To The Fathers In My Life:

Ramon: You are the father of my children. You were present from the very beginning, talking to them and kissing them via my belly. You were present at their birth. You cried tears of joy upon seeing them for the first time. You are hands on. You change their diapers and bathe them (sometimes).You wipe their butts and clean their boogers on your shirt when they are sick without batting an eye. If Sebas pretends to knock you down with his invisible powers you play along and throw yourself to the ground. You are a wonderful father and a great husband and I couldn't imagine raising our boys without you. Thank you for being a great "Papa". Your children thank you, too :)

Daddy: Though you weren't always around physically I know you were with us in spirit and that we were present in your mind. I have so many fond memories of visiting you during summer vacation. You let us run free and learn from our scrapes and bruises. You treated us with respect and as equals, instead of as children. In some ways, you were more of a friend than father. I love you unconditionally.

Mario: While I was perhaps too old when you came into our lives to consider you my father, you treat us all like your children, and are definitely a father to my younger brothers. You have always been there for us and give selflessly. You are my children's grandfather "Abu Mario". Thank you for being in our lives.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers in our lives!

*Feel free to share stories, photographs or tell me why you are thankful for the fathers in your life!

Sex & Yoga

I had the best sex of my life today and I credit doing yoga with my hubby this morning. We had slept in a tent last night, so his back was hurting more than usual and I convinced him to do several sun salutations with me to give that back a good stretch.
After doing some chores, cleaning dishes and stove top (which I did happily because I was energized thanks to my morning yoga) he playfully "ordered" me to the bedroom. I begrudgingly followed him to the bedroom (my libido has been greatly lacking since the birth of out second child). But once he got on top of me and started kissing me, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed his smell (which was surprising because he was sweaty from packing up the tent outside) and his kisses didn't disgust me (I'm a make-out fiend - or was anyway - but at some point his kisses started to gross me out, so no more kissing = me not getting into it). It was the best sex I've had and for the first time EVER we both came during intercourse, nothing extra needed.
I'm not one to air our dirty laundry, and I certainly wouldn't do so without his consent. He agreed to this blog post because I know there are a lot of women out there who due to MANY factors are lacking libido. There's the dreaded pregnancy hormones, the lack of self-confidence due to a new mommy  body, sheer exhaustion, not being able to switch from mommy mode to sex vixen at the drop of a hat, resentment towards your partner, etc. BUT I think that doing yoga with your partner addresses and works on several of these factors.
First off, you are doing something TOGETHER. Here is something that can bring you closer, especially if you feel somewhat disconnected from each other. You are working out, tightening muscles, stretching, becoming more limber, releasing endorphins and will therefore feel more relaxed, patient (needed for dealing with those kiddos), energized, awake, and more self-confident! Hell, even try doing some of those yoga moves during sex! Not too flexible yet? Work on it TOGETHER.
I'm telling you, I don't know exactly what it was, but doing yoga together this morning just had us on the same page biochemically. Those pheromones were finally working on me again after so long.
I'll have to get him to do yoga with me every day :)

Here's some extra reference reading:
What UMMC has to say about yoga
Scientific American article on pheromones & sex lives

*Update: Okay so I have been doing yoga for over a month now almost every day. It's been over a week since hubby and I did yoga together but he has been doing sun salutations on his own in the morning before work. While I'm certainly not in the mood all the time and my libido isn't at pre-mommyhood levels, it has increased, and I foresee it improving! I'm interested in reading if any other moms out there with low libido have seen improvement after starting any kind of exercise/fitness regimen. Share your stories!