Happy Valentine's Day!

Be my Valentine.

I used to be more cynical than I am now. Every year I would write a scathing ode to Valentine's Day and send it out to my friends and family. I wore black on V-day, just to prove that I was way too cool for all the cheesiness that goes along with the holiday. I essentially went out of my way to rain on everyone's parade. And then I grew up a little and realized that sometimes people just want an excuse to spoil the ones they love a little bit extra for a day.

Yes, the holiday is ridiculously over-commercialized. Yes, I went to Walmart last night for dinner supplies and was trapped in a sea of heart-shaped balloons and panicked last-minute Valentine shoppers. I personally would have rather starved than wait in those crazy lines, but I had to think about Ann and Nate, too. So I braved the crowd and bought my ground beef and seasoned fries. If THAT doesn't say "I love you," I don't know what does. I'm telling them to consider it their Valentine gift.

But in all of that, I still look forward to finding a little something to give to Nate. I couldn't wait for him to wake up this morning so I could tell him how much I loved him, and I even gave him an extra round of snooze so he had plenty of rest. And I was excited beyond belief to pick up my six-week old baby and tell him that he was Mommy and Daddy's special Valentine, and that we loved him more than anyone else in the whole world. Grab yourself a cracker now because I am all cheese here. I am madly in love and delightfully happy, and that's worth more than anything anyone could ever give me.

On top of all of this, we have a Milo Milestone. Last night Nate put him in one of our favorite newborn sleepers, and it was too small. TOO SMALL! He finally outgrew a piece of newborn clothing! We didn't realize it until Nate had crammed him all the way in it, and poor Milo just laid on the changing table and scowled at us, like, "Really? I can't move at all, and you're just going to stand there and giggle at me?" Tell me again why I didn't think to take a picture of that! The rest of his newborn stuff still fits, but now I have an excuse to start phasing in 0-3 month clothing, which we have quite a bit of. Can't wait!

Anyway, all of this to say, Happy Valentine's Day, whether you're a cynic or a romantic, or somewhere in between. Hope you get exactly what you want from this day.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a Valentine to snuggle.

Cuddle up, baby.