Friend Therapy

     My friends Natalie and Susan came to visit me this past week. We had not seen each other since medical school and/or Hurricane Katrina had displaced us all from New Orleans to different parts of the country. To say it felt like no time had passed is incorrect. It felt like we were put into a time machine and were transported back to our individual teen years. Yes, we were acting so immature that my nine year old daughter said she could hardly believe we were all older than twenty.(Thanks for that Eva) What we lacked in maturity we made up for in comic therapy, DIY informative conversations,spiritual pow wows. When I last left these girls, they were fresh out of the new wife and mother stages of their lives. It was interesting to see the spectacular women they had become since we last spoke. 

Still a cheerleader

     When I first met Natalie I thought to myself, "Self, this is never going to work out." We had an age difference of almost 9years( I the older), and Natalie was an ex cheerleader. I think for most folks this goes without an explanation but I will elaborate for this blog. Natalie was and is spirited, always chipper, positive, outgoing, pretty, petite, with a head full of incredible hair and has a cheerleader accent that has been imitated to death on such movies as Bring it On and Clueless. I on the other hand, was...not a cheerleader. 

     On my first encounter with Susan, I said to myself, "Self, this is never going to work out." We too had an age difference but not as comically ridiculous as Natalie but close. And Susan gave off a very New England, Kennebunkport with the Kennedys, vibe. I also think this needs no explanation but here I go. Susan is a human gazelle. She is fine featured, alabaster skin with light blue eyes, she seems quite refined, educated and incapable of cracking anything more than a soft smile at first blush.I felt I was measuring way beneath her interest level. And in order to be her friend I needed to have good posture and a background check from the Secret Service. 

Susan's humor will leave you bellyaching

    I am glad to say that for the one and only time in my life, I was wrong. And I am even more grateful that they made the move to reach out to me.Natalie is a conundrum. She is still all of those things I mentioned but she is also deeply nurturing, spiritually enlightened and intelligent. Susan is refined and lovely and better than me still but she has one of the most wickedly dry senses of humor I have ever had the pleasure of coming in contact with. These two kept me on my toes with verbal jabs the whole weekend and I also found myself keeping a notepad filled with all the morsels of information from child rearing to home decoration that they had to offer in spades. 

     This weekend was, for me, therapeutic, cathartic and just plain fun. It also left me analyzing just how blessed I am to have more than one good friend in my life. 

    Growing up my family relationships resembled the show Game of Thrones (minus the incest) more than the Brady Bunch. Love and praise were conditional and if you made a mistake you would be punished with psychological punishment or banishment. It still exists today but now I am a grown woman able to just walk away but at those formative years I thought there were only two kinds of relationships people could be in: Defensive or Offensive. For anyone who has experienced this, you know life can be exhausting wondering every day if you are worthy enough to be in the inner circle or out, if you deserve a final rose or not. Heavenly Father first showed me unconditional love from my very select group of friends. And the first time I actually heard someone verbally tell me that they would love me with all my thorns and scars, that no matter what I did, they would be there, was from my husband's lips, shortly after we had met. It was life changing.  

     

Now I am still slow to make friends. I am leery of people's agenda's. Years of conditional affection can do that to you. But I am a fierce friend to have on your side once you cross into my circle. And most importantly, I have been told that I am fun. My friends are also quite fun as the pictures can attest too. No one takes themselves too seriously but it doesn't mean that we are not serious people. We have opinions that differ but it won't cost us our friendships. And we have love to spare for each other and our families. It is never ending as I know Heavenly Father's love is for me. 

     Now I would like to remember some of the pictures from our weekend. And thank all of my friends, near and far, for all the love and laughs that keep me going. 

Carlos loved him up the ladies.

Natalie was not pleased with her turn down service

Learning Jiu-jitsu is part of all girl's weekends

Susan was lethal. Mike has two broken ribs.

January Tales

     January has started off well. I have finally gotten my act together long enough to make a book of my blog posts thru a great gal at Picturia Press named Suzanne. You could make your own book through blurb.com but I had an issue with not knowing what I was doing so left it up to the professionals. I hope this is the first of many journals I leave for my family that can chronicle all of the mundane to the exceptional in their lives. What I hope most that they get out of my perpetual verbal diarrhea and snap shots is that their mother was proud of them, enjoyed them, and loved them more than could be measured in this world or the next. I must say that putting my thoughts to an actual page has left me with a bit of writer's block. What do I want to preserve for time and all eternity? I think I just need to get back into the mind frame that I am writing for myself and the rest will follow.

     I am still on Instagram. I love it because I can quickly take a picture, document it to my folder and input it into my computer for later cataloging with nothing more than my iPhone. The only draw back is  obviously the picture quality. I miss my camera and her impeccable results. I must learn to find a balance in "getting it documented" vs. "getting it amazing". Until then, here are a few of the pictures of my babies these last few months.

Golden

 Growing like a weed but still able to play Legos with his dad. He made Honor Roll again this quarter and is doing well in piano classes. He is surprisingly good at tether ball and Mike says he can hit three pointers all day long in the backyard, whatever that means. Funny moment with him last night in Family Home Evening:
Mike: What were the prophet Abraham's sons named Golden?
Golden: (long pause) Ughh. Willy and Tad.
Mike and I: (worried we have not been teaching the Bible too well to our kids) No Golden. Why don't you try again.
Golden: No dad. I am sure. I just did my book report on him.
Mike: (Even more confused) You did a book report at school about the prophet Abraham?
Golden: Was he a prophet too? I just thought he was the President of the United States.
So technically, he was right. Good job Go-go.

Eva

 She made Honor Roll this quarter too. I may need to hire a full time secretary to keep up with scheduling her play dates and activities. She enjoys flipping all over the house when she's not busy taking giant leaps everywhere. No wonder she comes into our room each night with a new malady to complain about. Mike and I are sure that she has so many complaints because she doesn't have a co-pay. We are trying to rectify this. She face times daily with the grandparents and texts us from the next room when she needs to tell us something urgent like, "I love you" or "I want ice cream." My mother is completely head over heels for her because she thinks she resembles me so much. I only hope I was as kind, smart and beautiful as her at that age. I have finally put my finger on describing Eva's smile: disarming.

The triplets

As a group, they love using their new words, in particular, the word "mas" (more). They use it when asking for food and sound like the seagulls in Nemo who say "mine." They follow commands extremely well. 

 "paseo" (trip)They run to the door. 
 "Zapatos" (shoes) they run to the shoe bin to get their turn.
 "outside" They run to the back door to play in the backyard. 
 "Papas" (food) They line up at their triplet feeding table to 
  eat. 
 "bath time" While repeating the words over and over they run to the bathroom and start pulling at their diapers. 
 "night night" The run to their rooms and get ready to pray. 
  They all say, "Amen" like they landed a touchdown. 

   The kids can say all of our names but Eva's. It is funny to all of us but her. I say she is like Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter; he who must not be named. They point to her when I ask where Eva is. The run to her when I tell them to go hug Eva but not one has uttered her name from their lips. We await the day with bated breath. 


Gisele

   The oldest of the trips likes to grunt and make growling noises. She has a weird habit of rocking back and forth in her crib making a "bang bang" racket we can hear throughout the house but still her sister manages to sleep through it. She has the cutest little tip toe run. And don't get me started on her hair. It is a perfect representation of who she is. Wild but still soft and lovely. She is the hard sell when it comes to strangers. I feel flattered that she prefers me and it means so much when she hugs me because she really means it. She does not cuddle often. She loves her daddy. She calls out for him like one might call a puppy. "Daddy" she yells than blows kisses while patting the side of her leg. She has a preferred white bear she takes everywhere that was given to her by President and Diana DeVries in Michigan. There are actually two white bears but I have to wash one almost every other day. She, like the other siblings, has found a new love for Baby Einstein. She gets so excited when it comes on. She yells, "Baby. Baby" as she climbs into the rocker with her bear to watch the show. Her laugh is infectious. It is impossible to be in a bad mood if you are within listening distance of it. 

Beau

   She is our little coquette. She is the most friendly of the three when it comes to strangers. I like it when she comforts her siblings. She passes her hand across their hair and says, "Oh no." She also is our tiny little bit. About three inches shorter than the other two in height but she never lets that stop her. She pats the pillow or seat next to her and tells you to come in Spanish. She is putting the most words together of the three and is presently our official door closer. Her and Gigi have learned to jump. Even though it's not very high they crouch down as if they are leaping to fly and get a millimeter off the ground. We applaud them nonetheless. She has ponytail envy when she sees Gigi's hair pulled back so I have to get the small bit of hair she has and put it in a ponytail too. You can barely see any hair left around the band. 

Carlos

   My papito is still the baby. He loves to hug and be held which is fine by me most days but since he is now the largest of the bunch, my hands do get a bit tired. He sleeps in a separate room because he wakes up with only a brief nap in the day and because I fear the noise those two girls make at night while they rock and jabber will cause him some psychological damage. He eats double fisted and stocks food into his cheeks with abandon. He likes his trucks and cars. I like to see him in his little man clothes, especially shirts with pockets. Even though they all say it, I love how Carlos asks for the "mote" or remote. He is happiest with his mommy and some piece of electronics in his hand.