Valentine's

Fried chicken and waffles with ALL of the syrup and butter they give you? Basically nirvana.

Basically.

(Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles)

 We weren't amused by any of the SuperBowl commercials. We did a SuperBowl post on the food blog, and one of our friends requested that we do a partay just so she could eat our food.

We obliged, it was delish.

 Trucks and waffles for breakfast. Naturally.

He does this thing where we tell him to 'freak out' and he says 'fee ow' and goes like this:

 

Valentine's! Until about two years ago, Steve was legitimately unsure as to when exactly Valentine's Day was. He used to think it was the second or third Tuesday or Thursday of February.

I think this year he got it, and can confidently answer February 14th.

My husband has arrived.

We did a kids' Valentine's Day series for the food blog, it was pretty cute.

We also did a romantic adult series, love these Harding seesters. 

Makes me miss my own every time I'm around them...

 I won this bow tie on an instagram giveaway! So fun to win free, adorable things!

I feel like this is a glimpse as to what my older Parker will look like...

We were trying to get him to hold still and smile for a picture, but all he wanted was his 'ree!' and to teeter off away from us like he owns the place and explore the parking lot.

Mission accomplished.

This blanket will literally pacify him and force his fingers in his mouth, every time, without fail.

It's amazing. I have no idea how we entertained him for three hours before nursery. We can barely do the first hour now. We try to keep him in our laps so he doesn't get used to running around, and if we do have to take him out, we don't let him down so he doesn't think he can run around and play. Who am I kidding, this kid has a mind of his own, we'll see how long this lasts!

Poor little man woke up from his nap with a fever and was the saddest, sickest little thing you ever did see. He's only been sick one other time before (while visiting my family in Texas), but this was worse. He was so sad, and so cuddly. I was loving my cuddle time with my Bubby. I figured it was just the virus, maybe flu, that everyone and their mom seemed to have, so I wasn't going to bother taking him in. One night I was up with him every couple of hours, and I was so exhausted the next morning. I don't know how I ever had a newborn, I'm pretty sure that was all just a dream. A couple days later, I let all the Tylenol and Motrin I was giving wear off to see if he was still febrile and how he felt. Sure enough, he woke up from a nap reverted back to his sad little self and was pulling on both ears. In to the doctor we went and got some antibiotics. Can we talk about how much I love antibiotics (when they're used appropriately)?

My sweet little #2 Valentine! Red waffles and heart-shaped strawberries. I actually put coconut syrup on his waffles and whipped cream. Lucky guy!

 We spent the day lounging, Steve had a final that was rescheduled for the following week, and we had made another doctor's appointment for our problem child of the week. His manhood was giving us (er, Steve) some concern. Turns out he has a hydrocele, which can be common in boys under 5, and it should go away on it's own. If you ever read this Parker, just know that your Daddy is always looking out for ya.

For Valentine's, my gift to Steve was to NOT go out and spend money. That's his favorite thing ever, so that's what we did. Did he want a romantic pasta dinner? No way José. Shrimp enchiladas with roasted red pepper sauce it was, with coconut salted caramel cheesecake. We put the kid down to bed early and had an uninterrupted, TV-less dinner. I honestly don't think that has happened during the last 18 months. Minus our friend that dropped by and interrupted our Valentine's Day dinner (HA! Really? Who does that?! Love them anyway...) it was kinda nice to stay in and avoid the crowds and chaos. We might make it a tradition...

Alllll sorts of trucks and cars. He now pretend-drives them along things instead of just holding them. It's so adorable. He even makes the appropriate engine noises to accompany sometimes.

 We went to the park and Steve played with his truck and Parker ran around and pushed the stroller and threw a ball around. Then Steve taught me how to throw dried-up dirt pellets at this tree, because apparently I throw like a girl.

First beach day of the year! It was fabulous!

 He didn't like the sand at first (consistent with last year), but after he got to jump up and down, sit back and rest his head on Steve's chair,  he finally warmed up to the sand and was flinging it (in my face) in no time.

 He thought it was really funny to run his face into the mirror. Then bang his head on it.

I might be lying if I said I wasn't worried, a little....

 I think him drinking out of straws is one of my most favorite things he does. The way he sticks his neck out, raises his eyebrows, opens his mouth and searches for the straw, then the way his lips and cheeks puff out, and finally how he ends up gasping for air after he's done....

Cutest thing ever.

Just for the record, he likes my green smoothies better than Steve's.

And this is what Steve has to say about that:

 (This is him actually studying for boards, incase you didn't get that.)