Sweet, Simple Ways to Say "I Love You"

30 little gestures (from real couples!) that add up to big love.

 

"Christopher and I write a loving note and leave it for the other person to find. For example, I wrote how thrilled I was to be pregnant and starting a family together and left it in his wallet. He replied on the same paper and left it in my jewelry box. We're now on the fourth page of our 'note trail.'"
Daisy Auger-Domínguez, 35 (pictured with her husband, Christopher, 34)
New York City

"Veronica leaves text messages on my phone letting me know she's thinking of me. They're usually something short and sweet, like 'xo.' It's not necessarily what she writes that makes it special; it's that she found time in her crazy day to let me know that I'm on her mind."
Scott Hunzinger, 39
Cutchogue, NY

"Melissa sends emails to me with 'I LOVE YOU!' pasted in them about 1,000 times. She does this whenever I'm having a challenging day at work, and it absolutely turns my day around."
David Arnoff, 48
Washington, D.C.

"When John leaves on a business trip, he puts Post-it notes all over the house with reminders such as 'Te amo (I love you),' 'Set the house alarm, I want you to be safe,' and 'Salt the driveway, I don't want you to fall and hurt your cute booty!' They never fail to make me feel taken care of."
Vanessa Medina, 28
Schaumburg, IL

SHE SAYS, HE SAYS
Renee Miller, 46, and Gary Bettman, 45, Los Angeles
"Whenever Gary travels on business, he sends me a postcard with a wonderful note on it. He's been doing this for years, and it's always a nice surprise because each postcard has a special meaning to me or our relationship. For example, he knows how much I still like The Wizard of Oz, so he'll find an appropriate postcard featuring a scene from the movie."

"When I was working out of the country for a long period of time, Renee would fax letters to me, which would be slipped under the door of my hotel room overnight. I'd wake up the next morning and happily find her heartfelt messages waiting for me."

Little acts of love

"My husband irons my clothes for me. He'll either ask me what I need ironed or he'll surprise me and press my skirts and blouses without even asking. It's so nice and thoughtful, because ironing is my least favorite chore!"
Michelle Lisko, 43
Stow, OH

"Every night before bed my husband and I tell each other something we're grateful for that the other person did that day. For example, 'I'm grateful for the nice dinner you made,' or, 'I'm grateful you gave the kids a bath.' It's taught us to look for the positive attributes in each other. It's also nice to be recognized for doing the laundry or cutting the grass!"
Beth Remmes, 34
Atlanta

"My wife and I have an ongoing thing about pulling the car into our driveway. She drives straight in and backs out, and I like to back in and drive straight out. On several occasions I've come out in the morning to find that Marina had backed the car in the night before, knowing that I'd be driving it next. That gesture shows me so clearly how much she respects and loves me."
Mike Howard, 41
Vancouver, BC

"My husband makes banana pancakes for me every Sunday morning. This includes getting up before me, working in the kitchen while I'm still asleep, and cleaning up all the dishes. The pancakes are warming in the oven when I finally roll out of bed. It's a great ritual because it gives us some quiet indulgent time together in our busy lives. It also makes me feel pampered and loved that David makes the pancakes from scratch when a typical weekday breakfast is frozen waffles or cold cereal!"
Melissa Maslar Arnoff, 40
Washington, D.C.

"My wife has made a game out of telling me she loves me whenever the mood strikes her. We'll be in the supermarket and out of the blue, Alex will stop and turn to me and say, 'I love you in the frozen foods section.' Or we can be at the movies and she'll say, 'I love you in the 21st row of the theater five minutes before the previews start.' Telling me she loves me in such unexpected ways shows me just how much I really mean to her."
Frederik Tylim, 31
Dallas

"When I get home from playing basketball on Saturdays, Michelle always asks how the game went. I know she doesn't really care how many points I scored, but when she shows interest and asks if I had fun or how'd it go, I see that she cares about me and that she's my friend."
Bill Sitton, 38
Lenexa, KS

"Every evening when I get home from work, I hear my wife shout to our boys that 'Daddy's ho-o-o-o-o-o-o-me!' Within seconds, they come running full of smiles and tackle me. It makes me feel loved and appreciated the moment I walk in the door."
Michael Law, 44
Raleigh, NC

"Michelle always holds my hand when we drive somewhere. We'll be talking or listening to music and suddenly she'll just reach for my hand. I find it incredibly sweet and endearing."
Dave Lisko, 44
Stow, OH

SHE SAYS, HE SAYS
Angela Moore, 40, and Larry Moore, 40, Redondo Beach, CA
"Larry wakes up before me in the morning and gets dressed in the other room so I can sleep undisturbed. He also refills the Q-tip holder in our bathroom — I love that."

"Angela makes sure my toiletries are stocked up. Because of her, I'm never without important things like toothpaste, deodorant, and body lotion. The way she anticipates my needs and does something about them reminds me that I'm loved."

"Scott brings me flowers and trimmings from blossoming trees or bushes in our yard. He puts them in a vase that we received for our wedding and then places the arrangement on our fireplace mantel. My friends are so envious — no other man I know does this kind of thing, and so often. It's one of the ways Scott shows me that he doesn't take me or our relationship for granted."
Veronica Hunzinger, 38 (pictured with her husband, Scott, 37)
Cutchogue, NY

"We live near beautiful parks, but some of the hiking trails are difficult for our two small boys to navigate. To make things easier, Michael will take us on a nature walk that he's already scoped out. It'll be a lovely little trail that's easy for all of us to manage. The extra effort he takes to find these trails means we can share new adventures together and have fun as a young family."
Kile Law, 42
Raleigh, NC

"Every Mother's Day, Frank buys flowers and plants them in the yard for me. It's always a surprise, especially one year when he came home with hydrangeas — my favorite flower."
Beth Remmes, 34
Atlanta

"Eric knows how much I love animals, so if he's on the road and sees an animal that's been hit by a car, he'll call me at home to tell me to drive a different route. This way, I won't see the animal and get upset. He'll also call me if he sees baby animals on his way to work so I can be sure to take that same route and hopefully see them too."
Lara Kretler, 37
Columbus, OH

75 more to go! new years resolution: achieve milf status!

yay breastfeeding! burns like 500 calories a day! and is the healthiest thing i can do for baby beluga!

funny how being a parent at this point is kind of simple but at the same time kind of daunting... there are only a few needs at this point that need to be tended to regularly, but they happen repetitively enough to feel like a whole lotta work!

feed the glow worm, change her diaper, put her in a new set of clothes, bathe her, carry her around, help her fall asleep, make funny faces... that's about it...

but a whole lotta work especially after I spent most of the night on the internet searching for info on sore nipples or producing more breastmilk... or uploading baby pics...

i am also looking for a used or new four door bigger than a mini cooper for a reasonable price... we need a more appropriate family car which i refuse to let be an obvious family car... i'm not ready to be a soccer mom just yet ;)

because little macarena wakes up regularly at 5 in the morning when I finally want to go to bed, from like 5am to 11am on the daily i zombily go through the motions of tending to her needs...

it's really not until the afternoon when i feel rested enough and can look at isabella and smile at the beauty of life... i look forward to those moments!

i also look forward to having visitors who hang around mesmerized long enough by baby beluga's charm for me to slip into the shower or go to the store or test drive a car!

especially thank you to tita ghay for being a regular charmed by isabella's cute baby ways!

i am very grateful for rodolfo! even though i can count on one hand how many times he has changed her diaper, i appreciate how much he loves tummy time! 

it makes me smile how he chuckles whenever she grunts or farts... how he finds it funny when she raises her arms up in the air from being startled while she sleeps...

it's really cute that he's thinking about making her picture flashcards... already thinking about teaching her things... how my heart melts when he baby talks to her in spanish! i love it!

o parenting!

my HOK co-workers hooked it up! they raised over a thousand dollars and purchased the expensive stuff on our target registry! they covered the crib, the matching blanket set, the playpen, the carseat, the digital camera I have been trying to see about, a 175 dollar gift card, and a diaper set.

my sister mahlorei and rodolfo's mom also threw showers and from them the baby got tons of cute outfits, including an apple bottom t-shirt and jean set, bath robes and towels, pacifiers, bottles, bibs, receiving blankets, socks, shoes, onesies, a diaper cake with like 75 + diapers in it, a piggy bank, a start for a savings, toys, teething rings, a bath tub, diaper cloths, a giants jersey, a winter coat, lots of cute brown and pink clothing, and more!

mahlorei has also donated a mattress and a newborn carseat and stroller set. Rodolfo's mom will also be getting the stroller and newborn carseat set from the registry. Ate Josephine and Kuya Jon have also offered to give the little one some baby stuff too!

i feel so blessed by co-workers, rodolfo's homees, and family; thank you all so much for your support! a potentially overwhelming change in life has been made so much less stressful by your generosity! rodolfo and I can much more easily manage the rest of the things needed to care for the baby beluga to come!

I cannot thank you all enough!

but of course if anyone else feels the urge to do nice, the Target Registry and the BabiesRus/ToysRus Registry is still open, and all gifts ordered online can be sent to the house... :0)

again thank you to everyone who has been so giving! we are so very grateful!