My wife and I are expecting our second child just before Christmas this year, and I want to do something really special for her before hand since I know our time/holidays will be all about the baby. Does anyone have any suggestions? it could be making something for her, or maybe something her and I do together or as a family. Not sure which way to go, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you!!

First of all - congratulations. Second question - how old is your first child? Would a weekend trip away work?

Thank you skittles! and our first child is 4 and super excited about being a big sister. Also, we don't know what the sex of the child. Leaving it as our (early) Christmas surprise

A weekend trip may work, but it'd have to be somewhat close. Anything over 30 minutes in the car and she starts feeling sick... Worst feeling ever as a husband. Wife is sick or in pain and nothing you can do to stop it

get her a spa day. Prenatal massage, facial, manicure & pedicure. Set it up so your daughter can join her for the mani/pedi if you think they'd both like to share the spoiling. Then she'll be relaxed and ready for the holidays and the new baby.

Congrats to all of you on the pending arrival.

Congrats

Leave the house and hide out late at work (sorry I thought you wanted a gift for yourself)

I'm expecting in January so I can understand how she is feeling.

If it was me, I would LOVE to get a gift certificate to a local spa or a local nail/hair salon so I can get pampered. Also, having a very nice dinner with my husband at a restaurant would be wonderful.

With your first child, you could plan an fun-filled family day like going to a Build-A-Bear workshop and get a new teddy bear or go to the movies or something like that so that way the big sister would feel special as well.

Hope these helps! Congratulation!

Those are all wonderful suggestions! I think I might try for an array of them. Do the massage/spa day for her, do the mani/pedi for her and our daughter, and then maybe dinner for us? Might have to spread it out over the course of a few days/weekends though so she doesn't get tired out.

and ed, I go into work at about 5am every morning so technically I have my "alone time" even though the past 2 months I've been knee deep in TRID lol. But on the plus side, I leave at 3 every day so it evens out. lol

Thank you all for the suggestions!

The Build a Bear thing is a great suggestion, we did that for my 1st as well. She made an animal for herself and one to give her new baby brother.

Catch, you could also look for a special holiday event that occurs pre-birth, so that your daughter has some special holiday memories that occur before all the hoopla surrounding a new baby starts. For example, around here, the Gaylord Texan does a huge ice display that is a ticketed event. Even just driving around looking at Christmas lights (any time after oh, say, November 1st.....) would make a memory for her.

Last night I actually found a reindeer ranch where you get to feed them and pet the babies. it's ticketed as well and don't go on sale until Nov 1st but hopefully I can get some of those.

reindeer sausage yum

Congratulations Catch!

Looks like some great suggestions have already been made, even Ed's reindeer sausage! I'm not clever enough to top them and would have probably gone for jewelry or something.

Nothing wrong with jewelry, noelekal.
I have some pieces that mark milestone events in our marriage and I love them!
There's even one that my daughter helped her father pick out just before our son was born. The story of how they got it together gets repeated each time someone compliments me on the necklace.
Catch, if you wife is into bracelets, this might be a good time to start a Pandora add a charm one for her.
It sounds like you've got a handle on making her feel special.
I commend you for making the effort.

Amen to this! and Congratulations!

Thank you everybody! I was actually thinking about the Pandora thing for Christmas along with some other things possibly.

If I had a vote it would be for the mani thing on a Sunday during football season at game time. If you feel nice you can give her a leftover slice of pizza.

After all you will have the 9 months of whining to put up with

I think it depends very much on what your wife likes. At 8 months prego I couldn't stand for anyone to touch me - a massage would have been torture. You might consider hiring a cleaning crew to come do a good deep cleaning of the house. You know, all the stuff she can't really do right now: baseboards, under/on top of furniture, behind appliances, that sort of thing. That way the house is all sparkly clean before the baby comes home and SHE didn't have to do it.

Just a thought.

Oh, and congratulations!

Great idea ^^^. My one work paid for indulgence is a cleaning lady so it never would have occurred to me. But now that Becca mentioned it, I can remember going into a mild panic when labor started and I realized my mother-in-law would be coming so I ran around trying to clean my house between contractions.

Hmmm so does anyone want to come over and clean our house? lol that is a good idea, however that would be more of a benefit for me since I do most of the cleaning around the house now anyways. She handles dinner and our daughter (bath and hair since her hair is crazy curly and I'm not the best at brushing hair, I'm bald lol) so I do the cleaning and dishes and all that fun stuff lol

Might be a good time for you to learn how to do a foot massage. . (You Tube) Use a good foot cream (drug store quality is fine), dim the lights, and put on a bit of mood music.

Caution: You will be doing this for the rest of your married life.

You nailed that, Ken.

Just an idea for your 4-year-old. When we had my youngest daughter, we got our older daughter a "bag of goodies." She was a little older, 9, so we bought her a cool book bag and stuffed it with things we knew she loved and things to keep her busy (jewelry, Mad Libs, coloring books, puzzles, ect). While my oldest was excited to be a big sis, she knew there was going to be a lot of attention taken away from her. So this was our way of both surprising her with something special and giving her some things to keep her busy. My sister-in-law gave it to her while they waited in the waiting room while we were in labor. She loved it.

Pandora is good. I got my wife one and normally add a charm for special occasions or at Christmas time. My wife loves jewelry so I always try to find something unique. I found a site Etsy.com. It has thousands of shop owners who make all kinds of different things. I can normally find something really unique that not everyone has.

Have you considered getting her a sports car that you can drive?

She would kill me if I got her a sports car. I'd have to get her a mini van if anything.

Monica, my wife and I do have something planned for our daughter, but it follows a similar path as what you have suggested...

I have everything planned out so hopefully all goes smooth and according to plan.
Pregnancy massage in the late morning, daughter and I picking her up, going to my daughters favorite restaurant for lunch, then the girls are getting a mani/pedi, then the ice cream store afterwards (right across the street so won't be able to avoid it), then headed back home. Let the Mrs. get all dolled up since hopefully she'll still be relaxed, and head to dinner at a fancy place we've been meaning to try, once the baby sitter gets there. Oh and I have flowers lol can't forget those.

Your wife is blessed to have such a thoughtful husband.
And your daughter is blessed to see a great example of a loving father & husband. This will go a long way towards how she will expect to be treated...

I hope you & the ladies in your life enjoy the plans you've made!