Friends and Kids

I mentioned a while back that a couple of my friends were pregnant at the same time as I was with the twins.  Well this past weekend we all got together with all of our kids for the first time in a very long time.  First time with the babies, of course, but first time in a long time with all the big kids too.  

We were celebrating Keisha who had Kollyns 2 months ago.  We never got to do a sprinkle for her because she was on modified bed rest, I was knee deep in zero sleep and we all just had crazy busy things going on.  

Anyway, it is too hard for us to all get together without kids so we decided to bring the kids and let them play while we hung out, tended to babies and maybe had a little wine!  

It was so fun.  It was hectic for sure.  Between 5 of us (Sarah and Jenny don't have kids....yet!) we have 12 kids.  Tina has 3, Courtney has 2, Katie has 2, Keisha has 2 and I have 3.  The good part is that Tina has 2 older kids (11 and 9) and Courtney has one older (12) so they were able to entertain and play with the medium kids (4 of them....a 5 year old, a 4 year old and two 3 year olds) while the all the mama's took care of the five itty bitties!  

The babies screamed, the medium kids ran around the entire time and also screamed some and the older kids were a little over it.  We calmed each other's babies, we made plates and got drinks for each other's medium babies and we all told the big kids what to do!  I don't think I held my own babies much that night!  Like one big crazy family.  

My Sarah and Jenny were doing this at one point during the chaos.  

Anyway, it was special.  I am so lucky to be able to do this mom thing with these people.  We have all been friends since high school and those girls are my family.  We laugh together and we cry together.  We get advice from each other and we share the struggles.  We help each other through the hard times and we lift each other up always.   These girls are my rock, my ride or dies, my squad.  THANKFUL FOR THEM.  

Friend Babies!

First of all, today is the first day I have had any time by myself at home in, well, I seriously don't remember.  Normally I have a couple of days a week when Blakely is at school to get things done around the house or run errands.  But for about 2 months now, on those days I have had J come over and help me get organized.  For 6 hours per day.  Then the last 2 weeks Blakely has been out of school because of the weather.  Last night I asked Juanet if she could keep Blakely today since she has other kids on Fridays and, hallelujah, it isn't snowing.  She said of course and I was so happy.  Not just for some relaxing alone time for myself but my girl is in some serious need of playtime with her friends.  She is very tired of Mommy.  I really don't even know what to do with myself today and I am sure a very long nap is in my future but first things first.  BLOG!  

I wanted to share about all the friend babies in my life right now!  As you probably know if you are my FB friend or have read this blog for any length of time I have a good size group of really close girlfriends.  Most of us have been friends since middle school or before and we have added a few to the group over the years.  I can't believe how lucky I am to have such great friends.  People ask me sometimes how we have stayed friends for so long and I really don't have an answer.  We just did and I'm so thankful for each and every one of them.  

Two of them, Katie and Keisha, are pregnant also.  Katie is about 7 weeks behind me and Keisha is 12 weeks behind me.  

Casey's baby shower December 2014

December 2014.  This was not long after Keisha found out she was pregnant.  No one knew and she had just told me.  We were so excited!

Our friend Tina has a son that is about 7 months old (her SURPRISE! third baby as she had children before all of us...they are 10 and 8...quite the surprise for her).  Our other friend, Casey, just had her baby girl 2 months ago.  So that is 6 total babies all within a year!  {And not that this needs to be said but, hello, I can't wait for my Sarah to join this friend baby bunch!}

All of us (minus Keisha who met us at the race) at Sarah's bachelorette weekend in November 2013.  Riiiiiight before Tina got the surprise of her life!  

This may not really seem like a big deal but to me it totally is.  I spent a good (ridiculous) amount of time worrying that I wouldn't be able to have kids the same age as my friends or I wouldn't have babies like they would at all.  I mean I really cried about this to Lonnie many times before getting pregnant with Blakely and he obviously thought this was crazy.  

Flashback to 2010.  Lonnie and I had been trying to have a baby for almost 2 years and we were smack in the middle of month after month of failed treatment cycles.  I remember vividly when Keisha told me that she was pregnant in 2010.  I was so very shocked and so very happy for her.  She was sweet and uber sensitive to the fact that it may be hard for me.  I will never forget that.  Most people would not have even thought a thing about it.  It was definitely a hard pill to swallow and I definitely cried about it.  Not because I wasn't happy for her but because I didn't understand why that wasn't me.  I was trying so hard...she was not.  It is a weird thing to explain how you can be ecstatic for someone else's baby news and yet it also feel like a dagger to the heart.  Anyway, I spent the next months hoping that something would work for me and we would have babies close in age.

Flash forward to me getting pregnant in 2011.  I was the only one pregnant but soon after I announced my friend Katie told me she was expecting.  Blakely and her son are 5 months apart.  And Courtney also announced soon after and Blakely and her daughter are 6 months apart.  

This was my baby shower in September 2011

So all that worry and those are 4 babes in about a year and a half.  Looking back I realize how it seems ridiculous to worry about such things.  But infertility makes you crazy and so...I did.  

Now Katie, Keisha and I are working on siblings to our first born and we've added 2 new friend babies to the mix this time around.  It is crazy how life works out sometimes.

I am thankful for all of these sweet friends and SUPER HAPPY that our kids can grow up together.  Yay for friend babies!