Remembering

Today is a day to remember. A day to cherish everything that we have in life: our families, our health, and our freedom. Nine years ago today we were rocked by acts of hatred and terror so extreme and violent that they will forever be burned into our minds. If you ask almost any person in our parents generation where they were when Kennedy was shot, they will remember the exact time and circumstance. It is the same for our generation and 9/11. I will always remember being 17 years old, getting ready for school in my pink bathroom and crimping my hair all while wondering why I could hear out TV on because my mom never watched TV in the mornings. I remember walking into our family room and my mom had pulled up a footstool right up in front of the screen and had a look on her face I had never seen before. I remember her looking at me and saying "We're under attack." The rest of the day is a blur, I went to school and I know that we watched the coverage all day in all of our classes, but I will never forget those first five or so minutes when I found out.

Today is the kind of day that, hopefully, reminds us all that despite our political party affiliation, our stance of SB-1070, our race or our gender, we are Americans. That makes me proud. My hope is that we can all remember that even on days that are not marked with tragedy.

On that note, all I wanted to do today was be with my family. To spend all day just marinating in all that I have: A husband who loves and supports me and makes me laugh, a son who is so beautiful and joyful there are not words to describe it, a home that is my own, food on my table, and our health. S usually works on Saturdays, but he didn't go in today and instead we woke up early and had pancakes for breakfast and then packed up the car with the three of us, a packed diaper bag, and our two dogs and headed to our community park.

It is finally cooling down enough (as in it is under 100 degrees) to be able to let L run around on the playground and really explore and practice his walking in the grass and down by the lake. I have to say, I am so proud and amazed by the leaps and bounds L has made at walking. He hardly even crawls any more.

And he's also getting old enough to really have fun playing, he found a bell that he couldn't get enough of, and he chimed in over and over again, and he was loving climbing on the slide. (We haven't quite mastered going down it yet, but we'll get there!)

And now that L is getting a little more independent we were able to take our first children, Stella and Charlie with us. They were very happy to get out of the confines of their backyard, and they even managed to make some new friends.

It was a beautiful day and amazing family time. Definitely good times had by all.

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing at home and ended the evening with bath time. And I've said it once and I'll say it again, there is nothing cuter then babies in a bathtub!

So tonight, give your loved ones and extra hug and kiss. Read your babies one more bedtime story or sing them one more lullaby. Cuddle a little longer with your hubby on the couch, and maybe even let him watch football for a little longer then normal. And remember how lucky we all are to be surrounded by the ones we love!

Family Visit

I love my family. I mean, I really, really love my family. And, unfortunately, I don't see them very often. S and I are all by our lonesomes out here in AZ, with his family in California and my parents in Nevada. My sister and her family are out in Wisconsin, my brother moves every three months (no, really. Every three months. It's for his job) and my extended family is scattered elsewhere across the country. And while I am proud of how independent S and I are, proud that we both moved away from home at 18 and have made it on our own ever since, I miss having family close by. Especially now that L is here, I wish he had his cousins around to play with, and I wish his grandparents saw more of him. And on a selfish note, sometimes it would be so nice to be able to call someone for help when S and I got overwhelmed or one of us gets sick.

But, this past week, the planets aligned and not only did I have my sister, brother-in-law and two adorable nephews in town visiting, my parents also made an appearance. And it's amazing, really, how easy it is with family. My sister and I don't see each other very often, with both of us having young families, and although my parents visit quite a bit, it's certainly nothing like having them here  full time. But when they came it was as though they were always here. We fell easily into a routine of  swimming all day and barbecuing at night while the adults sipped cold beer and wine and the 3 little boys ran and jumped and played and tumbled  at our feet. We passed around the three littles as easily as if each of them was one of our own, and laughed at stories of awful (for my mother) teenage years and dreams of future moves and job and even more babies

And, oh my goodness, L was in heaven. I mean, really, just glowing with happiness and excitement for the whole week.  His cousins are 5 and 3 and he had so much fun following them around and trying to mimic everything they did. His walking skills made leaps and bounds just over this week with him trying to keep up with them. And the two older boys had just as much fun, trying to show L their toys and tickling him until he dissolved into fits of giggles.

The downside to the whole week was that on Wednesday I was stuck down by strep throat. And what I saw struck down, I mean it. I was out of commission. 103 fever, chills and shakes and in tears because my throat hurt so bad. So for two days my L was taken in by family while I lie in bed and tried to will myself better so I wouldn't miss anymore of the visit. It was pretty miserable, but by Friday I felt well enough to drag myself out of bed and S and I took the whole fam up to the creek. I like to think of the creek as our place. That magical, wonderful place that we can take people who visit us and they are always amazed when it really is as magical and wonderful as we told them. I didn't feel great still, so I spent most of the time sitting on my beach towel and letting the warm sun soak away the last chills from my fever. But I got watch, and that was enough for me. I got to watch my sister wimp her way slowly in the water and L be the bravest boy ever by not even squealing when he was the first one in the icy water. I watched  as my older nephew hunted for minnows and my younger one played with his toy truck in the shallow pools of water that formed on the rocks.

And probably the best scene was watching L get a bottle in a way he probably never imagined, cuddle close to Gramp's chest as icy cold river water swirled around him.

It was a sad day when everyone finally left on Saturday, leaving the house and me, S and L with a slightly empty and lonely feeling. But, it made me realize something. I want this. I was so ready to leave home at 18, to strike out on my own and create my own life. And I've always been happy having my own place and space and being independent. But now I want my family around. As I watched L with his cousins and had that time with my sister that we never have, I realized I want them around. I want L to grow up with cousins to play with and ties to family and I want to strengthen those bonds with my own. striking out on my own was fun, but over the years I've come to realize that friends tend to come and go, but your family is always there, whether you always want them to be or not. And I love them, and they make me feel whole. and hopefully one day we will be in a situation where visits and barbecues and swapping babies won't be a once a year occurrence, but a daily one.

Girls Weekend

(Disclaimer:  This post was actually written about 6 days ago, but a series of life events (hello, step throat!) and me just plain being lazy has made it so I am just now actually publishing it today. Please pretend you are reading it last Wednesday to get the full effect!)

What a weekend. For the first time in almost a year (really more then a year if you count the time I was pregnant) I switched out my mommy hat for my party hat. One of my best girlfriends from college is going to be getting married and we had her bachelorette party this past weekend. To be honest, I was pretty torn about going. On one hand, I was so excited for a weekend of good, quality girl time, but on the other hand, it was my first time ever away from L. But, armed with promises from S to send me lots of pictures and call me if the slightest thing went wrong, and after smothering L with more kisses then he has ever received, I packed my bag and headed out to Scottsdale for a weekend of tanning by the pool, manicures and pedicures, fruity drinks in darkly lit bars and reminiscing about our days in college.

I'm not going to lie, on more then one occasion my eyes teared up when I called S and heard L cooing in the background, however I also knew that this was going to be some great father-son bonding time for my two favorite boys. And despite some guilt from being gone all weekend, I had a blast. It's easy to forget, in our hectic everyday schedule of diapers and bottles and cuddles and comforting an upset babe, the girl I used to be. And that girl was fun, let me tell you.  So this past weekend I threw on a bikini and laughed and gossiped (not in a malicious way, of course) and read juicy gossip magazine. We danced and sang loudly along to the songs that reminded us of the days when our biggest worries were getting to class on time in the morning and what our plans were on Friday night. We ate pizza and drank beer. We shared makeup and did smokey eyes on each other and fixed each others hair, remembering those days when we would always get ready together in our sorority house before we went out.

We told embarrassing stories about the stupid things that we did when we were younger and we re-strengthened those bonds that made us each others best friends back in the day.

There were also cute ""bachelorette party" shirts that were made for us to wear when we hit the town on Saturday night, and I traded in my usual flip flops for a killer pair of heels. I felt pretty, and young and carefree. I'm so glad I went.

We even had a chance run in with Elvis (and here I thought he was dead?) which made just about everyones night.

And on Sunday I returned home, feeling as though I had been gone for weeks on end. When L saw me he got a huge smile on his face and toddled towards me, all unsteady and adorable. I think he missed me just as much as I missed him. And I realized that although it is so much fun to escape for a weekend and pretend to be in my early twenties without a care in the world, L and S were never far from my mind. And I wouldn't change my life of mommyhood and being a wife and diapers and babies who are learning how to walk and the crankiness that comes along with teething for all the fruity drinks or days at the pool or nights out dancing in the world.

And, in other exciting news, parents and my sister and brother-in-law and their two sons are in town for the week visiting. My nephews are 3 and 5 and L is having the time of his life getting roughhouse and play with the two "big kids". Expect a big post on that with lots and lots of pictures at the end of this week!