I Love February

I'm selfish.  And biased.  I'm a February baby, and I still firmly believe that February is the best month.  I shared back in September that I was somewhat dreading the month due to some dates associated with sadness, but I feel just the opposite about February.

For starters, my birthday is towards the end of the month, which gives me something to which to look forward.  Birthdays have always been significant in my family--I blame my Grandma.  My Grandma is an amazingly selfless woman who gave us seven presents for our birthday each year so that we could open one up on each day of the week leading up to our birthday.  As we got older, the gifts got smaller and more practical.  But the sentiment is still the same, and I still look forward to opening my daily gift with childlike excitement.  My mom's birthday is three days after mine, so even when my week of gifts come to a close, the celebrations just keep on going for her.

Then there's Valentines Day, which is usually pretty sweet for all of the stereotypical reasons that made me hate it when I was single and love it once I met my husband.  Sadly, since I lost baby #2 last year on Valentines Day, the date does have some tears associated with it for me now.  But I'm trying to focus on the expected opportunity to express my love and appreciation to my husband on this day (while also taking a moment for myself to mourn the loss of that child)...besides, I should be celebrating my love for him every day of the year.  But speaking of my love for my husband...the anniversary of us meeting (and subsequently dating) also falls later in the month and gives us another reason to celebrate.

As for living in Southern Arizona, things start coming to life again in February.  Spring (and sometimes even summer) start early for us, so the days will typically be warm-but-not-hot by the end of the month, which allows for some amazing sunrise/sunsets and the start of flowers blooming.  And if I get to warm down here, I've got the Olympics this year to remind me that it's still winter elsewhere.

And now I'm hoping that I'll be able to add February 16th as another significant day, as I pray that we'll hear an amazing heartbeat that day.  Please pray for us and for this child growing inside of me as we get closer to February 16th.

Today's blessing is that it's looking like my husband does not need to go out of town for the rest of the week.  He's working on a project that was possibly going to bring him to D.C. until Saturday, but he never got the call, so it sounds like he'll just finish up the project from here.  Aside from the five weeks he spent in Djibouti in the Fall, I usually do just fine with his short trips.  But I'd rather just keep him here with me.