HoboBaby

The day after Thanksgiving we drove to Austin and had lunch with a friend of mine I haven’t seen in 11 years, back from my days in the MN.  Here we are at my 17th birthday party she threw for me, sometime after midnight given the date on the photo.  The other photos from the party all say 4/18/98, which is only significant since that is the day the Hobo was born 10 years later.  Prophetic?  Probably not, but cool.

And no, I can’t believe I am posting this picture either because
    a) check out the metal mouth (5-1/2 YEARS of metal mouth mind you)  
    b) we look like infants and  
    c) it is yet another example of why I should never EVER take self portraits

Unfortunately there are a lot of photos like this, most of which have been burned if you know what’s good for you Katie Richey!)

Anyway Stef’s daughter is 3 months younger than Avelyn, and they were clearly meant to live closer together so they could be BFF’s and scream their little heads off with each other everyday. The introductions were a little rocky, with Avelyn refusing to speak to anyone or sit further than 1 inch away from me at the table.  I also suspect I’m not the only one who noticed her penchant for scowls and silence when she’s uncomfortable.  Who knew it was genetic? 

Once lunch was over and we got the girls to an unoccupied room in the restaurant they discovered they could run free and really hit it off.  And by hit it off I mean Avelyn decided that not only was running around really-super-duper-freaking-cool but running around with her mouth wide open screaming was FREAKING AWESOOOOOOOOOOME!  Like a natural born big sister (and don’t read too much into that statement; it’s not ANYTIME SOON) she set the example for her little friend who quickly followed suit. 

It turned out to be pretty cold in Austin that day and I started to wish I had worn something warmer than my old maternity sweater and my black leggings (Of which I am starting to think make me look fat.  Still considering this prospect).  Regardless of the cool temps, we felt it would be in the best interest of restaurant go-ers everywhere to take the screaming girls outside, where they proceeded to do two things very well:

One: look ohmygod-ohmygod-ohmygod-SO-CUTE!

And two: continue to run around screaming.

I had such a good time catching up with an old friend.  It was loads of fun to see Stefany again and introduce our husbands and A-dorable baby girls.  How lucky am I to have friends that would drive 200 miles to have lunch with me(!) after they already had 2,100 miles under their belt that trip.  (Really lucky for me is that I like her, as it is probably true that I might know several people who would do that, but not necessarily many that I like.  But anywho…)

(This picture has nothing to do with anything I’m typing, I just love it. Isn’t she a doll?)

After lunch I rounded out the afternoon with a genius plan I’d cooked up months ago when Stef told me they were coming to Texas.  There is an Ikea just north of Austin and we would just happen to be 15 minutes away the day after Thanksgiving.  SCORE!  I spent too much money and didn’t get nearly enough stuff but now I have an excuse to troll through my thousands of pictures on my computer and print out some good ones to be framed.  I also purchased a set of glass jars that I thought would make great craft supply organizers.  I was right.  AND I ONLY BOUGHT ONE FOUR-PACK.  WHAT WAS I THINKING?!  I could have bought 100 and found uses for all of them!  Now I have to make a point to drive back up there.  Ohhhhhh noooooo. 

So, that was my day after Thanksgiving.  And it was great.  And free of stress.  And to top it off I didn’t have to work that night.  What a difference a decade makes.