Just me and you

Twice in the last month Travis and I have gone on a date. Our babysitter is home from college so we have to get out as much as we can when she's here. Both times we went to Chilis, sat at the bar and ordered Coors Light on tap and greasy burgers. It was perfect! There's something to be said about hanging out with your best friend at a bar, chatting away about things not having to do with your kids. 15 years ago I would have thought sitting at a restaurant bar with only one person would have been way too boring for me. But not now. It was a great way for us to reconnect with each other, and all spouses should do that once in awhile. To help us remember the fun we had, Travis took these pics with his iPhone.

call me crazy

In 3 months I am flying by myself to Las Vegas to meet a group of girls I've never met before. Crazy, huh? You might be asking yourself what kind of demented person would do such a thing. Well, I would.

When Faith was a newborn I was having a lot of issues with her crying from 4-7pm every night, and all she wanted to do was nurse that entire 3 hours, and when my nips couldn't take it any longer she'd cry hysterically. I didn't know what to do. I didn't have anyone close to me that had recently nursed a baby so I didn't have anyone to get advice from. I just happened to be reading my Parents magazine one day and there was a little blurb about their website having message boards for new parents. I thought it might be a good idea to jump on there and ask someone, anyone, on what to do about this little sucker-fish using my boobs as an all-u-can-eat milk buffet.

And that's where it all started. Come to find out, LOTS of women out there needed advice with new babies, and some of the women just needed a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear. Over the course of the next 3 years I remained a member of that message board. Over time I grew attached to a small group of the girls that seemed to mesh really well with my sense of humor and my parenting styles. A small group of us broke away from the main message board and created our own, and it's been well over a year now that we've been really close friends. We send birthday presents to each other, we do a gift exchange every Christmas, we pool together money for baby shower gifts, we sent used clothes to each others' kids and we call each other on the phone to make sure they're alright if we haven't heard from them in awhile.

But I've never met them.

So we bit the bullet and decided to plan a meet-up. Vegas was the obvious place for a meeting like this. We need a place to let loose *no kids or husbands allowed*, and a place that will provide us with lots of memories. Vegas will provide it all for us.

I haven't been this excited about a trip to Vegas in a long time. I'm counting down the days, because it's not everyday you get to meet someone for the first time that you consider one of your best friends.

The Twin Poops

Faith went to use the toilet the other night and she yells at me:

Faith: MOM, THERE'S POOP IN THE TOILET!
Me: just flush it
Faith: It's not my poop
Me: then it's your brothers
Faith : OH MY GOD! MOM, HIS POOP LOOKS JUST LIKE MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big Parenting Brag

As a parent you sometimes second-guess youself when raising your kids. Speaking for myself I know that probably on a daily basis I wonder if I'm raising my kids right, or if I'm raising them to be the anti-Christ.
Either way, it's a worry of mine. But then there are days when something happens that makes you think that you're on your way to molding your children into productive Americans. And a few weeks ago Ethan confirmed that I can indeed take the empty shell of a child and mold them into someone that isn't destined to be a prisoner, a Barry Manilow groupie, or a manager at Pizza Hut **not there's anything WRONG with being either of those people** cough cough.

Ethan: Guess what, Mom?
Me: what?
Ethan: I checked out a book today at the library and I found $20 inside.
Me: A real $20 bill?
Ethan: Yeah
Me: I don't believe you. Let me see it.

**now this is the most interesting part of the story, because you might notice that I assumed that when he found the $20 he kept it..he is my kid after all**

Ethan: I can't show it to you, I gave it to the librarian.
Me: You did?
Ethan: Yes, and she gave me a pencil and a poster as a reward for it.
Me: wow, that's awesome Ethan. That's was exactly the right thing to do
Ethan: I know. But I wanted to keep it but I told myself that the right thing to do was to turn it in.


My heart just grew a little bit bigger that day for my son.