Valentine's Day 2012

On Monday evening, February 13, after putting Brooklyn to bed, I laid on the couch next to Ben and said "It's weird tomorrow is Valentine's Day...it's funny how I don't care about that 'holiday' anymore-now that I have a baby and we have been together for almost 5 years, it doesn't really matter to me..."

Basically, Ben and I had nothing special planned for Valentine's Day.  We were planning to go out to dinner the Saturday after to celebrate, I guess, but nothing was planned on actual Valentine's Day.

Monday night, the 13th, my brother's girlfriends water broke, so I knew I would become an aunt soon-didn't know if it would be that night or the next day.

Aaron and Mallory's little boy, Jaxson, was born on Valentine's Day at 10:05am.  So that made Valentine's Day special and eventful.

My sister, Megan, drove down to KC from Maryville, where is goes to school, and hung out with Brooklyn and me while we waited for Ben to get off work so we could all go to the hospital together to see baby Jaxson!

We stayed at the hospital until around 6:45pm, I knew we had to get home soon to get Brooklyn in the bath and stay on bathtime/bedtime routine.  I had tacos planned for dinner, but obviously I did not cook.  I told Ben to run through taco bell on his way home and I would head home with Brooklyn and get her in the bath.  I was planning to just eat after I got Brooklyn out of the tub and fed.

Ben got home and I decided I was hungry, so I had him bring my taco bell up to the bathroom-I ate taco bell and watched my baby play in the water! Pretty romantic Valentine's Day, huh?! It gets better...as I was enjoying my taco bell (wondering if it would disagree with my daughter's tummy) Brooklyn all of a sudden pooped!! I screamed for Ben.  He ran up, took my taco bell to the other room and we began panicking rinsing Brooklyn off and doing clean up of the bathtub so we could bathe her.  Exhausting!

After everything was clean, I quickly bathed Brooklyn and got her out of the tub and ready for bed and feeding.  I fed her real quick and Ben came upstairs to hold her (we are still holding her upright for 30 minutes after every feeding because of her reflux) so I could run downstairs and finish my  warm taco bell.

I went back upstairs to continue holding Brooklyn, swaddle her and get her to bed.

After she was sound asleep, I came downstairs and laid on the couch next to Ben to enjoy each others company for Valentine's Day.  When I laid next to him he asked me "why are you acting like you didn't see your flowers over there?" I was confused and surprised and said "What flowers?" He thought I saw them when I came down to eat my taco bell-but I didn't! So, we went to the kitchen and he had beautiful flowers, a card and a little box wrapped up for me.  I was very surprised as I thought we weren't doing gifts for Valentine's this year.  I had a card and a bag of chocolates for him, nothing special at all!

Ben told me after I made the comment about not caring about Valentine's Day, he wanted to do something special for me! How sweet! He also got Brooklyn a gift too-an adorable dress from Gymboree!

Now that I gave you a written play by play of our Valentine's Day, enjoy the day via pictures:

Brooklyn meeting Jaxson!

The Brunker Family with baby Jaxson

Me with baby Jaxson and his proud daddy (my brother, Aaron)

Jaxson!

the new family!

Uncle Aaron and Brooklyn

Daddy and Brooklyn hanging out at the hospital

my surprise gift!

inside the small box were these gorgeous Pandora earrings! They are a flower with a diamond in the center!

close up of earrings-beautiful!

Ben's cards and chocolates!

so pretty!

 Brooklyn was already in bed when Ben and I were opening gifts-he wanted me to open Brooklyn's so I could see what he got her.  The next day I put her back in her Valentine's Day outfit so I could get some pictures! I loved this onesie-found it at Old Navy!

smelling mommy's flowers

back of shirt! chubby legs!

this is the face Brooklyn makes when she is 'talking'

Saturday night, February 18, was Ben and I's first night out without Brooklyn.  We have gone to dinner without her but that was just a quick go to dinner and come home. This was going to be a long evening out.  My mom watched Brooklyn for the evening.  I wrote down step by step instructions for my mom ( I think she thought I was crazy, but I was having her give Brooklyn a bath and do the nightime routine just like we do it to hopefully keep Brooklyn on track and sleep well at night).  

Ben and I had planned on Houston's for dinner-so yummy! We knew they didn't take reservations so we didn't know what to expect when we got there.  We walked in and it was packed.  The wait was 80-85 minutes! wow! We grabbed a beer in the bar and watched the KU basketball game until our table was ready! We enjoyed our dinner and time spent together without the baby.  Every other sentence was about Brooklyn in someway, which I thought was funny! I also got texts from my mom every 30 minutes with an update and a picture of what Brooklyn was doing! So sweet! 

After dinner we met up with Kim and Murry.  We were going to go to The Faloon, but we just decided to go over to Kim's place and hang out! I had Kim take a picture of Ben and I on our night out without the baby! We left Kim's around 11:00pm, I was very ready to get home and see my baby (even though I knew she was sleeping!) It was a great night out and I was surprised that I felt decent the next morning after having several beers the night before! It helped that Brooklyn didn't get up until 5am, then went back to sleep until 8am! 

Sorry for the long, winded post! I guess I had a lot to share!

Pictures taken at Kim's: