Where to Start?

If you have followed my blog for long you know that I've had a long and tumultuous journey with "mommy friends". I had met a lot of women (hmm. . not sure that word appropriately describes some of them) through my pregnancy and during Brooklyn's baby years on a now defunct website called American Baby. Over the years of posting on the message board I found that some of these people that lived in my computer were causing more drama in my life than any of my real life friends would cause. Opinions galore . . . cat fights extreme. . . and several people who genuinely needed (and still need to) log off their computers, focus on their kids and get some real life friends.

Sometime last year through a series of events that don't deserve to be documented I realized that the time had come to step away from any of those "women" who provided no value to my life (other than drama). I have no need for additional drama in my life. I have an awesome family, a precious and extremely bright daughter (who was formula fed. . . gasp!), and the type of friends that would literally drop EVERYTHING to come running when I needed them. Why keep people in my life who add nothing to my beautiful life?

That being said, I do have some amazing friends that were made via the "online experience". I still have a great friendship with the girls who founded a group called the "4 Hot Mamas". In 2005 four of us got pregnant at approximately the same time and formed what can best be called a support group that lasted through the duration of our pregnancies and from that point onward - two of those girls remain dear friends to me and the third is a beautiful angel in Heaven, having lost her battle to cancer shortly after the premature birth of her third child. Those Original Hot Mamas will always have a dear and treasured place in my heart. They got me through some lonely nights while Matt was working and some scary times when we thought we were losing the pregnancy. Along the way I added some treasured few other friends . . some of which I didn't realize how truly valuable they were at the time. . . but now I love having them on my Facebook page. . .looking at pictures of their beautiful children and sharing mommy joy moments together. We haven't always seen eye to eye on parenting strategies . . but I'm not sure many new mommies do. . . but now I know them well enough to treasure our differences.

After all that, there is one friend that I met during the journey that I simply know God put in my life because it made sense. A friend I never would have met in the "real world" . . yet is so freakishly similar to me that it's startling at times. You've all heard me talk about Kat / Kathleen / Katmandoo if you've been following my blog for long. Kat and I met shortly after I joined American Baby in 2005. . . she had a "Tall Chicks Rule" blinky that caught my eye, I messaged her to ask her if I could "steal" her blinky (some of the girls were VERY sensitive about their precious blinkies) and she responded saying "yes" and a friendship bloomed from there. We have been friends through the great times and through the tough times. . . we've shared times of tears. . .and times that we laugh so hard we pee our pants. . sometimes within seconds of eachother. She has become friends with some of my close friends and family via FB and blogging. . . and my friends and family love her as much as I do.

However, through the 5 1/2 years that we have known eachother we never had met face-to-face until late April when I traveled to Orlando for a conference for work. We had a great dinner and a great evening of wine, laughter, and falling asleep mid sentence. Perhaps more importantly I finally got to meet her precious little girl who has been a hope in all of our hearts for YEARS before she was on earth. God knew what he was doing with that little princess. . that's for sure!

So. . .all of this brings me to the long awaited trip that we had planned for our families to finally meet. On May 8th Matt, Brooklyn, and I boarded an airplane and headed towards the wonderful land of Mickey, Minnie, and most importantly. . Katmandoo. I am planning to break the trip up into sections based on days. . because it's just far too much excitement to cram into one measly blog post :)

And so. . . the story begins. . . .

We arrived in Orlando late on Saturday evening, got our luggage, and made it out side in perfect timing for Kathleen to pull up to pick us up. Hugs were shared all around and we journeyed to the Ale House near Kathleen's house to meet up with Eric and Whitney. Brooklyn and Whitney jabbered away during dinner and we enjoyed a yummy meal before heading to their house to settle in for the night.

On Sunday (Mother's Day) we woke up and eased into the day. We had Downtown Disney on the agenda with a super special trip to Bibiddi Bobbidi Boutique for Miss Brooklyn Marie. Unfortunately Whitney isn't old enough to partake in the fun. . .this time. I expect she'll get her turn in the future. . .although Brooklyn may not, it's not exactly a cheap venture :) But. . what is at Disney? :) Brooklyn chose to be beautified as Rapunzel and enjoyed the day showing the world how truly princesslike she could be (although her behavior wasn't in complete princess-like alignment). Brooklyn even got a fun photo session (with guest star Whitney). We quickly moved over to T Rex for a yummy lunch . . . yummy food with a fun dino show for the kiddos. Brooklyn had a great time.

If you cannot tell in this picture, she has tears in her eyes because the lady was pulling her hair a bit too tonight.  My brave little girl said nothing. .but secretly wiped away tears from her pretty little eyes.

Feeling better - the tight pony taill pulling is over!

Pretty little nails. . . such a princess!

Sparkle Dust

She takes my breath away!  My pretty little girl

Mommy and Brooklyn

Katmandoo. . Love her!

After lunch we took in some fun shopping and enjoyed a ride on the carousel. The girls enjoyed every minute of their horsey ride. .but I think Kat and I had the most enjoyable seat on the carousel. . . seated on a bench behind the girls and laughing heartily at some of our surroundings. The best thing about our friendship is that we both think we're hilarious. . . and even if nobody else agrees, it doesn't really matter to us.

After the day at Downtown Disney we headed back to Kat and Eric's for some yummy chinese and an evening filled with more laughs. The little girls retired to their sweet beds and we geared up for some excitement at the beach the next morning. Time to get some sun on our Illinois skin!

 

Love this picture - such a precious little girl!