The tale of our first weekend apart

so it looks like Ada and I survived our first weekend apart.

I honestly did much better than I thought I would, and, in fact, I didn't feel too miserable the entire time. Coming home I felt more freedom than I have felt in a long time because I can now know, in the back of my mind, that a weekend away is doable if needed. But as I got closer and closer to our house, I drove faster and faster, so eager to see those chubby cheeks and thighs. She and Scott were waiting for me on the porch, and the hugest grin covered her face as I got out of the car. Of course it was my imagination, but she seemed bigger somehow. We spent a lot of time cuddling last night and even today. She rarely wants to just sit in my lap and let me cuddle with her, but today she has been willing, so maybe she missed me too. There is nothing like your mama, no matter how good a dad is at parenting. We just have that instinct about our baby that no one else can have.

As for the weekend, it was so much fun. I always love wedding weekends--the whole hoopla of the bridesmaid's luncheon and rehearsal dinner and such. And Katie was such a beautiful bride!! Check out Adam and Ashley's blog for pictures. I took the camera with me, but took a total of two photos, and she didn't even have her dress on yet. Sad. The entire weekend was rather nostalgic for me since it was the wedding of a childhood friend. I don't tend to get emotional at weddings, but this one got me somewhat choked up, and I can't really put my finger on the reason why. Perhaps it is because we have been friends for so long, and as a result, our friendship has survived A LOT of junk. Mostly my junk. I was not the most unselfish highschooler, I have to say. And it was fun to catch up with my other high school friend, Courtney. She is a mama, as well, so we mainly compared notes on motherhood. That's what tends to happen when moms get together, I have discovered. Other than those two, and Katie's sisters, I really didn't know any bridesmaids, so I played third wheel to Adam and Ashley at the rehearsal dinner. Thanks, Ashley!! I so enjoyed our chat at dinner, by the way. As we always say, I wish we lived closer together so we could hang out more often.

I also loved seeing my college bffs, Amy and Lindsay. There is just nothing like hanging out with friends who allow you to be completely yourself. Amy was so cute with her tiny little baby bump. And I do mean tiny. That girl is not going to do pregnancy the way I did. She is tiny everywhere, and I would predict she will gain the exact amount of weight she is supposed to--not the 40 lbs that I gained!! I looked at the stick that said positive and gained 10 lbs on the spot, or at least that's what it felt like. When I am not in the throes of pregnancy, I am able to look at a pregnant woman and just squeal and carry on about how cute she is and how much fun it is to be pregnant, but I'm not fooling Amy, she had to endure much complaining from me when I actually was pregnant.

I rounded out the weekend by also seeing my mom, three sisters, and niece. So the weekend was filled with quite a bit of fellowship. Because I live in a family that consists of 5 women, each blessed with strong emotions in different ways, we didn't escape the weekend without some drama--one being that the older of my younger sisters threw up on her black diamond formal date (not because of drunkenness, but instead, the result of a combo of a migraine and a bumpy bus ride). Thankfully, her date was quite the gentleman and totally took care of her and acted as if it was no big deal.

To top it all off--I was able to eat meals from both Big Blue and Amsterdam.

To me, Auburn is a little bit like Heaven on Earth, so you throw in all of my favorite people (minus a few--mainly Scott and Ada) and you get an almost perfect weekend.