We have a new baby...

...and her name is Tao. Isn't she beautiful?

She found us last week. I was traveling and Adriano heard some crying in the woods by our house. After three days of hearing the crying, he climbed over the fence to investigate and there was this little beauty. She was pinned under some wood and tangled up in some wire...the poor thing. We're pretty certain she was a wild dog, as there were about four others like her and a larger dog that scattered once Adriano got over the wall. Well, he rescued her and then took her in to mend her foot. She's doing fine now. Her foot is all better. And in the meantime, Adriano and I have fallen in love. So, we're adopting her! She's "our girl!" According to the vet, she's about 2 months old.

And, interestingly, I think she's giving me a preview into the over protective, mother hen parenting style that Adriano will expend with vengeance one day when we have a child. He's such a worry wart...afraid she'll fall, that's she's not getting enough food, etc. I never imagined that he would be this way.

Adriano says that he wants a boy for a child, while I feel like we'll have a girl. After seeing the way he acts with Tao, maybe we better have a boy? I fear a girl would never be allowed to leave the house. Something might happen...

Money, fighting and sex

Money
Good Morning America recently interviewed authors Bethany and Scott Palmer about their new book, "First Comes Love, Then Comes Money: A Couple's Guide to Financial Communication". Each of them used to work with couples to create household budgets, payment plans, etc., but quickly learned that "budgets and plans and payments won't mean squat" if "you don't know how to talk about money with your partner" and " if you don't know how to keep financial infidelity from destroying your relationship."

I like the premise of this book because it puts financial communication before the nitty gritty of budget planning and the like, recognizing how fundamental this skill is to finding an agreeable budget that everyone in the family can agree upon and stick to.

If you're interested in reading the highlights of the Palmer's interview on Good Morning America, click here. A big thanks to Andrea for sending this my way!


Fighting
I don't advocate that you make it a regular thing to fight with your spouse. But, let's get real...it happens from time to time.

I came across this post this morning at The Love Coach Blog. Rinatta profiled a psychological study done last year that "found that sleep preserves emotionally charged events." She goes on to say, "This means that if you have a fight with your partner and don’t resolve it before bed, you are more likely to hold on to the fight and your hurt feelings in your permanent memory. Not a good thing for your relationship!" Yikes!

If only we could always control the time of day that a fight comes on... I guess the learning here is, if you know you need to have a conversation with your spouse that you feel could get a little dicey, maybe addressing that topic over morning coffee might be a better plan versus after dinner drinks.


Sex
And finally, the more fun topic of sex...

Last month was "Date Your Mate" month. Casie passed along the following tip from Health Magazine's newsletter on how to keep your sex life fun and interesting.

Find new ways to enjoy each other's bodies, like long massages and strong daily hugs. Have intimate contact outside the bedroom, or write down your fantasies and put them in a "fantasy jar." Take turns picking out of the jar and act out the fantasies. This can build intimacy, trust and great sex.