Happy Valentine's Weekend!

When I thought about writing a post for this weekend, I figured the most appropriate thing would be to write about love and take a break from all the baby bottom posts. This is Jared's and my thirteenth Valentine's together, but our first with Luke, and we couldn't have been happier to share it with him. We did manage to make plans and go out to dinner and to a movie the night before V-day, thanks to my sister Ryan and brother-in-law Matt who were kind enough to watch Luke for us. It was the first time we'd been to a movie in a loooong time. Much to Jared's dismay, we went to see 50 Shades of Grey, and I do have to say, the movie was much tamer than I expected.

Bella just walked right into the picture!. Jared just kept saying "I do not want to be involved in this" :)

But I do truly value my alone time with Jared. It is absolutely necessary to maintain a happy and healthy marriage. I remember reading articles and hearing from others before having Luke, how important it is to take time together away from the baby. I specifically remember telling myself that I would never be one of those mothers who refuses to leave her baby and deprioritizes her husband. 

Boy, was I wrong! I should never have been talking about something of which I knew nothing. Sure, that kind of thing is easy to say when you don't have children. But the minute I had Luke, everything changed. Definitely for the better, but definitely different. The amount of love you have for that baby is so overwhelming, unconditional and different than anything you've ever felt before.  I'm not saying that I love Luke more than Jared, but they are two absolutely different kinds of love that can't really be compared. 

From the day Luke was born, and still now, I don't ever want to leave his side. I feel like a crazy, obsessed stalker sometimes, but I hate being away from him for even an hour, let alone a 12 hour shift at work. It is awful, and I'm still not used to it or okay with it. There are nights where Jared and I have the opportunity to go out alone and leave Luke with someone, but then I realize that I'm going to be away from him the next few days while I'm working, that the thought of voluntarily leaving him when I don't have to sounds like the worst kind of torture I could possible endure. I know...so dramatic right? I just never imagined how hard it would be to leave my baby. I asked my mom once, "When am I going to get over this, where I want to be around him all day, everyday?" And just as my mom would, she said, "When he's a teenager and starts talking back to you, then you'll want a break." 

So I finally asked Jared, about a month ago, if he felt that I'm not prioritizing him and our marriage. Lucky for me, I have a super understanding and laid-back husband, who said "No, I understand that things have changed, your priorities are a little different and Luke takes up a lot of your time, understandably so." Lucky for me, he's a pretty independent guy and doesn't take it personally, he knows I'm still just as in love with him as I was when we were 12, 17, 23 and 28 years old.

This is the best we could do for a family picture, oh well...real life right? And Happy 87th Birthday to my dear Grandpa!
P.S. Luke had on a cute little Valentines outfit until he dumped the dog's water bowl all over himself ;)

Fast forward to Friday evening (Feb 13). We don't always exchange gifts on every holiday, we talk about it before each holiday, feel each other out and decide if the upcoming holiday is going to be a gift giving one. This year, we did exchange gifts, but I realized a few hours before our date that I never got him a card. One of the things I love about us, is that all I had to do, was say "Hey babe, did you get me a Valentine's card yet?" He said "No, not yet", and I said "Oh great, let's not do cards this year", and I'm pretty sure he was relieved too. Like I wanna leave the house just to get a card? Come on.

So we had our Valentine's celebration alone Friday night, and then on the actual holiday, we had a cute little breakfast, I worked on school work while they both napped, and I made dinner. Luke sure did love his first chocolate chip pancake! And just as it should, the night ended with some chocolate covered strawberries :). P.S. I hate when people hate on Valentine's Day. It doesn't have to be about romantic love, it's a celebration of all love. And why would you complain about a holiday that gives you an excuse to eat chocolate, drink wine and love up on your husband and baby (or whoever) even more? Not that I needed an excuse to do those things ;).  So this Valentine's Day was reflective for me, especially since Luke is only a few weeks from turning ONE! Don't get me started on that (still can't believe I have an almost one year old). We ate at the same restaurant this weekend that we did last year on Valentine's Day, when I was 35 weeks pregnant, which was fun. It's just so crazy how fast time flies. I'm not sure who said it, but I recently read somewhere that "The days are long but the years are short", and I could not better describe the last year. Not that the long days were bad, they were amazing actually, but still seemed long. Though never long enough to get everything done. Funny how that works, especially with a baby.

I hope your Valentine's weekend was lovely, and you take a little time away from the precious babes to get the alone time you might not realize you need! 

With Lots of Love,

Claudia