Valentine's Day

We started this Valentine's Day right with a special breakfast: dutch babies, strawberries, tea, and coffee. I even spoiled Harper and sprinkled his with powdered sugar with a little whipped cream on top. Delicious.

Later in the morning, a friend from high school came over with her two girls (2 & almost 4). We had a great time! It's so nice when you have free flowing conversation on a variety of topics. We have a lot in common- sewing, outdoor activities, kids- and never ceased to have something to talk about. Her girls dug right into Harper's toys, which made Harper pretty shy for awhile, but it seemed they all had a fun time and later were playing together. I baked some heart shaped sugar cookies and Josh helped me mix up some pink and white frosting. I brought out a few different sprinkles and heart candies and the kids helped us decorate some Valentine cookies. I suppose I should rephrase that. My friend's older daughter did a great job decorating. Her younger daughter and Harper decorated one cookie and then just ate everything. The big container of chocolate sprinkles was a hit with the two younger ones. It must have felt good to reach in and grab a big handful of sprinkles. It was festive, messy and fun.

After Josh returned home, we exchanged Valentines and gifts. I had a lot of fun this year making Valentines for Josh and Harper. I tried something different and stitched on the cards. I think they turned out really well.

I bought Josh some cologne, and Josh bought me an amazing cast iron panini pan. The panini pan seriously weighs as much as a dutch oven. It came with the grooved lid as well and is coated with a bright red color on the outside. Love it!

Harper definitely gets the concept of a camera. Here is his smile on demand. Whenever he gets his hands on one of our phones or cameras he says, "samm-o!" He's a cutie-pie.

Josh and I were planning on making dinner together and eating after Harper went to bed, but as evidence of this photo, Harper was far from asleep. He's had some strange, frustrating, sleep patterns lately. He ends up staying up later than normal, then when we try to put him to bed he seems so tired and pretty much asleep, but as soon as we walk out of his room he cries and yells, "momma! dada!" We let him cry for quite awhile while we cooked hoping he would fall asleep. It was clearly apparent Harper wasn't going to fall asleep, so he joined us for our late Valentine's dinner: caprese paninis (made with my new panini pan!) and a vinaigrette salad with San Pellegrino Aranciata. It was delicious.

After dinner, we decided I should lay down next to Harper on our bed to see if he would fall asleep. We sometimes resort to this when he refuses to fall asleep any other way. It wasn't long before Josh took him to his crib, then we broke out the dove ice cream and Mr. Popper's Penguins. We weren't able to finish the movie, but so far we really like it. It's a good thing we went to bed when we did. Come 2am, Harper was back in our bed tossing and turning. At 5am, Josh had enough of being kicked and took Harper back to his crib. Harper was again crying and doing his usual yelling for us. We were exhausted and decided it would be best for Harper to realize we weren't coming back to rock him. After 45 minutes, I gave up and took him out of his crib. He instantly wanted breakfast but was still crying and unsatisfied with the big bowl of applesauce, something he almost never turns down. Josh appeared and saved the morning. We all went back to bed together, Harper quickly fell asleep, and then we slept for another 2 hours until 8am. 8am is a pretty late morning for Josh, but it was necessary. This was the third night like this. Harper has been such a good sleeper since turning one that we're not sure why he's not sleeping. All we know is it's a phase, and we hope it doesn't last long. 

Despite the horrible night's sleep, we enjoyed a wonderful Valentine's Day with friends and our family. We hope you did too!