We trekked out to Dev's beautiful new house in the Valley, despite evil mid-week traffic. The unofficial theme of the evening was eating, natch. Most of our back and forth emails, once we had decided on the date, were about food. We had all of our cravings represented - yummy baked mac n cheese, bread, more cheese, fruit, salad (threw that in so we could pretend to be healthy), and more bagels, cream cheese and veggies. Are you sensing a theme here? Life is all about carbs and cheese, period.
When we weren't eating, we talked about pregnancy, giving birth and parenting. It was fascinating to hear about the different journeys we've all been on, how we got to where we were, and how we've been navigating this experience. We shared meaningful objects, songs, books, Torah, and laughed a lot. As deep as the conversation got at times, we still talked about boobs...and then we ate some more. We swapped maternity clothes - I contributed a couple shirts and a dress, and scored a comfy summer denim skirt in return. Everyone was a winner!
What I appreciated most about this evening was the opportunity to be with other women...with NO partners or children or other distractions. I realized what a rarity it is to have time like this with my friends. Even when I'm with girlfriends now, I'm usually only half paying attention as I'm trying to make sure Ivy is within eyesight. And when we see each other at IKAR, we're usually distracted by other friends and, you know, praying and stuff. So this was a lovely friends-only, quiet, and meaningful night. We're planning to do it again soon, hopefully before Zuzana gives birth in the next month!
Not to be outdone, Mike is organizing Dudes and Diana, where they will likely NOT talk about their feelings or talk Torah or anything like that, but will drink beer and play video games and bust each other's balls. And he decided it would be at Candice and Diana's house (which is awesome) so he could order Candice to get in the kitchen and cook barefoot and pregnant. She's a really great cook, so I sorta don't blame him for wanting this. Apparently the email thread that has been going around is hilarious. If only I could be a fly on the wall...
And in other news, Ivy had her 2-year check up the other day. She's 29.3 lbs, 34.5" tall, and a great talker (really, I had no idea!). I had been trying to prep her by getting her pumped - "Yay! We're going to see Dr. Pang!" So all morning she was saying "We go to Dr. Paint?" and was excited to get there...until they called us back. Then she freaked. She wasn't even amused by Dr. Pang's Elmo on her stethoscope. And at one point she cried "I wanna go to Dr. Paint!" Everything checked out though - her pigeon toes are nothing to worry about yet (phew!) and she's in overall great shape. And when Dr. Pang got up to leave Ivy ran after her and slammed the door. Guess that's how she felt about that!
This weekend is Ivy's birthday party...we'll be taking over the backyard with cupcakes, a pinata, and other 2-year old amusements. I have a lot of cooking and baking to do, so stay tuned for a recap and pictures.
Speaking of pics, check out this score:
We got this for FREE from one of Mike's coworkers whose kids have long outgrown it. Hooray for recycling expensive baby products!
3 comments:
I must tell you that having a good moms' group is going to be one of the very most valuable things you ever do. My moms' group started about 6 years ago when my 2nd daughter was in daycare and this group of women has been the most incredible resource for each other throughout the years. We are the ones who help cut and pass out slices of cake at lightning speed at each other’s kids birthday parties so the mom can actually enjoy the moment with their own kid. We share hours of laughter and lots of wine while talking about EVERYTHING – schools, work, family, love, husbands, sex, movies, birthday party ideas and, of course, kids (How do you get the little one to stop hitting the big one? How did you get them to stop biting their nails? How did you get them to eat veggies? How do you tell them to handle the bully at school? How do you tell them about how babies are made and sex? How do you tell them about tampons? How do you tell them about drugs? How do you explain how to convert a fraction to a decimal? Oh yes, the questions they ask get harder and harder!). We are the ones who are really there when the shit hits the fan – like when a divorce happens. (I hope that never happens to anyone in your group, but we’ve had a few in ours and while it’s been very intense, I know that my friends who went through it – and are still going through it – depend on the strength, love and support from “the moms” more than anything.) This is who we turn to because there is no judgment from the group. Only love, strength and support.
We tried to do Moms' Night every month - and while we never managed to make that happen, we still do it every 3-4 months (and none of us have been at the same daycare or school for over 2 years and live everywhere from Santa Monica to Encino and even North Carolina!) AND every year we go for Moms' Weekend Away which has become our guiding light and spiritual grounding each year. (This past year, we rented this gorgeous, gigantic house on a vineyard in Santa Ynez and spent the weekend drinking countless bottles of wine - and some really good tequilla - and just relaxing the way you just can't when your kids - and your spouse - are within a 1-hour drive from you.)
Five years from now, when you are all there for each other for all the amazingly wonderful and completely shitty things that go on in life, you will see that you will turn to those women (and they to you) for the love, strength and support you need to be the awesome mom (and wife and person) you are and because you're all going through it all at the same time together, you will have a bond with them that goes deep into your soul. (Can you tell how much I love my moms' group?) So GOOD FOR YOU for starting your Gorgeous Fatties group! Just be sure to change the name come the new year!! ;-)
P.S. NICE SCORE on the stroller!! We also got our double stroller as a hand-me-down from my sister and I gladly passed it on again when we were done with it. So I second your enthusiasm on recycling that expensive (and even the not-so-expensive) stuff!
The Dr. Paint this is laugh out loud awesome! Looking forward to celebrating this weekend, regardless of pinata style!
It was great to spend an evening with you!!
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