My Little Valentines

What a perfect Valentines Day! We spent most of the morning in our pjs & then finally got our act together to bring a surprise to Daddy at work. The kids decided last week that they wanted to see their Dada during the day, so we went and picked up a couple of huge cupcakes and hand delivered them to his office.

Amazingly enough, in the 2+ years that Matt has worked at his current company, I have never been to his office building. Mostly because it's a massive complex of buildings and parking garages that kind of stresses me out. And it's pretty tight on security as well. At the gate I had to beg and plead with the security guard to let me in and even hold up my bag of cupcakes & point to the babies in the back to gain access.

Anyway, as it turned out, when we got there Matt was heading back from another building from across the interstate. To keep him off track (and to find out how long we would be waiting), I told him that something edible was being left at the front desk for him & I needed to know how long he would be to let the security guards know. So as soon as he walked in the door, he made a beeline for the front desk eyeing someone else's huge Edible Arrangement --- and completely missed the fact that his wife was sitting with his children and a huge double stroller in the lobby of the building!

 I guess the boy was excited to receive a delivery on Valentine's.

It's a little thing, but it was such a treat to see Matty during the day. And I think it kinda made his day to be able to show off his little Valentines to some of his co-workers we came across in the lobby. Too fun. And I'm sure the afternoon sugar high didn't hurt either.

The kids were completely off schedule by then but I will say it was worth it. I also learned an important lesson. These kids (especially Ryan) are not ready to go every 4 hours yet for their bottles. They still need that 3 hr to 3 1/2 hour window. And they definitely still need that mid day nap that they totally missed yesterday. A little (ok, a lot) cranky last night.

While I will be glad when we can drop another feeding, I am willing to be patient a little longer, especially if it means I have happier babies in the afternoons when I am borderline delirious and exhausted. I am assuming it will happen naturally that they start skipping a nap and then going longer between feedings?

(Help, a little advice from my mommy friends - am I getting them into a habit and should I start stretching them some & dealing with the crankiness? How did it work for y'all? Remember - these babies are really 7 months, not 8months+ when it comes to this development stage. And my dietician thinks it's fine to still be doing every 3 hour feedings for a little bit longer - which means 5 feedings per day - no nighttime feedings as they sleep through the night. And advice is appreciated!!!)

After getting some solids stuffed down them & last bottles and baths, Matt and I were finally ready to tuck into our fancy Valentine's Day dinner.

Pizza and champagne.

Pizza bought with a Groupon I purchased 4 months ago no less.

It was perfectly delicious and actually quite the treat since we so rarely have pizza around here. And it is our annual Valentine's tradition and has been for almost 10 years. (well, we usually make the pizza but exhaustion and laziness won out & we ordered in) Not to mention that we had a very nice dinner out to Pappas last Saturday, so we had already splurged. And now I need the food fest to come to an end. Between this past weekend of food stuffing & just being stuck at home or relegated to drive throughs because of our freezing weather for the past couple of weeks, I am feeling a little sluggish. But now that our schizo Houston weather is 70+ degrees, I have been breaking out the jogging stroller and getting us all some fresh air! Loving my jogging stroller - and it is quite the work out for sure.

Anyway - here are some pictures of the babies 1st Valentine's Day!

Ryan - my little love bandit. And quite the flirt with the ladies.

I am almost giving up on taking these "group pics" while I am solo. I must have deleted about 10 pictures to get this one acceptable picture where both kids were looking at the camera and not crawling off the chair. Forget smiling, I just wanted them both to at least seem they were remotely interested in looking at the camera.

Quinn almost launching off the chair. But I love the look on her sweet face

Her little Valentine's Day outfit. And probably the last year that Daddy will let her wear a skirt that short!

Ryan following Mommy's directions to look at the camera. Quinn ignoring Mommy's directions.

Showing off her standing skills as usual

Ryan really could care less about standing. He was also less than impressed when he toppled backwards moments after this picture was taken. Thus effectively ending our photo session.



The obligatory floor shot



Quinn must have gotten into the cupcakes because she was not keen on heading to bed last night. But it gave us some snuggle time!

Daddy with his sweetest Valentine.

And she is out! Finally!



Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I have to say, since we have never been an extravagant Valentine's Day family, it was so  nice to have a day filled with little displays of love. And so much fun to have these two little ones to celebrate with & make new traditions together as a family.