My friend’s “Friend”

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Tonight we hung out with a good girlfriend of mine and her new male friend. Well I guess he’s really not so new… they have been dating for like three months now… but it’s just kind of a slowly progressing situation so we have been hesitant to double date. You know, the whole “double date with a married couple and their child” thing can be kind of intimidating.

Anyway, it turned out really nice. I think everyone had fun and it was pretty laid back. Jonathan did not make too many weird jokes. We just had hamburgers and chips and salad, but then for dessert we did chocolate fondue. It was comfortable and I didn’t feel like I had to impress this guy. I know that sounds weird but whenever a good friends gets a new boyfriend you always worry whether you will all get along. But I think they will be a good couple to double date with.

Donations for Juvenile Diabetes Research

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My friend Kris has a beautiful daughter named Hayleigh who has Juvenile Diabetes. You can check out her YouTube video by clicking HERE.

They are participating in a fundraising walk to raise money for research. If you know anyone with Diabetes or would like to help them out, please consider making a donation. Clicking on the picture below will take you to their fundraising page. Thank you for your help!

Class Reunion

Filed Under Friends, Me, Thoughts | 4 Comments

Bailey JUST woke up in the next room but I want to get my thoughts out about this. In the meantime, I can hear her yelling Neener Neener Neener, which is her new favorite sound.

Anyway. My ten year high school class reunion was last weekend. At first I thought about going. I mean, high school was fine. All I really did was party and hang out with my friends and I did enough schoolwork to get by, but not enough to get in the way of my life… overall I have good memories… so anyway I was like, “Oooh a reunion! I’ll get to see all my old friends! They will all have babies and we can be mommy friends!” Then I started realizing this wasn’t so realistic. If ten years have passed and we haven’t talked, there is probably a reason.

I drifted apart from a lot of my high school friends while I was away at college. I got really involved with my sorority and life on campus and all that stuff. I was only three hours away but I only came home like twice a semester a lot of the time. I mean seriously, what 19-year-old wants to miss a weekend filled with barhopping and happy hours and take out food and sleeping late and hanging out at the gym, just to go sit at their parents house? Not me. I am bad about letting friendships fall apart. If I don’t talk to someone or see them regularly, I don’t really try to put effort into the friendship. I figure if it was worth staying friends, it wouldn’t take so much work.

Now that I am older, I see that most friendships do require work. A lot of them are “easy” as far as being friends, but hard as far as finding time to spend together. Now I am more mature about it and plan ahead and try to make those difficult “I know I haven’t seen you in nine months” type phone calls. (For example, I went out to lunch with Paige today, and literally I haven’t seen her since last Thanksgiving. But it was good catching up and I hope this time it’s not so long in between.) Back then, I didn’t bother.

SO all this to say, I really have one friend from high school. Yeah, I know I talk about her a lot so I am not even mentioning her name in this post. There was another girl who we weren’t really good friends with in high school but became friends with later… then once again became not-friends… Then there’s another girl who I see at stuff like baby showers and she’s fun to talk to for like an hour, but after that time there’s really nothing left to say for either of us and we both go our own ways again. Then there is one girl who I just recently got in touch with again and we are tentatively making plans to get together.

None of these girls wanted to go to the reunion, so I decided I didn’t really want to go by myself. I didn’t want to try to figure out who to talk to, only to find out that we had nothing in common. As far as curiosity- well I catch up with most of them on Facebook and we message two or three times and that is all taken care of. I’ve seen pictures of their boyfriend or kids, we’ve talked about careers… or my lack of career… i have gained weight since high school (although judging by the reunion pictures, oh Lord, some people have REALLY gained weight even in the last year or so! HELLO Leptovox…) and I try to dress somewhat cute but really I’m not into fashion all that much now… I wasn’t up for the competition or the dress up game at the reunion. My husband didn’t know anyone who would be there and it would be boring for him. So we never registered. At a few moments I thought “maybe I should…” but knew I didn’t really want to.

This week, I saw pictures on Facebook. Some people look the same. Some people look great. Others look like a fat, sloppy, tired, or trashy version of their former self. There was a weird guy in the background who kept flicking off the camera. Looking at these people, I felt a few fond memories. I saw girls I used to be close to, who I haven’t talked to in like eight years. It made me smile, seeing their faces. And at that moment, I realized that was all I wanted. Just a few memories. I have those. I didn’t feel a connection to those girls. I could have chatted for an evening, gone my own way, and not looked back. Just like I didn’t look back ten years ago when I moved away to school. I guess that’s just me. So I saved $100 or so, and didn’t bore Jonathon for an evening. And I got to show Jonathon the pictures and comment and laugh and smile and tell stories, which is all I would have done that evening.

I hope that I have stronger friendships now, that I wouldn’t just turn away and not care. I think adult friendships ARE stronger, because they require more work. You get deeper than just surface, boy, school, party talk. More than “the three b’s of a good party.” I had a few friends who were more than that but most were just that. I hope my friends now would keep me accountable and try to stay in touch with me, but you never know.

If you made it this far, I am impressed. I know this was rambly but I wanted to get these thoughts down. Now, I am going to get my kid. She is in her crib, “spelling” her name. There are letters above her bed and she points to them and says “E, I, A, E, A…” because I always spell her name out for her when we look at the letters.

Sarah and Claire

Filed Under Fifteen Months, Friends | 1 Comment

My good friend Sarah- in fact she was my BFF in high school and really one of the only girls I talk to from back then- has a little baby named Claire. I’ve blogged about them before. Claire was born about seven weeks early and is now doing fabulous!

Sarah and I were so close and then we got married within about two years of each other, and had little girls within a year of each other. I am so glad we are still friends after all this time. Other people have come and gone, and gone crazy, and basically just dropped off the face of the earth, but I know we will be friends for a long time.

On Thursday Sarah stopped by to visit with little Claire and I got a few pictures. Claire is three months in this picture. Isn’t she a doll? Check out Sarah’s blog to see more pics of her cute little miracle baby.

I got to snuggle with Claire a little bit while they were over. She mostly slept and sat and looked around. I miss that stage. My kid was everywhere. She mainly wanted to poke Claire’s eyes out. Fun times. It will be a little easier when Claire is bigger and the playing field is leveled a bit between the two of them. A year apart is huge now, but when they are more like two and three years old, it won’t be as much of a difference. Bailey also thought it was fun to play with Sarah’s keys, and to sit in Claire’s infant carseat.

Hope you had a good weekend. I am going to go relax for a little bit and then get to bed. I have to get up in the morning and finish entering my Avon order. It’s due on Monday mornings and I usually get a few last minute calls.

North Carolina and Other Places

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I have a good friend from college who lives in North Carolina right now. She originally got a job and lived in Southport, I think, and she might still work for a radio station there. I came across a Coldwell Banker site advertising Wilmington real estate and it made me think of her. Which made me think of an old roommate I have, who works for a tv station in Wichita, producing the 10 o’clock news… okay so that was the first link I could find for her but anyway… Which made me think of another roommate I had who is here in STL and has a successful public relations career. Which made me think of another friend I have who lives in Virginia now and works for a non-profit organization, and loves her job (most of the time). I wonder what career I will end up with. I have a feeling that going back to school for a different degree might be in my future, once my kids are in school. I’m not jealous of the success, I just wonder when I will find what I want to do.

Congrats to some friends

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Congratulations to the Hysers, who are in the process of moving to Charlotte. They got some commercial real estate and Tony will be busy this summer setting up his new chiropractic office. Best of luck to you guys! And let us know if you are in St. Louis anytime- we would love to get together and catch up.

Also, congratulations to the Fords. They just found out they are expecting their second child in January of 2009. (Justin is Jonathon’s old roommate, who he was living with when we started dating. Their little girl, Olivia, is about a month younger than Bailey). Good luck with your move, and prayers for an easy pregnancy.

Friends from Nursing Moms Group

Filed Under Friends, Outings, St. Louis, Thirteen Months | 3 Comments

We went to Grant’s Farm again the other day- it’s one of our favorite places! This time we went with some friends that we met in our nursing moms support group when Bailey was younger. We’ve all gotten to be good friends, and even though we don’t all go to the group very often anymore, we still try to get together for playdates and birthdays and stuff.

Here are the girls when we first entered the park area after the tram ride… not pictured is Gabe, who was having a huge fit about his stroller. From left to right- Bailey, Ella, and Kaitlynn.

We spent some time in the chicken and guinea pig area. I was surprised how crowded it was, especially considering the weather forecast. Bailey loves to walk around in the chicken area, though. The fences are low, and there are woodchips on the ground. Which of course equals hours of fun…

Of course, nothing could beat the excitement of ANOTHER CHILD’S STROLLER!

The weather was really muggy when we got there. On the way home, it started raining really hard and quickly turned into a storm with flood warnings and tornado warnings. Gotta love St. Louis weather :eye roll:

Bailey’s Birthday Party

Filed Under Bailey's Birthday, Family, Food, Friends, Gifts, Grandparents, Twelve Months | 3 Comments

I guess it is time that I post pictures from Bailey’s party. I really feel okay about it. We had a good turnout with lots of friends there. The food was decent (just stuff I put together like a fruit bowl, veggie tray, watergate salad, chips and dip, etc). Her cake turned out cute even though she wouldn’t eat it. There weren’t any disasters, just a clingy, teething baby.

Bailey with my mom and our neighbor Jeannette

Friends Amy and Kaitlynn

Opening presents

See the little flower thing she has in her hand? She’s obsessed with it and takes it everywhere with her. That and the wand for the bubbles that Kelli gave her.

Bailey loves balloons. She has started trying to say “balloon.” She points to them and says “Buv!”

Sharing her toys with AJ, my friend Jen’s little boy

With my college roommate, Sarah

Birthday cake

We stripped her down to her diaper just in case she decided to eat her cake…

But she didn’t! She wanted nothing to do with it and cried until I got her out of her high chair.

Here she’s signing that she wants out

She’s glad all that nonsense is over so she can sit by herself and play her xylophone!

Happy birthday, sweetheart. We’ll try the cake again someday. If you’re anything like your mama, you will love cake with buttercream icing!

Welcome, Claire Elizabeth

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Welcome to this world, little princess. Baby Claire Elizabeth was born today at 3:58 pm. She is 2 lbs 12 oz and 16 inches long. She is breathing on her own and I got a message from her mommy tonight, who sounds very tired and happy Thank you for all of you who have been praying for them.

Sarah, I am in love with her. Bailey can’t wait to meet her. She says they are going to be the best of friends. I told her they better stay out of trouble and their mommies already know all their tricks!

Two Days Until The big 0-1

Filed Under Bailey's Birthday, Friends, Playdates | 4 Comments

Today is Monday. Bailey will be one on Wednesday. In just a little over 48 hours. Wow. We are trying to make this week really special for all of us. Today we had a playdate with my friend Kim and her daughter Mackenzie, who is two months younger than Bailey. I think the girls had fun together. I know Kim and I did. We got to hang out and talk, have lunch together, and go for a walk around the lake by her house. The weather was nice and sunny and it was so good to be outside! Tonight we went out to dinner with Jen and Aaron, to El Maguey. Bailey was very well-behaved during dinner. Which is always a relief, especially when we are out with friends who don’t have kids!

Tomorrow I work at my church in the morning and hopefully I can get some stuff done around the house in the afternoon. Jonathon is planning to cut the grass. Then in the evening, we are going to take Bailey to Oberweis to have ice cream for the first time! (other than the times I smuggled her a small bite or two, don’t tell Jonathon!) We will have to bring the camera. I hope she likes it. We are still holding off on chocolate for at least a few more months, possibly another year. Normally I’m not super picky about what she eats except for obvious stuff like no honey, strawberries, or fish yet. But my mom is allergic to chocolate and I don’t want Bailey to develop an allergy to it!

Wednesday for her birthday, we are going to go get her one year pictures done. I know I am a little behind on that. Then Jonathon is meeting up with us and we are going to grab some food and take her to Gymboree. She hasn’t been there before to play so I hope she likes it! That is her little birthday surprise from us

Thursday and Friday my parents are going to help with Bailey so I can hopefully get things more ready for her big party on Saturday. We are doing a butterfly theme. I still haven’t decided what we are doing for food or anything, and I need to order the cake. I’ve got to remember to do that tomorrow. We have all the decorations and the party favors. It’s just a matter of putting things together and doing food. We can do this. Right? And we need to clean the house and set up things a little differently if it ends up being inside. And work on the garden decor in case it’s outside… that means finishing to repaint the wrought iron chairs we got, cutting the grass (Jonathon) and putting some partyish stuff outside. Pray for good weather!

Friendship

Filed Under Friends, Thoughts | 7 Comments

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my friendships. They have changed a lot over the years. All through preschool/elementary school I had the same best friend, a girl who lived across the street from me. Then her family moved about a half hour away. We see each other and keep in touch- in fact she threw a baby shower for me- but in junior high a half hour is enough to make or break a friendship.

In high school, I had a best friend and we were pretty crazy. We were also pretty stupid, but that’s a story for another day. Or maybe a story better left untold. When I went away to college, I continued to be stupid, but without this girl as my constant sidekick. I made a lot of new friends, joined a sorority, and stayed busy busy busy all the time. I had a few best friends, one of whom lives in St. Louis now and I see every few months. Since college and being back in St. Louis, I made a new really good friend… only she is single so that makes it kind of difficult sometimes because I feel like my life is so centered around my hubby and baby now. She was my maid of honor in my wedding, and she’s one of those people that when we see each other, we pick up right where we left off.

I have basically lost touch with most of my high school friends. I had one long-standing friendship where the girl kind of got nutty on me. Recently I have “rediscovered” some of my old friends on Facebook or Myspace. And I am kind of to the point where I don’t really have a “best friend” anymore, which is something I miss. I have good friends like Jen and Sarah (who was my high school BFF) who I will always love spending time with. Sometimes we are closer than others. But life is complicated now. things get in the way, we are busy, we have families and husbands and houses. This week I got to see Sarah three different times and it was like a record. It also makes me realize that even though we are no longer the girls we were in high school (thank God) we can have a new mommy friendship.

Jonathon is really my closest friend, who knows the most about me. I know he will always be there for me. We have a great time together, and heck we have a kid together. But we don’t always want to talk about the same things, and he’s a boy, which means he really doesn’t care about makeup or cramps or mommy playdates or fights with in-laws. I don’t know what the point of this post was. I am just trying to think through some things and reevaluate my friendships. I prefer to have a few close friends, than lots of shallow friendships. I have always kind of been that way.

Pleasantly Surprised

Filed Under Avon, Friends, Nanny Job | 1 Comment

I watched Alison today and it wasn’t nearly as bad as last time. Last time was hellacious… if that’s even a word… anyway last time Alison was crabby and bratty and stealing toys from Bailey all day. Today, she was really sweet and mostly cooperative and helpful. We went to a playgroup thing this morning so that killed a good part of the day. Then this afternoon we played outside and enjoyed the nice weather until her mom got home.

Also I got a call from my friend Mutha and she was raving about how much she loved her new Avon mascara.  I get really excited about my makeup and I enjoy selling Avon, so I’m glad when someone else discovers how great it is. I think a lot of people think of Avon as grandma-type stuff and don’t realize all the new things that have come out. Besides clothes, shoes, home decorating, and jewelry they also have an all natural line of stuff called Liiv Botanicals, and a new mineral makeup line.

So those were just two fun things from today. Later I’ll have to tell you about the rude mom who spilled her coffee this morning.

Some good, some bad

Filed Under Being a Mom, Friends, Grandparents, Thoughts, classes | 2 Comments

Today Jonathon didn’t want to get up for church so I took Bailey and let him stay home, since I had to work in the nursery first hour anyway. While I was gone, he cleaned, vacuumed, and… rearranged our bedroom. Some of you know that he has a history of doing random things like this. Sometimes, it’s really annoying. However I actually LIKE what he did with our room. He also let me rest for a while this afternoon since he had the morning “off.”

I am realizing that we have a very high maintenance kid. Not like her attitude, but just her energy level. She always has to be doing something. She’s been like this since she was tiny. She has a good attention span, she just needs to be occupied or she gets herself into trouble. Take yesterday- we had to move the old entertainment center so we closed her in her bedroom door for about five minutes. In that time she emptied her toy box, book box, and every drawer and cabinet in her dresser. She loves to make messes. She goes, at top speed, all day long. I think this is why it’s so exhausting to take care of her.

Tonight we met with our small group. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that… my feelings were kind of hurt tonight and I don’t want to get into it here, but it might be time for us to find a new group or not be in a group at all. At this point, either of those options would be fine with me. But we have a while to think about it. My parents watched Bailey and she did great. They used to always want her to come to their house, but they are starting to realize it’s easier to watch her here, where they have everything she could possibly need. I understand on nights when we’re out late, they like to be at their house so they can go to bed or work on the computer or whatever… but for early nights, it’s nice for us not to have to take her home and put her to bed all over again. Because, once she wakes up she thinks it’s party time and we have to re-do her bedtime routine. Also I have discovered that it will be easier to lure them over here now that we have our new tv

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to getting together with my friend Sarah and her little boy Andrew for a playdate. It’s been a few weeks since we’ve hung out together and now that Bailey is better, I am excited for her to get to play with a friend again. And, I am even more excited to get to hang out with Sarah :)  Also, tomorrow evening Bailey has a music class that Jonathon gets to go to with us! He hasn’t been to any classes with us that I can think of, so this should be fun. he will get to see what a wild woman she is in a room full of other babies! She is always the busiest, noisiest one who won’t stay by their mom. It will be interesting for him to see her in that situation.

Anyway, I’m going to bed. To catch my 7 hours. I need to be getting more sleep I think, but my only “me time” is after Bailey goes to bed.

Playdate at the mall play area

Filed Under Friends, Nine Months, Outings | 2 Comments

Our moms group went to the mall play area last week. Here is Bailey checking out one of the cars. I was surprised that she had such a good time. It was pretty crowded but she never seems to mind the big kids.

Bailey and Andrew- he is taking her on a date in this car… lol…

My friend Amy’s daughter, Kaitlynn, who is turning one this week!

Playing with the spinny things- she had to fight off an older boy to gain access to them! Go Bailey!

I cannot understand how my child sits comfortably like this. ALL the time. Her PAT lady commented on it and then we had her pediatrician check her hips and knees. She’s doing fine. It’s apparently just the way she likes sitting, and she can quickly turn or get on her knees (or one knee) from this position.

My friend Kim with her daughter Mackenzie, who is three months younger than Bailey

Bug and Mom- she’s not paying attention, I look so pale I could be dead. Wonderful pic of us, huh. But we don’t get our picture taken together very often because I am usually the one with the camera, so I try not to delete ALL of them!

We all had a nice time at the mall. We ate lunch at the food court- I had Subway- and then we shopped for a while. We hit the sales at Children’s Place and Gymboree but I didn’t end up getting anything. Bailey definitely doesn’t need anymore winter clothes, and I need to do a spring/summer clothes inventory before I do too much shopping. I know we got a lot of stuff on sale last year.

After the mall I went to my grandparents house to help them get their shower stool installed. It’s for my grandma, who we are afraid is going to fall in the shower I love having them here, but I hate watching them get older.

My dad with Bailey later that afternoon

Andrew’s Birthday Party

Filed Under Birthdays, Firsts, Friends, Nine Months, Parties | 5 Comments

This past weekend, Bailey went to her first birthday party ever. (Well, other than for someone in our family). It was her friend Andrew’s first birthday. The party was supposed to be last weekend but he had the flu, so it got postponed. It was fun to be able to celebrate with him and hang out with his mom and some other friends for a while. They did a Cars theme for his party. There were two cakes, one for him and one for everyone else! They were so cute- I wish I had taken pictures of them! This makes me think more about planning Bailey’s first birthday. She might be having a butterfly party (surprise, huh).

When we arrived at the party, Sarah had a bunch of toys out for the kids to play with. Bailey really liked the busy box. I think that’s what it’s called. The thing where there are five pop-ups… you have to press a button/turn a dial/etc to get them to open… We might have to get her one of those for her birthday.


Andrew trying his birthday cake- at first he wasn’t really into it but then he ended up eating a lot of it. I just don’t have any pictures after the first few minutes because I was chasing Bailey around.



Busy playing amongst her friends and a giant pile of toys



This is what happens when you try to take the pictures of a bunch of little kids/babies. There is Bailey crawling away at the bottom right. Mackenzie seems to be the only one paying attention. AJ is holding a plate over his face, and Andrew is looking the other way. LOL

Bailey decided to go back and investigate the toy we gave Andrew.