THE NICHOLS FAMILY


Monday, March 31, 2008

Girl Time

Friendship is such a great thing. To me it is a vital part of life. I cannot function without my friends....just ask Shay. He has many horror stories of when we were first married and living in a place where I had no friends, not pleasant!



I have to say I have great friends. I mean really great, fabulous friends. I wish a could devote a blog to each and every one of them. Unfortunately, that is not feasible but I must take the time to share with you the wonderful weekend I had with three of my very, very best friends.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of taking a trip to Atlanta with my college roommates Mary, Megan and Brooke. We all four get together periodically and any time we have the opportunity to spend a whole weekend together we jump at the chance. We leave the kids and husbands behind, not that we don't love them and miss them while we are gone, but there is just nothing like a good "girls weekend."

Friday afternoon Megan, Mary and I headed to Atlanta to stay with Brooke. The car ride in itself was a blast, except we were missing Brooke and we couldn't wait to get there. We all know that it is not a successful trip to Atlanta if you don't get lost at least once, which we did. After finding our way off of Peachtree Independent/Industrial Blvd., we found Brooke and got changed to go out for a spicy dinner. On our trip to Walmart we were able to completely embarrass some random guy on the VCF aisle, while buying all they had. It was so nice to be loud and silly and stay up until 3 a.m. with no worries.


The next morning we woke up and ate the wonderful Monkey bread Brooke made us for breakfast before showering and heading out for our day at the spa. Getting there was an adventure in itself and there was some jail time threatened. Of course we did not let that hinder our excitement. We decided to decline the lovely cop's offer and finally made it to the spa. We slipped into our robes and slippers, ordered Mimosas and wine and enjoyed the most divine crab cake lunch with yummy bread, olive oil and vinegar. After Mary exchanged her robe for one she hadn't gotten dirty and "a Tina" replaced her spilled drink, we were off to the hot tub before having our massages and pedicures. When our services were finished we took our time getting all dolled up for a cozy dinner and drinks at Murphy's.


It was a wonderful weekend with the three girls that I feel like I relate to most. I spent the best four years with them at Auburn and since we have celebrated together weddings, new homes, new businesses, new babies and all else life has thrown at us. One constant in my life that I know I can always count on is my friendship with Mary, Megan and Brooke. It is so nice to know that they are always there for me. I don't know if I have ever truly expressed to them how much I love them and appreciate them. I don't think I've let Mary and Megan know just how much it meant to me for them to sit in the hospital room with me for 12 hours of my labor giving Brooke play by play updates. It is not possible to put into words just how thankful I am for each of them and the huge blessing they are in my life. They are special friends that I will cherish forever.

I think it is so refreshing to spend time with your closest girl friends and I definitely left this weekend with a renewed spirit. It was such a treat for all of us to get together. It was a weekend filled with fun, laughter, indulgence, relaxation, memories and the botox face.....just exactly what the perfect girls weekend should be made up of!!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Not a big girl!


So this is my first attempt at blogging. It seems like everyone else I know is blogging about their children and I want to do it too. I can't promise it will be the most eloquent writing or even that interesting most of the time but it should be fun for me to try. We will see how it goes!

This weekend was a busy Easter weekend for us. Shay took off Friday and Monday so we had four days together which was so nice. On Saturday Mary Sewlyn and I went to our sweet little friend Anna Cate's first birthday party. I was so excited to take Mary Selwyn to a birthday party now that she is old enough to enjoy other kids and some of the festivities. Little did I know that the result of this birthday party would be a mommy with a broken heart!

Most of you know that Mary Selwyn is walking now. She has been walking consistently for about 3 weeks. She thinks she is so big as she just toddles around everywhere at just 8 months old. So at the party Mary Selwyn and I sit down in the middle of the floor and she immediately pops up and starts walking around the room and showing off. Everyone was so impressed, which I admit made me proud. However, when the children arrived and the party started all of the sudden Mary Selwyn didn't want to be with mommy anymore. She wanted to be with all the kids and in the middle of all the action. It was cute at first. Then all the kids ran to the kitchen to eat and I stood there in shock as Mary Selwyn followed the line, walked right into the kitchen and did not even look back at me. I had to run after her, scoop her up and explain to her that she is not big enough to eat pizza, she is not a big kid!!!

Needless to say she had a ball at the party, she played so hard and enjoyed the presents just as much as the birthday girl. When we left I was a bit sad. I called Shay on the verge of tears to tell him how she just acted like a big girl and how my heart was breaking over it. I realize this sounds so silly, especially to you mothers of multiple or older children. I realize that this is just the first of many times my heart will break when my child walks away from me. I realize that I will be even more broken hearted when she goes off to kindergarten, when she drives away by herself for the first time, when she goes to off to college and when she gets married. However, I did not realize I would experience these feelings so soon. She is 8 months old!!!!!! She should still be my baby, not a big girl. With every milestone we have hit it has been exciting, but I haven't been ready for any of them. I was not ready for her to crawl, pull up or walk so early because I knew that meant she was growing up and I was losing my baby. Everyone tells you that kids grow up so fast and they weren't kidding. I'm reminded more and more everyday to cherish every moment with her because she is growing so quickly. I know I just have to suck it up and be a big girl but I'm not ready for her to be a big kid!!

On the flip side the party did wear her slap out and my terrible little sleeper slept all night...maybe the one thing my "big kid" can give me to look forward to is sleep!!