Old neighbors and big families

Before Casey went back to work last month, we were looking to take a little day trip.  Partly because Colorado is absolutely gorgeous and alive with fall color, but also somewhere to go because our kids are - finally - old enough not to be carted around on a hiking trail.  Well... with one obvious exception.

We thought we'd put their legs to good use and soak in one of those awesome mountain adventures people from Texas move to Colorado to experience.

As we were debating where to go and what kind of trail would be appropriate for two people with legs less than two feet long, we remembered that our beloved neighbors, who once lived right across the street and with whom we used to play outside for hours every week, had moved about an hour and a half away to Grand Lake.

It was the perfect time for a visit!

They introduced us to the world's best hiking trail for children - just the right amount of hills, rocks and incline to make it challenging but totally doable, but also decently ambitious for the adults, decked out in all its colorful fall glory.  On the way, we stopped at a beautiful little waterfall that ultimately trickles out to the lake.

There were tons of great places to stop and climb, and even Logan was able to get in on the action.

One of the best parts about their family is that they're made up of two older girls and a pair of twin boys - one of only a few families with four children that we count among our close friends.  And I have to say, it is so nice sometimes to be around other big families (big here meaning upwards of two kids, so all things relative)!  We don't get a lot of opportunities to see how other families function, to hear and see the chaos and mess and love and energy it takes to successfully manage multiple small-ish children, and it's certainly helpful when you're on that path too.

Plus,,. well, they're just a lot of fun to hang around and have adventures with!

And, it wouldn't be called Grand Lake without...

So, so beautiful!

No, really - this IS his happy face!

We had such a great time.  Although we miss living across from them, it was really neat to see the amazing life they're settling into.

We can't wait to visit again!

New Years has changed a bit

For all the years I've known Casey, there has been New Years breakfast.

The tradition began when I was a freshman in college.  We hadn't even officially begun dating yet (though we would, only a few hours later - which made it shortly past midnight, brand-newly January 2, 2003) and we were still in that awkward "hanging out" phase of life.  We spent our first New Years watching 2002 come to an end as I was introduced to a menagerie of friends and acquaintances, and the next day we went with many of those who would ultimately become "our group" to Ihop for some good old fashioned, greasy New Years day breakfast.

Though many things have changed, the tradition stuck.  Oh how I wish I had a photo of us on that day all those years ago, it would be absolutely priceless.  Too bad we'd had a wee bit too much Koolaid the night before for anything with a flash to have sounded like a good idea.  I do believe it was the first time I'd ever met Jessica, and that situation sure turned out pretty okay...

Fast forward twelve New Years breakfasts:

Ihop simply no longer holds us!

This year, "our group" included 5 babies who did not exist at this time last year.  At last year's Ihop table, there were only 4 little ones; this year we had 9.

So we moved it to a house where the little ones could run around and cry and make a ruckus without it troubling any college coeds who'd partaken in too much Koolaid the night before.

Despite the ups and downs we experienced in our relationship through the years, Casey and I have never missed a New Years breakfast.  And though some have come and gone from year to year, overwhelmingly neither have those folks up there.

It is pretty incredible to think that all those years have turned strangers into best friends, seen boyfriends and girlfriends come and go, turned girlfriends into wives and wives into mothers.  The evolution has been pretty amazing so far, and we feel incredibly lucky and blessed to call them friends.

And then, of course, there's these faces:

The oldest will be 10 in March, followed by Leah (4 in March), James (2.5), Logan (16 mo), Nicholas (8 mo), Lauren (6 mo), Piper (4 mo), Theo (4 mo) and Greg (3 mo).  Which, of course, is not remotely the order in which they're sitting on this couch, but we'll work on it.

It's a pretty great way to begin 2014. We can't wait for many more!

Lauren Grace.

Jess,

Last night I was with you as you brought your second child and first daughter into the world.

Truly, one of the best nights of my life. 

I know you were pretty busy, what with getting her here and all, so you may not have noticed the finer points of what was happening.  But I did.  And can I just tell you: Wow.  You're really good at making and birthing babies.

Seriously.  Were you a Scientologist, they would be super proud, because you totally mastered that being in control of your body and your emotions thing.  At seven centemeters dialated and no medication, you sat and chatted with Andrew and me about Friends and YouTube videos as if we were all just hanging out, until another contraction took your breath away. 

Your toughest moments of labor were indicated by a little heavy breathing and a tiny tensing.  But it was clear just how much pain you were in. 

At one point near the end, you calmly informed us that you didn't think you could do it, and the sarcastic part of me thought it's a little to late for that, Jess, because you're just about done while the rest of me was in sheer awe of how completely you were showing labor who's boss.  Can't do it?  YOU SO COULD DO IT!  But I tried to keep silent.  I'm not very good at it, so I probably didn't keep silent. Your husband deserves a medal for how beautifully and simply he reassured you, and gave you just the right motivation to keep you moving through those tough contractions that didn't give you any peace.

If I could have taken it from you at any point during the night, it would have been right then.  Just to give you a break from that tough job you were so bravely doing.

As you began to push, your hospital gown began to bug you.  In a moment of sheer, instinctive brilliance, you said, "this is really in my way" and whipped it off as you focused all your determination on the intense job you had ahead of you au natural.  If I'd been able to make any sound through my holy crap she's totally going to do this haze, I would have shouted, GO JESSICA!  Do what you've gotta do!

Three pushes and a full head of hair appeared.  Two pushes later, she was here.

You probably didn't get to see Andrew's face.  He's so in love with that tiny, six and a half pound little girl, and he's even more in love with you. 

The joy of a man becoming a new dad, even for the second time, is powerful, palpable, and one of life's most heart-stopping moments.  I hope that seeing his face in these pictures makes it worth having me there. 

My beautiful friend, I am so blown away by your poise and grace as you took on this, life's biggest and most incredible task.  Our friendship may have begun because of our boys, but it was designed by God.  Thank you for letting me be a part of this special day.

Thank you for making such awesome people.

Thank you.

xoxo.

Melissa

The cheese stands {happily} alone

Well, it's official: Everyone I know is pregnant.

After going almost literally years months between regular visits, our little group of friends is trying to rekindle the bromance and put the spark back in our friendships. So in that effort, we hosted 15 people in our house for breakfast today.

Except, like really, really soon, it's not going to be 15 people anymore.

Because, folks? 2013 has been dubbed "the year of the baby." I believe posters are being made up as we speak, and a national celebration has been planned with mocktails and condom-balloon animals. (Get it? Because nobody needs them! See what I did there? Hillarious.)

{Picture from Christmas 2009. Ironically, in this picture, I'm the only one who is actually prego}

Fertility? It's here on an epic scale. I was afraid that I might get pregnant-by-proxy simply from being in the same room with these women.

Even though my youngest is zero and my life consists almost exclusively of pumped milk, yoga pants, counting diapers and going on three hours of sleep rampages, part of me is all, hey girls! I totally would have synched my cycle and been part of the knocked up club! It's that time in high school when the other girls decided to ditch class to go smoke but nobody told me ('cause I was always too much of a goody-goody - and I liked school - to do anything like that. Plus, smoking is way gross) all over again.

Actually, the truth is that I'm thrilled beyond words for all of these ladies.

Although I do envy the fact that they all get to be pregnant together AND somebody else has done it before them (I was obviously the first to go down this road from our group - there were definitely times I wished I could have called somebody else who had been through it, if only just to help frame my new-mom-crazies), I will admit that I'm pretty darn content with our world right now.

It's a funny thing, because as my baby inches closer to being less a baby and more a toddler, I am super calm and in no hurry to start trying for #3. Which is pretty much the opposite of the way I felt the first time 'round. I desperately hope that is in the cards for us, but I am just so stinkin happy with our family of four. It feels "complete" somehow - even though I know hope it's not.

I'm suffering from a complete lack of jealousy, which, as you might remember, is definitely not the way I was feeling as 2011 came to a close. God is pretty awesome.

And, these two faces?

They're a one-two punch of pure happy.

The race to Christmas

We had to cancel last year, which, in hindsight is a bummer, because it would have been the last Christmas party in our house.

But, you know... onward and upward.  This year, we're Christmasing in a house that actually has a dining room.  Any thoughts on how long I've dreamed of having a dining room?

Oh yeah, and check out these cuties:

 

 

I'm so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life!

 

 

And, oh yeah - also, a dining room.  :)



Animals in lights

It's no secret that we love the zoo. 

 

 

So this year, for the first time, we braved the crowds and the cold to go to zoo lights.

 

The Courtney family joined us, with their girls Ella (4) and Ava, who is only a few months younger than Leah.  The girls had a blast, and I always love hanging out with these beauties!

 

 

When fertility affects friendships

It's been two years since that special day.  It's beyond difficult to believe.  How can time pass that quickly?

I'm left reflecting on a great many things as the little's birthday approaches, but without question one of the biggest changes in my life over the past two years has been a very distinct shift in my social circle.

Sure, men can pee standing up.  But we?  We can make people. 

It's just that some of us go a different route than others.  Some of us make those people early in our lives and others wait or don't make people at all.  All of it is perfectly okay. 

Still... it creates a gap.  The haves and the have-nots.  Two completely different worlds that, within a friendship, must exist simultaneously. 

It's a gap I often haven't been fortunate enough to bridge. 

I can't regret the decision entirely, because in the absence of my other life friends I have found  new and extremely rewarding relationships with many amazing women forged through the bond only motherhood can create.   

As I addressed those invitations, I had such unease about who to send them to.  It was a funny feeling; there are a few people from my old life I'd like to come.  To be totally honest, though, I'm not sure we're even still friends.  I'm just not the same person I was two years ago.  The hours we keep are completely different and the priorities have shifted so greatly that conversation seems awkward and forced.  Not to mention, I don't know how many years in a row I can continue asking people to celebrate all the milestones in my life without any real way to reciprocate.

Come to your birthday and drink with you until 2 a.m.?  I can't.  My babysitter is sick and my kid gets up at 6.

At least with other mommies, we're all on square footing: you come to my kid's birthday party, I'll come to yours.  Accepted socialization hours are 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. at places where no one is expected to sit still or behave themselves.  Conversations about other people's bodily fluids are perfectly normal and encouraged.

Part of me thinks it's a sad state, the fact that these two worlds don't coexist naturally. 

The other part of me, though, the one that delights in my little girl's development, can't wait to potty train and loves to hear the stories of all the mommies who have been there before me, thinks it may just be part of the journey.  One of the many things we go through on this path; giving up pieces of who we used to be in order to become new and better creatures lucky enough to be named MOM.

For many reasons, I hope it won't be like this forever.  Either my friends will have kids eventually and we'll be able to rekindle the bond that once existed, or my own children will get older and the time constraints will become less or different. 

Either way, it's a casualty I didn't foresee two years ago. 

Is it worth it?  Always, always. 

The one with my best friend... the psychic

Some of my favorite conversations with Jessica have begun, "So I had this dream..."

It's not me that does the dreaming.  I almost never have dreams that I remember.  Jessica, on the other hand, dreams all the time.  About everything.

And occassionally, about things that actually come to pass.

She's been known to predict an engagement (or like four.  Seriously.  She dreamed it, and within a week: ta da!  Enfianced.)

The night before we found out Leah was a girl, she dreamed it.  And, of course, Leah turned out to be a girl, even though I was convinced she would be a boy.

All summer long, I kept waiting to get a call that said, "I dreamt you were pregnant!"  But it never came.  Finally, the day of my period came and went, and I tried desperately not to get excited. 

The same day, I got a text that read, "I dreamed you had another baby girl!" 

I hadn't shared with her that I was late, because I didn't want to have to take it back if it turned out to be nothing.  But when I got her text, well... it was pretty much over.  And, as it turns out...

...she was right.  I'm telling ya.  Psychic.

(Which also means I'm already convinced our baby is a girl, even though we're nowhere remotely near finding out, but more on that later...)

Now if we could only get her to dream about the lottery numbers.

Weekend Roundup

First and foremost, we have to wish a very happy birthday to our resident old guy Jeff, who was the first of our friends to hit the big-30 this weekend! 

We celebrated with an awesome pool party (because nothing says 30 like going to the pool with your bestest buddies).

I have to say, Leah absolutely loved the water.  Not that this was a surprise.  I think she's definitely got the swimming gene.  She even loves to stick her face in the water, that beautiful little weirdo. 

I have to say, there is something very legitimizing about saying, "I'm 30."  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm glad I have a few years left before I have to be that legitimate, but 30 seems like genuine adulthood. 

Jeff celebrated his genuine adulthood with the obligatory "being pulled into the pool" routine.

And, of course, with a bunch of other guys in a hot tub. 

And our special little someone got to stay up MUCH passed her bed time.  We tried to bring the pack and play and put her to bed, but she wasn't having any of that.  I didn't really have much hope for it to begin with, but hey, 30th birthdays only happen once.

We also took some time out to enjoy a free day at the Museum of Nature and Science.  I don't know how much Leah actually got out of the exhibits, but it was a great place for her to enjoy running around. 

We ended our lovely but all-too-quick weekend with a little fun on the grill, and topped with a delicious marinade of onions, mushrooms, garlic and those french-fired onion thingies that are so darn yummy.

All in all, a weekend done right!