Girls Night Out

While on a bonus visit to my folks (Kevin had a conference in Houston all week), I got some grown up time. These are some of the mommies from the playgroup we were a part of when we still lived "down south". This is one super special playgroup. The original group met in childbirth class 5 years ago, when we were all preggo with our first babies. Those babies are about to turn 5. Boohoo! All the babies were due over about a two month time frame. Emma was first on March 6, and Ben was last on April 22 with lots of babies in between (a few even have the same birthday). When Beth was about 3 weeks old, we had out first gathering. We were all so lost at this motherhood thing, struggling with sleepless night, squishy bodies, nursing issues and then those nutty hormones. It was an akward meeting, but we formed the best, lasting friendships, helping each other with ideas and encouragement.

We met every week. Eventually, the babies even played with each other. Beth was known for crawling toward the boys and non-chalantly pulling their hair.

Over time, we added friends with babies. Some stopped coming because they went back to work. The original group mostly stayed together. We would have some gatherings so the daddies could be included too- pool party in June, Halloween party, Chirstmas party. We had a big celebration for their first birthday. This is the post-cupcake picture.

Another year gone by, we don't meet as often. Some have added baby #2. One family moved away (though mom was visiting without her kiddo for the party). My how they've changed!

Over the next year, 2 more families moved away, including us, and a few more familes joined in. We came to town to visit for party #3 but apparently I don't have pictures on the computer. We didn't make it into town for #4. Party #5 will be postponed until summer, and we'll make that one! It's amazing to see how much the kids have grown and changed over the years. So far, only Angie has added a baby #3.

Back to my night out with the girls. See what a treasure to spend time with these dear friends? We tried out some bar and grill place. Certainly bar food, but good drinks and great company. We talked and laughed for 3 hours. We all commented how nice it was to not have to cut up food or help. We just got to be ourselves for a while. After a few beers, Christie got the hiccups. Ruthann convinced her to stand against a wall and bed over to tie her shoes to make these hiccups go away. We laughed so hard! I tried to get a picture, but was laughing too hard. Then, Emily had her say "watermelon, watermelon, watermelon". I think she did something else to. So, one of those tricks worked, we're just not sure which one.