spent the rest of this free time reading the 'the new edition of 'First Aid for Babies and Children Fast'', analysing the 'What to do if your baby chokes' chapter. This was quite difficult because I was using Bethan's My First Tiny Tears as a model whilst trying to keep the book open. I suppose it would be 'Fast' if you were practicing with someone else. Finally, I found their website which is amazing. They have these short YouTube videos embedded on their website showing you what to do in a whole host of emergencies. So, for the final 15 minutes of my unexpected free time, I could sit down with a cup of tea and a Hobnob, watching what to do if my baby was choking, as many times as I liked on my laptop! I have now put this website as a 'favourite' on my tool bar.
The day was certainly picking up.
Ok, so we ate at 09:30 that evening and we watched Question Time after. In fact drunkenly discussing and having a heated debate on politics with my husband on Valentine's Day is almost a tradition for the Hilliers now. Except last time I got thrown out of the restaurant with it's 'special Valentine's Day' £45 per head a la carte menu (that didn't even include drinks) because I was rather loudly saying how much I disliked Tony Blair.
However, it is the fact that we love discussing politics and watching re-runs of the superbly Laurence Olivier narrated 'World at War', that Rob and I know that we are made for each other. We have been through so much together and are still passionate about the things that matter to us. Passion, hmmm...well, I was tucked up in bed by 11:15pm; desperately counting on my fingers how many hours sleep I would get before the children woke up. I missed the end of the increasingly annoying debate about who's to blame for the horse-beef meat fiasco but Rob stayed up to watch the drama unfold under the watchful eyes of David Dimbleby and filled me in this morning, over a cup of tea.
That's love, that is.
