Saturday 5 December 2015

Happy Wife, Happy Life

I was once at a pub having after-work drinks when someone gave me some valuable advice. I was deliberating whether to stay and have another drink or get home to have dinner with Sophia. This was when my boss turned to me and said, ‘a happy wife is a happy life’. As the first few years of our marriage have gone by, I have come to realize how true that phrase was. I thought I would share some of the ways I keep the other half happy and, in doing so, keep myself happy!

Flowers - Sophia loves receiving flowers and having them around the house. While I am not that bothered about receiving a bunch myself, I do appreciate how homely they can make a house feel. This is why they have become an important part of the routine of my life; I make sure that I buy my Wife a bunch of flowers every couple of weeks (I try to ensure that we pretty much always have a bunch on display, so once some die, I will go and buy some more). As well as this, if I ever speak to Sophia on the phone, while at work, and sense that she is upset about something or just generally feeling a bit down, the first thing I do when I leave the office is go and grab some of her favourites to surprise her with!

Laughter - whenever we are together at home and Sophia is feeling upset about something or even when we have a small argument (normally due to me being wrong about something - at least that’s what I let her believe!), I will not rest until I get her laughing. Ways of achieving this include acting like a hyperactive lunatic, cracking stupid jokes and even, as risky as this may sound, winding her up even more if she is annoyed at me for some reason. I find that by going on at her saying stuff like, ‘god you are being so grumpy’ or overly tip-toeing around her with an awkward facial expression, it eventually lightens her mood and gets her giggling again!

Helping Out – even though our lives at the moment do suggest fairly traditional roles (I am working full time while Sophia is on maternity leave and stays at home to take care of Jackson), I try to make sure things don’t fall in to too much of a stereotypical routine of her working like a slave doing all of the housework. I will often offer to help with cleaning/hovering and cook dinner for the both of us (the fact that we use ‘Hello Fresh’ makes this a lot easier as it means I can just follow one of the five recipes we have for that week). This gives Sophia some down time, when she can catch up with her Blog’s or even just relax on the sofa.

Date Nights – for you regular readers, you may remember Sophia’s previous blogs on date nights, but thought I would mention them again as they are so important to keeping a happy relationship. Spontaneously suggesting we go out for dinner and getting Jackson’s grandparents round for the evening to babysit gives us time to unwind as a couple.

The Small Things – sometimes, it’s the small things in life that can make your Wife’s day a bit easier. I find that by making sure I make up Jackson’s bottle in the morning and bringing it upstairs before leaving, tidying up downstairs before going to bed at night, and washing up Jackson’s bottles and loading them in the sterilizer ready for the next day, keeps her sweet!

These are just a few examples of things I do to keep my wife on side. Let’s face it, if your other half isn’t happy, you will certainly suffer the consequences!


Chris

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