the one with friends

As some of you may know, my good friend Sondra (who I met through this very blog) moved in with us at the beginning of this year. She needed a place to stay and we offered. Nothing much to think about there. She fit in easily with my goofy family and it really was effortless having her around. Today she moved out to start a new adventure in Nashville. I’m excited for her but so sad for us, specifically me. I will miss having my friend around.

We’ve been talking about having her guest post on my blog since she moved in. Before she left she emailed me her guest entry with a note that said I shouldn’t read it until she left. (She was right; I sobbed like a baby). Here is her beautifully written entry:

I’ve been telling Kimberly for months now that I would write a guest post for her blog, and it hasn’t happened until now: hours before my departure. I’ve spent the last hour reading through Kimberly’s old blog posts, smiling and laughing… and yes, crying. I started out by reading the first post I ever commented on, which was in May 2005. Yep, this month is our five-year friendiversary. Five years!! The crazy thing is, I didn’t come out here and meet her in person until August 2008, but I honestly feel like I have known her (and Josh) (and her parents) for my whole life. I remember how nervous I was to meet her, and how excited I was to turn on to her street and see their cute house, recognizing it from the photos she had posted and feeling a strange sense of déjà vu. She came outside when I pulled into the driveway and we hugged and what has evolved from that has been one of the most rewarding and effortless relationships of my life. There has never been a bit of awkwardness or weirdness or drama.

Kimberly and Josh both told me several times that I was welcome to come stay with them if I ever needed a place, and at first I didn’t really even consider it. After they insisted a few more times that they were serious, I began to think seriously about it as well, and it just seemed… right. I worried a bit about how exactly that would be, with me all invading their space and their day-to-day life and family business and such, but again, from day one, I have truly felt at home here. There was never weirdness (well, never any BAD weirdness) and I never felt uncomfortable or like an intruder. I have felt more at peace and at home here than I have perhaps anywhere else in my life, ever.

So why in the heck am I leaving?! Well, that’s a valid question, and one I intend to answer on my own blog (yes, I will be returning) shortly. I have thought and prayed about my next steps very carefully and I believe this is the right move for me at this time. But it doesn’t mean that it is necessarily easy. It’s not. It would definitely be easiest for me to get a place here right now. And I don’t think there is any worse feeling in the world than making a pregnant woman cry. I keep telling everyone that this isn’t GOODBYE, because it’s not. But it is the end of me hanging around the house all the time and monopolizing all the “That’s what she said” opportunities.

I will definitely miss the day-to-day happenings here at the Knight house: all of Jasper’s dancing and talking, (“Happy, happy, happy”), the cute banter that Josh and Kimberly have with each other, putting puzzles together, trips into town, Tuesday night TV, and just sitting in silence as the three of us randomly geek out on our respective computers. I know for a fact I am going to feel pretty lost for a while at 5:00 p.m. on Monday nights during family dinner. (Shout out to S&K, Kimberly has been blessed with seriously the best parents in the history of parents.)

It has been invaluable for me to be a witness to these functioning relationships the past four months. Aside from my grandparents, I really haven’t had a lot of good examples like that in my life. It doesn’t mean there aren’t little issues from time to time (if Kimberly orders mashed potatoes with her hot beef, she definitely does not want French fries!!), but the issues are always resolved in an appropriate manner, and sometimes all it takes is “hugging it out”… I think I might have to steal that approach.

I have joked a few times over the past few months that I was here to write a tell-all expose on what goes on behind-the-scenes at Easily Distracted. But here’s the truth: there’s no dirt to reveal. Kimberly’s been criticized here on her blog for being “too happy” or having too perfect of a life, but the thing is… the things she shares here are true. No, they are not perfect here, but they are a family who does their best to do right by each other, put each other first and laugh and enjoy life together. I don’t know that I have ever laughed so much as I have during my time here.

One of the old blog posts I read earlier tonight was one where “engaged-Kimberly” was imagining what her life would be like at 60, and I had to smile and tear up a little bit at the description, because I could TOTALLY picture it.

Kimberly and Josh: If you ever do get your lake house, I would like to come visit you sometime. I’ll bring my wrinkly 60-year-old self and, God-willing, my grandkids, and we’ll put puzzles together by the fire and eat ice cream with hot chocolate mix sprinkled on top. Josh can mix his specialty drinks (I propose a “Grandpapants”) and I know I will sleep as peacefully there as I have here the past four months, because I know, in some way, wherever you guys are will always be home, and you will always be my family.

Thank you for that. I will never be able to express in words how much your kindness and love have meant to me during this particularly rocky season of my life. It is in part because of you that I am even able to have the courage and the strength to leave right now, and it is because of you that Sondra 2.0 has emerged. (And with INK!!!)

So with that, I must go… new adventures await. I am excited and sad, and a little scared, but most of all hopeful. I know if I need a place to come home to in the future, Central Illinois would be a great place to put my roots down. Only God knows what the future will bring, but I do know this: I am so very blessed to have these friends.

Sondra, we for sure have been blessed with your friendship. And you always have a place to call home here with us!

Just a couple of weeks ago, I left the house and trashed my mom’s tire and rim. Yesterday my friend Sondra and I headed into town. I left Jasper with my awesome neighbor/friend and got excited about actually leaving the house.

We literally were no more than two miles out of town when the whole car sounded like it was falling apart. Sondra stopped the car and we both got out. I thought I would see a piece of her bumper hanging down. Nope, just her tire completely off the rim. What the what?? I seriously did not know that was possible. (Apparently the combination of a frozen tire and sitting for four days did it in.)

I called my trusty pit crew (ie. Josh) and he came out to put the donut on. Sondra and I sat in his warm car watching him remove the demolished tire in less than five minutes. So much for leaving town… At least we didn’t wreck the car and Josh was there to change the tire.

In other news, I am grounding myself to the house.

Jasper, our friend Nicole, and I drove the two hours on Wednesday to see Jess and Lucy. It was so good to see them both! I was so excited to take Lucy’s pictures. She’s such a little squirt. It was hard to not want to hold her the whole time and focus on taking pictures.

She so did not want to sleep for me but that seems to be typical when I take newborn pictures. Luckily I snapped quickly and got a few when she dozed.

I loved seeing Jess with her little girl. It’s still hard to believe that we’re both mommies! It feels like just yesterday we were Sophomores in college dancing in our dorm room to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. Talking about our current random crushes, eating snack pack pudding without spoons, running to Walmart at one in the morning… Funny how much can change in a few years.

When we first got to her house Jasper was interested in Lucy. He got a huge smile on his face and reached his pudgy little hand out to touch her. I can’t wait to see them together as they grow up.

Jess and I experienced our first Mother’s Day together. Lucy Moxey was born on Saturday night after her new momma pushed her into the world.

My little family drove down to meet this little girl today and she did not disappoint. At six and a half pounds, it feels like you’re holding practically nothing. (Especially after holding Jasper!)

Josh and I took turns holding her and admiring her tiny little face and adorable mouth. I even caught a glimpse of two dimples!

We introduced Jasper and Lucy. Lucy seemed unimpressed with Jasper. Jasper didn’t understand why he couldn’t put her in his mouth. I think they’ll be great friends.

I enjoyed watching Tommy, the very proud daddy. He was changing Lucy’s diaper when we got there and doing a great job. I watched as he carefully wrapped her back up. You’d never know that he was new to the whole baby thing.

Jess looked fantastic and I couldn’t get over seeing her up walking around. (After having a c-section, I feel like all women should be stuck in bed the day after they have a baby.)

I still can’t believe my best friend is a mommy. I’m so excited for her and Tommy. Their lives just changed but for the better. I know they will be great parents.

And to Lucy… Welcome to the world, little one. You are already so loved. I feel lucky to be a part of your life.

Pam and Chris took a little road trip on Saturday to see us and they let me take some pictures of their adorable little guy. I’m not even kidding you when I say I smiled the entire time I worked on his pictures last night. About every other picture I would have to yell for Josh to come and look.

CJ did so well spending the afternoon at my house. He ate a couple times, napped, played, giggled… Oh, the giggling…that could melt anyone’s heart! I already can’t wait to see them again and do some more pictures of the little guy.

I’m not sure that I can correctly convey how great my weekend was. I had been planning this weekend for months and finally it was here. Sondra, one of my first Internet friends, drove from Ohio to spend the weekend with us. Sondra and I have been talking about meeting for years since we first “met” online. You know, because Ohio and Illinois are so close… Finally in April we settled on a weekend during the summer and just marked it on our calendars.

All week I had been anticipating Sondra’s arrival. I would say, “I get to see Sondra in X number of days!”. The weird thing is that I never thought of the weekend as meeting Sondra for the first time. I only thought that my friend was coming to see me. I just didn’t happen to know what that friend’s voice sounds like!

Within 20 minutes of Sondra arriving I knew that it was as exactly as I hoped. She’s just as sweet as I always thought she was. We spent the weekend talking about anything and everything, just like how you would be with an old friend. It was just so nice to be able to talk face to face. Jess arrived Saturday morning and the fun doubled! We went antiquing and shopping. We did a lot of laughing and even more talking.

After we ate supper and dessert made by my husband (he made a peach pie from scratch!), we hung out on the back patio. Three hours later we were finally able to enjoy a little laptop time. My town had a random power outage that kept us in the dark until 10:30 playing with flashlights, talking about things we could be doing. Finally once the power was restored we geeked out and couldn’t have been happier.

Last night I got ready for bed and thought over the weekend. I realized that I was already missing my friends and they had only just left. I feel really lucky to have connected with people through the Internet and made such great friends. Now if only I can get them to move closer…

When my friend Emmy Lou found out we were having a baby, she immediately asked if she could knit a sweater for it. Uh, yes…of course you can! So she wasted no time. I got the most wonderful package from her this week that included more goodies than just the sweater!

The sweater is just beautiful and so soft! I cannot wait to dress my baby in it. Oh and the matching leg warmers and booties. She also included a pair of socks and little stocking hat. They are just perfect and I really can’t wait to put them to use.

Such a thoughtful and wonderful handmade gift! Thanks so much, Emmy Lou.

Josh and I drove just over 300 miles this weekend. Friday night we went to see our friend Chrystal and ate way too much food at Olive Garden. And the evening wouldn’t have been complete without some wandering around at Barnes & Noble. (Chrystal starts work there today! Good luck, Stick!)

We drove to Champaign on Saturday to do a photo shoot with Pam and Chris. We walked around the U of I campus and went to this really cool Japanese Garden (good idea, Chris!). I definitely have to go back to that in the summer. We always have such a good time with Pam and Chris. This time to commemorate the get-together we did a group picture. I’ve had these fake mustaches for awhile and have been dying to try them out. We all convinced Pam to do it and I even got everyone to scowl for the picture. So much random fun on Saturday.

Yesterday was church, engagement pictures, a little shopping to pick up random stuff we needed, and then some serious napping. I definitely would drive 300 miles every weekend if they were all like this one!

Josh and I had such a good time at Jess and Tommy’s. Bebo…not so much. We haven’t road tripped with him in awhile so I think he just didn’t understand what was going on. He cried off and on the whole way there. He was very out of sorts for the 24 hours we were there. Honestly I think he missed home. He walked around like he was looking for something. Maybe the arm of our couch, his toys or his favorite chair? When we got home on Saturday night, he practically fell over on the living room floor…like, “thank goodness, I’m home”.

I had a blast doing the Jess and Tommy photo shoot. It’s great taking pictures of your friends because you can just keep going to different places. We took pictures at an old ice factory (totally trespassing!), the high school, a wildlife preserve, Jess’s grandparents, Jess and Tommy’s backyard, the neighbor’s pond. I also got to take a few pictures of Jess’s niece, Clara.

It was a fun little trip!

Josh and I are headed down to see Jess and her husband Tommy this weekend. Jess booked Knight Light months ago to do some pictures of them. I’m really looking forward to doing it because I can ask them to do all of the crazy things and not worry they’ll think I’m nuts. Well, they may still think I’m nuts but I know we’ll still be friends! I’m taking them out first thing tomorrow morning and I’m hoping to get a lot of fun stuff. I can’t wait!