Baby Buddies
Disclaimer: this is a wittle bit of a longer post. Sorry. Since I was MIA for so long, I missed some things I wished I'd have blog about...so I'm kinda lopping them all into this post. There are pictures...many pictures. So if nothing else, look at those.
I have come to realize one thing: baby friends are THE BEST. They are so awesome in so many ways: first, since we only have Patrick, he has limited interactions with other little humans. He has no cousins (yet...baby girl cousin Mooney is set to arrive at the end of March! **squeal!** I'm really excited about that), so the instant-family connection isn't there...yet (although very VERY soon it will be!). And we do have quite a few friends with little ones, but we don't get to see them as often as we'd like, thanks to the craziness of work and general life busyness. So, when we DO get to have some playtime or go somewhere where the babies are welcome, mama here gets way excited to give the little man some baby interaction time AND mama gets some adult time to talk with others about babies and all of the amazing chaos that brings.
We have been so fortunate to be able to meet up with a lot of our little human buddies from out of town since Patrick was born. I am sooooo thankful for that. Many of these girlfriends I have reconnected with since having Patrick--and it's been awesome. I really think some dormant friendships have been rekindled and this makes me sooooo happy. I don't see these friendships fading anytime soon, since we have so much to talk about with our kiddos being so close in age! And it's great to be able to text any one of them with a story, question, TMI info (which once you have a kid nothing is TMI anymore), or just to chat. 'Tis awesome. Tiff, Chels, Lauren: if you're reading this, I love you. Don't go away pleasssssseeeeee!
We have also had some play dates with our in-town friends with kids too, which has been awesome, because since Patrick isn't in daycare with other little ones he doesn't get that daily socialization with babies that other kids in daycare do. So, despite the craziness of life and busy schedules, we try and do as many baby playdates as we can.
This past weekend my friend Chelsea came in town for her mid-winter break to visit friends and family, and introduce them to her adorable little lady Lily. Chelsea and I go way back: we actually played softball together when we were 9, went to high school together, and have since re-connected over babies and pumping and all that stuff that goes with that! I'm so happy that we have--Chelsea is an awesome gal and I really wish she lived closer. Until she decides to move back (I can hope, right?!), we will continue to chat via text, instagram, and Facebook--cause social media seems to be both of our passions :) Anyways, so Chelsea came in town and we headed over to her parents' house to meet Lily and catch up! It was great. It was so nice to just be able to chit chat over mommy stuff for a while and watch Lily and Patrick (who are about 5 months apart) interact. I LOVE watching Patrick interact with other kids--again, not enough little human time for him, so when he does get it, I'm like a seagull waiting for a fish with my mouth gapped open and eyes fixed on him.
Since I just started blogging back here again, I want to post some other baby buddy pics from the past 9 months. Like I said before, we have been super fortunate to meet up with our out of town friends when they've come to STL and get Patrick some little human interaction time. Our first meet-up was way back in June--my old college softball buddy Lauren and her hubby came in town for a wedding and brought their little ham, Camden! Patrick and Camden got to meet for this first time and it was great--they both totally wore their Cardinals gear too. So awesome.
We actually got to visit with Lauren and Cam AGAIN (cue heart happiness!) in December when they were in town for Christmas. It was sooooo crazy to see how much the boys had grown in a few months. Cam and Patrick really loved hanging with each other again, and so did their mamas.
Back in November, another college softball buddy Tiff came in town for a wedding with her fam, and (squeal!!!) Patrick and Huck got to meet for the first time. Tiff and I are both cloth diaper users (although Tiff takes the gold for this: she washes them HERSELF (mom of the year goes to her, by the way)--while we use a service), so we are always talking about that and drooling over the newest and cutest diaper covers. Anyways, Huck and Patrick got to go to lunch together and have some boy time on the couch. It was amazing. I really really hope we can head up to Michigan to visit them this summer! Our boys would both be a year and I can just imagine how fun it would be with two little boys in gorgeous Michigan (and their newly renovated farm house!!). I am really REALLY going to try and make this happen.
One of my dearest and oldest friends Regan has two kids, one who is just about 7 weeks older than Patrick! Wesley and Patrick will actually be in the same grade and go to the same schools from elementary to high school. This makes this mama soooo happy--cause Regan and I went to the same schools since we were 5! Regan lives super close now that we moved, and we have really tried to get our kiddos together for some playdates. Again, we haven't probably done as many of these as we could--but life again gets in the way. Hoping this summer we can be walking buddies and playground buddies and our kids will be great buddies too.
Another good, long-time friend Courtney, who just had her second kid James (check out his newborn pics here from my photography blog), has a little girl who is 2 years older than Patrick. Even though Patrick is kinda splat in the middle of Courtney's two kids, I hope and pray they grow up to be good friends just as Courtney, her siblings, and I are! We all are different ages, but it didn't stop us from playing together since we were 6 years old. Patrick has already decided that he's gonna show James the ropes of how to be a cool baby :)
Another softball buddy Jess had her little guy Wyatt about 8 weeks before we had Patrick. Both of us didn't find out what we were having until they were born, and both of us have been blessed with giant little boys! We both have bruisers for sons--they both like to wear clothes meant for kids twice (or three times!) their age...and it's great to have another person to vent about not being able to find cute baby clothes (or "My First _____" outfits) in 24 month sizes.
Over Christmas break we got to meet up with some other high school buddies that I've reconnected with since we are mamas now. Unfortunately (gasp! can you believe this??!!) I didn't snap any pics of our meet ups, but still wanted to give a shout out to Jess and little Wyatt and Ellen and little Will for meeting up with us and having some baby buddy time. When you guys are in town next (or Ellen, when you MOVE back hopefully!!) we MUST get together again, okay?
Sorry for the super long post...I just love baby buddies. As much as I wish that each and every one of my friends lived within a mile of me, I know that's not a reality. So until that wish happens, I'll continue to savor each and every one of our baby buddy moments and playdates.
I have come to realize one thing: baby friends are THE BEST. They are so awesome in so many ways: first, since we only have Patrick, he has limited interactions with other little humans. He has no cousins (yet...baby girl cousin Mooney is set to arrive at the end of March! **squeal!** I'm really excited about that), so the instant-family connection isn't there...yet (although very VERY soon it will be!). And we do have quite a few friends with little ones, but we don't get to see them as often as we'd like, thanks to the craziness of work and general life busyness. So, when we DO get to have some playtime or go somewhere where the babies are welcome, mama here gets way excited to give the little man some baby interaction time AND mama gets some adult time to talk with others about babies and all of the amazing chaos that brings.
We have been so fortunate to be able to meet up with a lot of our little human buddies from out of town since Patrick was born. I am sooooo thankful for that. Many of these girlfriends I have reconnected with since having Patrick--and it's been awesome. I really think some dormant friendships have been rekindled and this makes me sooooo happy. I don't see these friendships fading anytime soon, since we have so much to talk about with our kiddos being so close in age! And it's great to be able to text any one of them with a story, question, TMI info (which once you have a kid nothing is TMI anymore), or just to chat. 'Tis awesome. Tiff, Chels, Lauren: if you're reading this, I love you. Don't go away pleasssssseeeeee!
We have also had some play dates with our in-town friends with kids too, which has been awesome, because since Patrick isn't in daycare with other little ones he doesn't get that daily socialization with babies that other kids in daycare do. So, despite the craziness of life and busy schedules, we try and do as many baby playdates as we can.
This past weekend my friend Chelsea came in town for her mid-winter break to visit friends and family, and introduce them to her adorable little lady Lily. Chelsea and I go way back: we actually played softball together when we were 9, went to high school together, and have since re-connected over babies and pumping and all that stuff that goes with that! I'm so happy that we have--Chelsea is an awesome gal and I really wish she lived closer. Until she decides to move back (I can hope, right?!), we will continue to chat via text, instagram, and Facebook--cause social media seems to be both of our passions :) Anyways, so Chelsea came in town and we headed over to her parents' house to meet Lily and catch up! It was great. It was so nice to just be able to chit chat over mommy stuff for a while and watch Lily and Patrick (who are about 5 months apart) interact. I LOVE watching Patrick interact with other kids--again, not enough little human time for him, so when he does get it, I'm like a seagull waiting for a fish with my mouth gapped open and eyes fixed on him.
Since I just started blogging back here again, I want to post some other baby buddy pics from the past 9 months. Like I said before, we have been super fortunate to meet up with our out of town friends when they've come to STL and get Patrick some little human interaction time. Our first meet-up was way back in June--my old college softball buddy Lauren and her hubby came in town for a wedding and brought their little ham, Camden! Patrick and Camden got to meet for this first time and it was great--they both totally wore their Cardinals gear too. So awesome.
We actually got to visit with Lauren and Cam AGAIN (cue heart happiness!) in December when they were in town for Christmas. It was sooooo crazy to see how much the boys had grown in a few months. Cam and Patrick really loved hanging with each other again, and so did their mamas.
Back in November, another college softball buddy Tiff came in town for a wedding with her fam, and (squeal!!!) Patrick and Huck got to meet for the first time. Tiff and I are both cloth diaper users (although Tiff takes the gold for this: she washes them HERSELF (mom of the year goes to her, by the way)--while we use a service), so we are always talking about that and drooling over the newest and cutest diaper covers. Anyways, Huck and Patrick got to go to lunch together and have some boy time on the couch. It was amazing. I really really hope we can head up to Michigan to visit them this summer! Our boys would both be a year and I can just imagine how fun it would be with two little boys in gorgeous Michigan (and their newly renovated farm house!!). I am really REALLY going to try and make this happen.
One of my dearest and oldest friends Regan has two kids, one who is just about 7 weeks older than Patrick! Wesley and Patrick will actually be in the same grade and go to the same schools from elementary to high school. This makes this mama soooo happy--cause Regan and I went to the same schools since we were 5! Regan lives super close now that we moved, and we have really tried to get our kiddos together for some playdates. Again, we haven't probably done as many of these as we could--but life again gets in the way. Hoping this summer we can be walking buddies and playground buddies and our kids will be great buddies too.
Another good, long-time friend Courtney, who just had her second kid James (check out his newborn pics here from my photography blog), has a little girl who is 2 years older than Patrick. Even though Patrick is kinda splat in the middle of Courtney's two kids, I hope and pray they grow up to be good friends just as Courtney, her siblings, and I are! We all are different ages, but it didn't stop us from playing together since we were 6 years old. Patrick has already decided that he's gonna show James the ropes of how to be a cool baby :)
Another softball buddy Jess had her little guy Wyatt about 8 weeks before we had Patrick. Both of us didn't find out what we were having until they were born, and both of us have been blessed with giant little boys! We both have bruisers for sons--they both like to wear clothes meant for kids twice (or three times!) their age...and it's great to have another person to vent about not being able to find cute baby clothes (or "My First _____" outfits) in 24 month sizes.
Another dear friend Robyn (who is the owner over at TinySuperheroes--which, if you haven't checked out, DO THIS NOW. It will amaze you.) who lives wayyyyy too far away in Seattle is another mama friend that I couldn't live without. Although we don't talk nearly as much as we'd both like, when we do it's like it hasn't been any time at all. Robyn has a little guy Rory, who's about a year and a half older than Patrick (she also has baby boy #2 on the way coming in April! Squeallll! More babies!!! Yay!!!) Rory actually got to meet Patrick when Patrick was just a teeny 10lb newborn! I hope we can meet up again soooooooon and have our boys play with each other. She's another one I wished lived closer...until then, we stay connected via social media and iMessage.
I have another friend Mary Pat--who actually use to babysit me! haha!--who has a little guy about a year and a half older than Patrick, named Mikey. We have been trying to get our boys together now that Patrick is older and can actually "play." She's got another little one coming in early July (which, side note, I can't wait to take newborn pics of!!!) so that'll be fun having another little guy or gal to add to our playdates.
Sorry for the super long post...I just love baby buddies. As much as I wish that each and every one of my friends lived within a mile of me, I know that's not a reality. So until that wish happens, I'll continue to savor each and every one of our baby buddy moments and playdates.
