Catching Up With the Girls:)

I went back to Independence over the weekend because my friend Amy had a baby shower on Sunday afternoon. My parents were also having a family get-together with my dad's siblings and their wives and they wanted to show off Ayden. I also got to see my cousin Kathy who is pregnant with her second and has a little boy named Wyatt who is almost 2 and about 4 months older than Ayden. It was interesting seeing the differences and similarities in the two boys. I think Ayden has a bit of social anxiety because he is pretty quiet, kind of clingy, and isn't his normal rambunctious self when he is around large groups of people he doesn't know. I don't blame him though. After everyone left and it was just grandma, grandpa, me, Aunt Angie and Uncle Jeff he was the Ayden I know and love:) My parents were nice enough to babysit Ayden while my sister and I went shopping and out to eat that evening. It was SO nice to be able to shop without the little guy in tow. Too bad I didn't find anything for me though, but a few things for Ayden for next fall. It was nice not having to rush though and to stop and look at the book aisle in Target for more than 1 quick minute.

Amy's shower was a lot of fun. It's her first baby and she's having a little boy. She is so excited and it made me remember how excited I was when pregnant with Ayden. She got so many nice gifts and watching her open all the cute tiny baby stuff made me anxious to have another little one. Too bad Ayden isn't anywhere near being potty-trained. That would seal the deal if that was the case.

I had a great time catching up with my girlfriends from high school. Even though a few of us got together at Christmas it seemed like it had been longer than that. I'm not usually much of a gossiper, but I think it's different when you are hanging out with friends you have known since elementary school and grown up with. We all know so many of the same people and catch each other up on what's going on with other people we went to school with or know by living in the same town. It's also so much fun now since a lot of us have little ones and there are always funny stories to share. Now the little ones can play together too. We all still live in Iowa with the exception of Jaci, but we are all kind of spread out so it's hard to get everyone together often. Getting together with them makes me SO happy I moved back to Iowa. I know I missed out on a lot of gatherings and weddings when I lived in Germany, and moving to DC was a little better, but still pretty far. I always feel that I can totally be myself around them and we have known each other for so long that we all have a history together that you don't have with other "newer" friends. I miss my girls and am glad for any opportunity to catch up. I also can't wait to meet Amy's little boy soon:)

I did see two movies this weekend. One was pretty good and one was not. The good one was called "Righteous Kill" with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. It's about two cops in the NYPD who are trying to solve a case about a serial killer who is killing criminals. The one that wasn't very good was called "My Best Friend's Girl." Maybe I wasn't in the right mood to watch it, but I wasn't impressed. It's about this guy who has a side-business: men whose women have dumped them hire Tank to take their ex-girlfriends out on the date from Hell, to drive the women back into their old boyfriends' arms. He does horrible things like takes them to restaurants where the food is so bad they get sick, says wildly inappropriate things, throws up on them, takes his date to a strip club and hits on the stripper, etc. There are some funny parts, but the things he did were pretty offensive.

Well, that is all for now. I'm off to bed!