Summer Fun with Friends.

I have these two friends that I've known since sixth grade, Megan and Sarah. We ran with the same crowd and all lived in town. I guess that made us townies if you can be such a thing in a town with a population of 1,000 and woods in your backyard. We were soon inseparable. In high school when my family moved I lived with Sarah and her family to finish out the semester. Those years in Rudyard were really special because of them. I mean it's the quintessential picture of growing up in small-town-America; we rode our bikes to each other's houses and all over town, we slept in each others backyards, and spent countless summer days at the beach. Really beautiful.

This photo sums it all up. This was my 16th bday btw.

Maybe 8th grade. Megan and I at the beach.

Megan is wearing my mom's bridesmaid dress and I
do not know what Sarah is wearing lol!

When I got married Megan and Sarah came to the wedding. When I had my first baby Megan was at the shower (Sarah lived in Wisconsin by then). The three of us made it a point to get together at least once a year. When Sarah got married in the Upper Peninsula Megan and I road tripped it up there. The next time we got together we did it with my (second) nursing baby in tow. Then Sarah had a baby and Megan and I went to her new place in Chicago to see them and hang out and she was nursing. And, someday we'll all be hanging out and Megan will be nursing a baby. Then someday we'll be at our babies weddings and we'll all be crying!!!!!!!! I may have just lost my mind for a minute (excuse me while I compose myself).

So you see what I'm getting at right? We've always been there for each other. Through heart breaking moments with parents, and bad break ups, and all the highlights of becoming adults. These two know me almost as well as anyone and there's something to be said for having friends that knew you before you were married and a mom. For having friends who understand your quirks and love you any way, who can remind you about the crush you had in sixth grade (Billy McQueen if your reading this you really missed out). Friends who know you as an individual before you took someone else's name and became the "all powerful" mom.

Our twentieth "friendaversary" is coming up and that just blows my mind! Please don't do the math to figure out how old I am it's embarrassing! And we are going to really celebrate (not in England like I want I think we'll have to save that for like thirty or something) but I know that this is only part of our journey together and I just love that.

This week Sarah came for a visit. She brought her dog and her baby and Megan came over and it was awesome. I'll be honest I was worried that it'd just be mass chaos with my brood but it wasn't. I got to cook and feed them and Sarah did the dishes (best house guest ever!). We just chatted and basked in the fact that our lives are so different yet so the same. I love these two women (we're women now imagine that) and having them over here made summer feel like summer. It made me feel connected to my roots in a way I hadn't for a long time. And some of my new friends got to meet them and they became friends so it's like this amazing waterfall of love (can you tell I'm all hopped up on feeling good?)!

I love to feed nursing mothers. They're always so ravenous
that they're really excited about my cooking. These were
blueberry/raspberry pancakes with local maple syrup.

Me and the baby (I was so excited to take pictures of the baby
I didn't get any with Sarah in them oops).

Do you see this red hair!!!

Megan and the baby. Basically we held him so much
Sarah wasn't in any of the pics.

I'm really grateful to God for the fact that someone as transient as I am can have such long lasting deep relationships. What about you? What makes you feel connected to your roots?

hello again

Well I can't believe how incredibly long it's been since I've even looked at this site. I think my life just seemed like it was too much and I was just worn too thin. I think it's been like two years! A lot has changed... for one I'm not sure I can call this blog confessions of a young housewife. Now that I have another baby (yes another boy) I certainly don't feel young, and my body certainly doesn't look young. Thirty is now looming closer then ever.

I'm not sure why I stopped and I'm not sure why I'm picking it up again. I guess I've been feeling the need lately to put things down in words and that feels good after such a long time of having nothing to say. And then I went and saw Julie and Julia, what a sweet movie that was, and was inspired to look and see what I had wrote in the past and boy am I glad i did. There is so much from Hunter's first year that I don't remember and this blog is such an amazing record of what was happening with him and me. I am so thankful that this website doesn't erase your entries after a long time of inactivity.

Hunter is three now and potty training and our second and last child is seven months. It's funny that I am starting this back up in almost the same place I began last time. Night after night of interrupted sleep, baby food, nursing, and tons of laughter and tears. I am a much more relaxed mom now but I am also twice as stretched out and chubby! Oh well the price of motherhood is high but it's rewards are immeasurable. I hope you will enjoy my journey and maybe get to laugh a little too. I have a lot to say and maybe there is someone out there who will be interested in hearing it.

swing-a-roo

9-7-07
Here he's just a little older but still so much quieter then he is now. I may have mentioned this in a much earlier blog but if you have a new born a baby swing is an absolute must, they seem expensive but please splurge if you have to I actually had a little quiet time and could eat with my husband it was amazing.

Our hospital stay

Our second video from the hospital and again there is more inappropriate commentary from my husband, apparently I was too tired to realize what he was saying when he was doing it.

breast feeding

1-12-07

I had a pretty easy pregnancy, it really wasn't until the last month that I got really uncomfortable. Luckily for me my water broke three weeks early and after a few scares during and right after delivery we became parents to the most adorable baby boy I've ever seen. Seriously people stop us in the store to look at him.

Now I was determined to breast feed, but I had no clue how hard it was going to be. Even now three months later I find that I'm still a little sore. While we're talking about breast feeding I would like to bring to everyone's attention the lies that I have discovered in the books and the from the experts. "Breast fed babies don't get constipated and won't have gas" huge lie, my sweet tiny baby has man farts, I'm serious they are as loud as his fathers! "Breast fed babies won't get sick" as I write this my poor little guy has a cold that we just seem to be passing back and forth. "Your breasts will only be sore for a while, and if they hurt your doing something wrong." I have been to all different kinds of lactation specialists and while some of thier advice was good, some of it also made it worse and I still have sore nipples.

The books said that it was more convenient to breast feed, no bottles, perfect temperature every time, and your boobs are always with you. Those things are true but unless you're extremely liberated your not going to whip your boob out in the middle of steak and shake, or while your scouring the racks at your favorite department store. Therefore, I find that I'm always searching for a place to feed him, or worried that if I don't gulp down my food he'll wake up and want to eat and then I'll have to try to pay the waitress before dessert while other customers glare at me and my screaming "angel". I've fed him in the car, in bathrooms, practically anywhere you can get some privacy.

I can't just "go" anymore. My husband gets to take the youth group out for pizza but I know that my darling is going to wake up and need to eat so I have to go home to my jealous dog and empty fridge since I haven't had time to grocery shop in weeks. Don't get me wrong I know it's what's best for him and I'm still committed to the breast feeding but in my perfect picture of what being a house wife would be I never imagined that I could feel so trapped. It's winter here and there are days when I don't even go outside. There have been days when I do nothing but cry and believe me I'm counting down the days to when I can start to add in solids.