I may be a skeptic, but I'm not a scrooge.

Who, being loved, is poor?

Oscar Wilde 

I have a bit of an internal debate about Valentine's Day every year:

Love it: Sweet gifts are always sweet, & an extra excuse to do something special with Mike is never a bad thing. He's good at both, too. Gift giving & something-special planning.

Hate it: Obligatory anything isn't fun, & if you love me, I already know it because of our relationship & how you treat me (i.e. love is a verb). How could the assortment of products that are pushed onto consumers during February possibly make up for that which is lacking (if it is in fact lacking)? I crave genuineness in my relationships with people & find myself admittedly quite intolerant of anything less. Valentine's Day is irritating when it seems to be a day where obligations & social norms suffocate that which is... real.

(Excuse me while I climb down from my soapbox.)

That being said! We are in fact observant of Valentine's Day, although perhaps in a bit of a mellow fashion. Similar to Christmas (typically observed around December 12th in our little family), Mike & I exhibited the patience of three year olds & exchanged small gifts on Saturday night because we just couldn't wait. I had made a really good dinner, Mike was home after a long week of traveling, Quinn was content, & we were feeling cozy & happy as a little family. So, Valentine's Day was on February 12th this year. Today, I'll make some heart shaped cookies, because that seems like the thing to do (& cookies are never a bad thing). I'll put together a nice dinner for Mike, & tell him a few more extra times how lucky I am that I married him. And next week - we have dinner plans out, sans baby. But we're long overdue for that, anyway.

(See. Observant. Mostly.)

There's this cheesy commercial that I keep seeing on television. I can't remember who it's for - probably a jewelry store of some sort - but it remarks that Valentine's Day isn't about saying I love you, it's about saying I love us. I like this idea, that we're using the day to reaffirm what we have already established & shared with the people closest to us. I know that my son knows that I adore him, & my husband - well, I made him an amazing breakfast burrito before he headed off to work this morning as a gesture of my pure devotion (think eggs, cilantro, sour cream, salsa + a yummy tortilla). How could he even question how I really feel? And Quinn? For Valentine's Day, he gave me his first poo in over a week. You can imagine how epic that was, the kind of diaper change that requires serious strategy &  the finely honed skills of a primary caregiver. I knew my first Valentine's Day as a mother would be special.