Mush mush mushy mush

Strawberry and I have always been into celebrating (birthdays, holidays, weekends,  5 o’ clock, whatever), so it should be no surprise that Valentine’s Day is right up our alley. What’s not to like about a day that celebrates love, flowers, chocolate, sexy lingerie and sparkly jewelry? We do sweet, thoughtful things for each other on a daily basis, but to have a day set aside to really take a moment and step back and look at where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going is appreciated. In years past, we’ve gone all out with weekend getaways, fancy nights on the town, flowers and chocolate sent to the office, etc.  This year, it’s nice that we get it on a weekend and will have the whole day to ourselves as a family.  Oh yeah, cause this year, it’s more than a party of 2.

What a difference a year makes.  There will not be breakfast in bed this year, since SOMEONE insists on getting up at 7am even on weekends.  Although, I’m on morning duty around these parts and Mr Curly gave me an unexpectedly early wake up last Sunday so I made breakfast in bed for Strawberry after he went down for his morning nap.  Surely, I get credit for that, right?  There are no fancy restaurant plans because we don’t have a sitter, but we are going out to a play next Saturday and have a sitter lined up for that.  We can’t call in too many sitter favors all at once, we have to spread them out you see.  There are some beautiful roses on our dining room table, though the details of who bought them for whom are fuzzy. But the cuddles, and the smooching?  There will be plenty of those, and Curly gets them too.

We have spent a lot of time recently reflecting on how our relationship has changed since we became parents.  The first 3 months were a true trial by fire.  The details have thankfully become hazy, but I will never forget how we held one another up and wrapped our arms around each other.  How we took turns not only with sleepless nights, loads of laundry, and changing diapers, but also with bouts of tears and words of comfort and support.  I think our relationship is stronger now than we ever could have imagined.  We didn’t just survive, we grew.  I look at Curly and Strawberry together and my heart swells with love for them both individually, but also for the love I see that they have for each other.  What more could a mother ask for?  Flowers, chocolate, lingerie, and sparkly jewelry could never compare.

If you managed not to throw up after reading all that mush, here’s a picture of Curly with his very first Valentine.  It’s from HP, his birthday twin!  Thank so much,  HP and mommies!