Valentine's Day

Tuesday was supposed to be our date night anyway. We go rollerskating every week. It's a nice and much needed couple hours of sanity. We talk with friends, get some exercise, get a break from the kids, it's so nice. Our sitter's kids ended up sick. We swap babysitting, it's been such a nice arrangement. It gets interesting when we get sick and then things get unbalanced, but we've worked around it and it's not even a huge deal anymore. I did text a few people to see if they were busy, but I wasn't expecting much. Finding a last minute sitter on Valentine's Day was pretty much going to be impossible. So I suggested going out as a family to Pizza Ranch. Actually the question went more like "hey, do you want to go get some triangular-cut italian food instead?". Gotta love talking in code.

I asked Dawson if he wanted to go to Pizza Ranch to eat pizza. He said no. He's a strange child, he doesn't eat pizza often, or mac n cheese, or many staple childhood foods! Told him they have chicken sticks, pizza, french fries, ice cream... That last one got a yes! We had a gift certificate, so it ended up being a free night out, even better! We got there and he went right for the ice cream. Thankfully he even ate some pizza since it was a bit crispy and also some fries and stuff. I love their buffet! It was our 3rd time there. Gabriel totally pigged out! He ate the entire time we were there. He's working on his newly discovered pincher grasp, so he took a little longer to pick things up sometimes and he dropped a bunch of stuff. The waitress was so nice about it though.

Earlier in the day, while Dawson was at school we went to DQ and got this. I love ice cream cakes, I don't even care that I know what I'm getting. Heck, I even went in and picked it out myself! I don't like a lot of decorations, I think that colored frosting tastes really bitter.

Dan also did the laundry and dishes. Thankfully it's not just a rare thing, it's been so nice that he's been picking up the slack when I'm feeling overwhelmed or too busy. We've been through so much together, made impossible decisions and survived horribly stressful circumstances. They say 60% of couples who have a special needs child get divorced, and 80% of those who lost a child. Yet despite the odds and all that could have easily driven us apart, we are closer than ever. I'm so grateful to have him with me on this journey.

Got a little sign from Tyler on Valentine's morning. It was a very cloudy day and suddenly a little hole opened up and light shone through. The hole almost looked heart-shaped! I smiled and said thank you and as fast as it opened up, it closed again. A friend said she saw it too and she even saw a rainbow with it. I was on my way home, just getting to our driveway, it was right above me so I wasn't able to see the rainbow. I love those little signs, there's just something about them that is so different that it couldn't be a coincidence.