Two weekends ago, we went to a coworker/neighbor’s house for dinner. It was so good that I’m now too embarrassed to ever invite them over. I think I’ll invite them for a BBQ in the summer; that should be easy! The next day, James left for Israel for work – and unfortunately did not bring the camera, so we have no photographs of his travels. My friend Dana came over to keep me company though – and we went out for Indian food! Yum!
Ah – and here’s a picture of my son … playing with a 25 cent pack of chalk. What you don’t see is the $3k+ play structure sitting in the corner … on top of $600 worth of bark no less. Ugh.
Then last Friday, my friend Natalie came up to visit me for what she thought would be one night. She was in the area (Reno) to give a presentation and flew in/out of SMF. But, much to her dismay (and my happiness) her flight got canceled due to the northeast snowstorm … and she ended up staying the whole weekend with us!
She came bearing flowers and a gift bag for Zachary (2 books and a Crayola Color Wonder set). Thank you! On Saturday, we went to the local outlets to shop for maternity clothes. After that, we went to Babiesrus to set up her registry. We walked around the store, scanning and chatting. I noticed a group of sales people watching us and felt a little self conscious. Then one woman walks up to us and says,”We were wondering. Which one of you is pregnant? You?” And she points to ME! Hahaha – I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. Anyway, Natalie admits she’s the one pregnant (and I’m sure she was glowing more than the average pregnant woman) – to which the saleswoman quickly back pedals and says,”Well, neither of you look pregnant.” Good thing, because I’m NOT. In my defense, Natalie, despite being 15 weeks pregnant, is still wearing non-maternity size 4 jeans. Ugh. I need to do more situps.
Anyway, after that fiasco – we went to Borders, where I bought her the book ‘Baby Bargains’. Walking around Babiesrus, I realized that so much had changed since I registered for Zachary in 2003. Version 7 wasn’t out yet, so I bought her version 6 and gave her the receipt so that she could exchange it in a few weeks. (By the way, highly recommend that book – my friend Julie gave me a copy when she found out I was pregnant with Zachary, and it was my most read baby/pregnancy related book!)
Here we are playing with Play-doh … and then Settlers. The weather was great – sunny and almost too hot at times – so we also walked the nearby park.
Natalie is super pregnant woman. Nothing stops her. She scaled this hill with Zachary, easily picks him up (28lbs), and has more energy than I do. And the day after she gets back to the east coast? She’s off to DC for a class. See you in August, Natalie!
Okay, I have to add one Zachary story. He loves the game Cariboo – it’s actually a very simple game, but somehow it holds his interest. After work, he coerced me into playing with him twice in a row. On his third request, I told him that I was bored on the game. I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling (maybe I should have been doing situps). Then I hear…”Zachary’s turn. Oh … A. A is for Aardvark. No ball. Milk turn. Oh … circle. Apples are circles. Oh, Milk got ball, Milk is too happy!” I sit up and realize that he is playing against his sippy cup of milk! Now. When I posted this story on my online mom’s group forum, someone said,”He’s so smart.” But let me ask you this – if he’s really so smart … how come Milk won? 
Maybe one day I’ll loosen the purse strings even more and actually get professional photographs taken, as opposed to digital mall pictures. haha.