Feeling the Love

Valentines Day has never been a favorite holiday. Couples are pressured to spend money on the commercial aspects and singles have it even worse. I had previously sworn never to brave restaurant crowds on Valentines, but this year I decided to take Grandma up on her offer to babysit David so Derek and I could enjoy a couple hours on our own. Even though we got to the cheesecake factory just after 4 pm the place had a line practically out the door just to get your name on the list and a 4 hr wait for a table! So instead we headed for the take-out line and got a couple slices of cheesecake to go (even that took almost an hour) and wound up eating Wendy's hamburgers at my mom's. I think I'll renew my resolve about eating out on Valentines. The holiday wasn't a total wash though. I had oh-so-subtly hinted that I wanted some scrumptious chocolate covered strawberries rather than flowers this year but Derek surprised me with both the confection and flowers. Hopefully we can plan a somewhat more successful date sometime soon, but between the start of the tax season and David's sleep/feeding schedule it won't be easy.

The pictures of David with the bear are an idea I copied from my sister Michelle where each month a new photo is taken of the baby alongside the bear to track growth and compare. I wasn't on the ball enough to get a picture at 1 month so I will have to start at 2 months. At 2 months he's still a solid little guy measuring at the 97th percentile for both height and weight. He's mastered smiling and cooing and is beginning to reach for the toys on his toybar. Every day he's a little more interactive and we have lots of fun.

Smile!

Whew! I've been meaning to write a new post for awhile but our internet connection is really unreliable these days and every time I get a few free minutes I can't get online. David's been smiling deliberately for a few weeks now, but it's hard to catch him at it on camera. The other day though all the planets aligned so I could manage it. The other picture shows his recent favorite activity which is pulling the little toy on his chair to play music. I have to help him grab onto it still and he hasn't figured out that after he's pulled it he needs to give it some slack for the cord to retract before it can play again, but he sure thinks he's hot stuff when he gets it to work.
Since I last posted Derek's mom came out to visit and meet David. We had arranged to have David blessed in church while she was here, but that fell through last minute so we wound up having him blessed here at home instead. I was a little worried about cramming even the small group of family we'd invited into our living room, but we managed it with only minimal rearranging of the furniture and it all went nicely. Here's a picture of David with Derek and his mom.