Happy Valentine's Day

Yesterday was an incredibly unromantic Valentine's Day.

Our plans were definitely not the stuff you put in the movies. We didn't want to find or pay for a babysitter... and truth be told, we were pretty excited to watch American Idol and Lost... so Steve and I were planning to get a spinach salad, shrimp cocktail, and some kind of fabulous dessert from Costco and have a Living Room Picnic while we indulged in some fun TV. That's called making the best of it, people, and we were happy about it.

Then we got a bunch of nasty snow and ice. All three of us were home on Valentine's Day, and there was no way we were going to brave the trip to Costco (a whopping three miles away) for food. Instead, the three of us spent the day together and ordered a pizza for dinner. Jack has been talking for days about "Mommy Daddy Pizza," so this was very good news for him.

It ended up being one of the most wonderful and special Valentine's Days I've ever had.

Before we had Jack, and maybe even for a while after we did, my idea of a perfect Valentine's Day would definitely not have involved pizza or spending the day with a toddler who'd need to be entertained so he didn't tantrum all over the house he was stuck in. But for whatever reason, my thinking has changed.

The boys and I didn't do anything really big yesterday. We played with Play-Doh, out in the snow and ice, and Steve and I watched TV while Jack took his nap. When he woke up, we gave Jack his Chew Chew Bacca action figure (oh, sweet Yoda did he love that thing) and went to Starbucks for coffee and cupcakes. The cupcake, by the way, prompted Jack to sing "Happy Birthday" several times. He also amused himself by trying to balance Chew Chew Bacca on a caution cone, all while clutching Roary under his arm. Steve gave Jack a bath, and I went to the local Italian place, packed with couple having romantic dinners, for our pizza.

The three of us had pizza, I read Jack a couple of books, then Steve and I watched our TV shows and had some tiramisu.

Really, really unromantic, right? But it actually wasn't. I didn't feel like I was making the best of a situation in which I couldn't go with my husband to a romantic restaurant and gaze at each other over a bottle of wine, holding hands. Instead, I felt like my whole house was just full of love. I was able to spend the day with the two people who mean more to me than anything else in the universe, and I was just so happy. I also felt incredibly close to Steve, the man with whom I've created this happy family and wonderful life. In the end, I can't think of anything more romantic and special.

Happy Valentine's Day, boys.