Jude, Viv and I got to hang out with my friend Krysta and her two boys Jackson and Gavin today- always a treat. I'm happy to have a girlfriend who not only has a new baby so close in age to my own, but who also has a rowdy first born little boy (Jackson is 4) to boot... with one additional bonus: Krysta and I were both pregnant with Viv and Gavin at the same time. What a relief to have been pregnant- only one month apart- with a friend! I wish every woman I know this kind of luck of the draw. When I was pregnant with Jude, I was all by myself. The first of my closest friends to have a baby- which was tough.
You not only learn a lot about yourself, but you learn a lot about the people you surround yourself with and the relationships you've invested in when you are pregnant alone. It's hard and sad and difficult, because suddenly you find yourself on a totally different page than friends who can't understand where you're coming from anymore, or not only do they not understand, they simply just don't care enough to even try to appreciate it. People get weeded out of your life- it has to be done- in order for you to continue to grow and flourish. Those precious few friends who stick around and stay there for you, even when they can't relate in that way, are the friends you know you will have for forever. The others- who get weirded out by your "condition" and lifestyle adjustments (particularly if you had, um, a WILD streak in you before getting knocked up) become a big fat waste of time and aren't worth the effort.
The good news is that after the first baby, you more than likely make friends with other women who have also had babies, and gain a whole new group of friends to relate to, or you begin to relate to people you were already acquainted with on a whole new level, and in turn, establish new friendships. When this happens, baby number two has a nicely established network of friends they are born into. Two and a half years after having Jude, I now have the benefit of this kind of social treasury and I am so SO incredibly thankful for it.
Anyways, enough with the rambling. It's going to be fun to watch the two of these babies grow up together. First come the pictures of them slumped together like little potatoes on the couch, then comes the prom pictures. I can see it now- Krysta and I smothering the two of them with our cameras, them rolling their eyes at us, ready to get out the door to get into the kind of teenage trouble that will most likely get them grounded (or since they are our children, possibly arrested), and Taylor a nervous wreck of a dad- because he went to high school with Krysta and knows her all too well. If these two babies are anything like their mothers, our days are numbered.
Vivienne Alice at 2 months and Gavin Rush (doesn't that name just scream ROCKSTAR? I think so) at 3 months
Here's Jude and Jackson giving their babies some love. They took a brief break from extreme car racing, crashing and throwing to pose with them.
It took about 100 photos to get this one perfect shot. Never thought I would live to see the day that I would become a blithering, high pitched voiced baby-talking mom throwing out all the stops to get a gang of rug rats to look at me so I can get just ONE damn picture where they are all doing what I want at the same time... but TA DA! Here I am. I'm not as good at it as Krysta, who would do a fine job working at the Picture People, or even better, as one of Santa's helpers at the mall during Christmas- you know, the one who tries to get screaming, crying children to smile at the camera while they are poised and miserable/terrified, sitting on Santa's lap.
Here we are at her baby shower- I think I was like 31 weeks pregnant and she was probably around 35 weeks (something like that). Our first babies were relatively average, and then these second babies wound up being relatively huge- for us anyways. Both Viv and Gavin are in the 95th percentile, which blows my mind. We're both relatively small chicks- about 5'3- and we both had big babies- Viv right under 9 lbs. and Gavin weighing in at 9 lbs., if not a little bigger- and pushed them out into the world the old fashioned way. I know this happens all the time- small girls delivering big babies- but in my world and our circumstances, it seems like a pretty big deal. It was relieving for us to have bigger babies. I think it explains how we got so huge around the end. I knew it couldn't have been the ice cream and cupcakes.
I blame the baby!
Very distinct personalities, I'm seeing with these two. Laid back Miss Viv and Mr. Outgoing Gavin.
You think Gavin gets his picture taken a lot? SO handsome. The camera loves him!
"Dude, you're like totally cramping the paci action I've got going on over here!"
