On the Road Again

I finally made my trip to Des Moines with success! I was very anxious to get down there and see my friend Amy A., who is expecting a baby any day now (due March 29). They have not found out the sex of the baby, so we are all excited to find out if they will have a little girl or boy.

I drove down Friday and met Kristy, Laura and Amy V. for dinner. We had a great time catching up and consequently, all of us have had recent changes or upcoming changes in our lives. I am 2 weeks into a new job, Kristy just quit her job and found another one, Amy was laid off recently and now has 4 job offers to choose from, and Laura's husband is looking for a new job. It was nice to sit down and catch up, and we continued at a bar called the High Life. This was a unique place, modeled after the "typical" Iowa basement, complete with fake wood paneling and carpet (it's not everyday you see plush carpet in a bar). It was a pretty cool place. My brother Justin also joined us there for awhile, which I'm still getting used to, because he's only recently 21 and being 10 years apart...it's hard not to think of him as a little kid! Same for all of my friends, most of whom have know him all of his life. But I think he had a good time with us.

Saturday Kristy and I drove over to Amy A's house in Newton, and Laura joined us there with her two kids, Maggie and Owen. This is the first time that Kristy and I had met Owen, and what a little cuddle bug! He's adorable, and Maggie is always a kick. Maggie developed a fascination for Kristy's high heels, and had a fun time trying to walk in them:

And here's Owen:

Amy looks great, and has everything in order for the baby's arrival. The room is very cute (an M&Ms theme, all primary colors). After she opened some gifts, we went to lunch and enjoyed some more girl time (with Owen adding a little testosterone to the mix). Again, a very nice opportunity to catch up with friends. Following lunch, I went with Amy to Des Moines to get a few more things she needed from Babies-R-Us, which was fun. I actually put a few items in my brain's "future mommy file"...so many things to consider with kids! I also ran into a friend from college while there and met his wife and little girl, who is 7 months old. Babies everywhere!

After my time with Amy I went to Justin's apartment to check it out. We spent about an hour or so chatting and sitting on the floor (as he currently has limited furniture...) watching and playing with his pet rats, Gidget and Ratchet. Yes, that's right, rats. And I never thought I'd say this, but they were kind of cute, or at least interesting. The tails still kind of gross me out, but I have a long line of history with rodents; I've been hostess to gerbils, hamsters and a spectacular guinea pig named Mr. Wendall ca. 1997-1999. Anyway, it was particularly fun to watch Gidget get excited about Milkbones...apparently she's quite fond of them. Justin laid the box on its side, and after a while she figured out a direct route from the box to the cage, and started to go back and forth, toting treats to her corner stockpile, clicking her teeth and prancing all the while. Such a happy little girl, and then of course, Justin put them back in the box!

All in all a nice trip, and by coming back lastnight I was able to spend the day catching up on sleep and spending time with "my boys." Hayley also came over for a little while this afternoon, and that's always fun. Here was my favorite Hayley-ism today:

"Hey, there's kids in that car. Two boys."

"Are they cute, Hayley?"

"No, they're just boys."