Of Valentines Day and A Crying Baby

For those that know me well, you are aware that today is my FAVORITE holiday. I absolutely love Valentine's Day! It takes me a while to decorate for Christmas, and even then, I usually just get our little tree up and take it down as soon as Christmas Day is over. And I replace it with Valentine's Day decorations, of course! We have decorative towels for the kitchen and bathroom, door hangers and window clings. I even have a Valentine's giraffe, complete with little red hearts for his spots. It is a big deal around here. Thankfully, I married a wonderful man who indulges my love for this day.

This is the fourth Valentine's Day we have spent together and he has worked to make each one special.

2009
We were living in Chicago, going to school at Moody and had been officially dating for a little over two weeks. Since the 14th fell on a Saturday, Kerry planned a whole day long date for us in the city, beginning with a visit to the Shedd Aquarium. We had lunch at Corner Bakery on Michigan Avenue, took a walk through Millennium Park, went to see a movie at the huge theater in downtown and finished up the day with dinner at the Turkish restaurant where we had our first date a few weeks before.

2010
I was finishing up my last semester at Moody and Kerry was living in Peoria, working for the post office. The 14th was a Sunday, so I came home from school for the weekend. Kerry took me ice skating and out for coffee on Saturday afternoon and we made homemade pizza together at my parents house that evening.

2011
Our first married Valentine's Day! We were living in Peoria Heights and I was 6 months pregnant with Julian. My parents had given us a gift certificate for a bed and breakfast outside of Springfield for Christmas. We decided to use it the weekend before Valentine's Day, since the 14th was a Monday and we would be working and going to school. We left early Saturday morning and drove down to Springfield. We ate a picnic lunch at Subway (it was warm out!), visited the Lincoln Museum and went out to dinner in the tiny town where the B&B was. I brought homemade sugar cookies along and we decorated them with the owners of the B&B and just relaxed and enjoyed time away together.

2012
Our first Valentine's Day with a baby! We are still living in Peoria Heights and Julian is 9 months old. I made what were supposed to be heart-shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but they did not keep their shape when they baked...they still tasted great, though! We exchanged cards at breakfast. Kerry planned a surprise for lunch, so we took Julian over to my parent's house for a few hours. We went to Thirty-Thirty for coffee, then headed to Chili's for lunch. Unfortunately, Julian was not having a good day, so we cut our lunch short, took our food to go and picked up Julian. Parenting is all about being adaptable! Julian fell asleep on the way home, so Kerry and I had a Valentine's Day picnic on our living room floor while Julian slept in his car seat. I would not trade the joy of being Julian's mommy for an uninterrupted Valentine's date any day!