Amazing weekend

My weekend was wonderful. It went by way too fast!! It started off by Melody coming down Friday afternoon. Once she arrived we dropped Grayson off with my Mom. Then we headed downtown to get a bite to eat. We stopped by Luna Rosa for a Panini & Gelato. Then we were saddened to find out they were no longer serving lunch at that time. Truth was we got there 10-15 minutes before the cut off time & they didn't want to be bothered to make anything for us. So rude. Oh well. We left & went next door to Wild Wings. Melody waiting for her food at Wild Wings.
After we were filled with food we walked around & went into several shops.

We stopped for a quick picture that resulted in a lot of laughter.

Checking out an Art Gallery.

Enjoying the wall art.
Everyone needs a colorful personalized flask. Mine would have coffee in it. ;)
It was a lovely day to be walking downtown. Before going home we stopped by Luna Rosa again to have some gelato. We both got Caramel Latte Crunch & Irish Coffee. Oh wow! It was so good!
My gelato. Looked better before I attacked it.

Saturday morning Melody & I hit the road. We were meeting our long time friend, Stef, in Charlotte, NC. It was so exciting knowing were going to finally meet her in person after all this time. We met Stef at CVS. It was unreal! She was even prettier in person! At one point she said, "Its so weird seeing you all in 3D!" lol After we got over the initial shock of meeting each other, we walked to a few shops.

Pretty mosaic work.
We stopped in a vintage shop & another shop that sold a variety of items from many different cultures. They both were pretty awesome. I regret now not buying some handmade musical instruments from the second shop I mentioned. My favorite was a wooden frog that came with a small mallet you used to rub up & down its back. Grayson would have loved it. I have no idea why I didn't go ahead & buy it. One day I'm going back.

We were getting hungry so we went to Intermezzo Pizzeria for lunch. The service was extremely slow but we were having a great time chatting. It was great to sit & really talk. The conversation just flowed & it felt like we always get together for lunch.
Stef as pretty as always. ;)

Our yummy food.

After we ate we went across the street to the Salvation Army. We tested out some couches. :) We found one that we all really liked. If it had a love seat I would have bought it! I dream about having matching furniture. haha

Stef & her lovely south western shirt.

Melody found one too. haha

One of our first pictures of the three of us. I set my self timer & sat my camera on the shelf. A little out of focus but still cute.

We headed to another shop. It was so cute. So many things I would have loved to buy if I had the money. Oh well, we had a lot of fun looking through everything. I think we had the most fun when we found a bunch of hats. I pretty much laughed so hard I cried. I tend to do that. When I start I can't stop. Many can vouch to that.

So there's a chicken on my head.



Damsel in distress!

Ooo I saw me a leprechaun!




The three Amigas.

Oh no its attacking Melody!


I love this canvas. I also love how it looks with Melody holding it.

Before we left Charlotte, we stopped at Central Coffee. Had some yummy coffee and chatted for a while longer. It was so hard to part ways. Before we left we took a couple of pictures.



We had to take a silly one. I really should have made a different face. haha

It was awesome meeting Stef! She is super sweet & so incredibly funny. Her passion for the Lord is very admirable. I enjoyed hearing her talking about Him. We had a fantastic time! However, it went way too fast. We're already talking about meeting up again in September. It would be great if we can plan something else in between now & then.

Sunday consisted of a wonderful church service, lunch a Milanos, a knitting session, and sad goodbyes as Melody had to go home. I enjoyed our time together so much. It also went way too fast. We took a few pictures before she headed out.


Such a lovely weekend.

Lets talk birth

Last Tuesday Grayson & I met up with some Mom's at IHOP. They were serving one free short stack of pancakes per person. They did ask that you donate to Children's Miracle Network who supports local children's hospitals. Its a great cause.

We didn't get to sit at the table with the Mom we've already met. I was bummed. Instead we sat at a table right across from her with two Mom's whom I've never met. Talk about nervous. I don't think I make good first impressions. I get so nervous that I tend to stumble over my words. Its very embarrassing. Anyways, both of the ladies were very nice and I did get past the point of stumbling over my words. I had some quite moments but was able to speak up & join in on the conversation. Both of them have itty bitty babies. The little girl is 7 weeks and the little boy is 4 weeks old. Looking at them made my uterus twitch. haha Seems forever ago that Grayson was ever that small. I was surprised by the remark of one of the Mom's. She said she can't wait to be out of the baby stage. My mouth almost dropped. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I miss the baby stage! I know its not easy but I miss the cooing, the newborn cry, & everything else that goes a long with having a newborn. I have to admit I do have baby fever & have had it for a while now. Despite that I'm not really ready for another little one yet. My second time will come again but not any time soon. ;)

After one of the Mom's left at the other table the rest came to our table. I knew one of them & the other one was out first time meeting. It was really nice chatting with them. Grayson enjoyed "talking" with one of the little girls who is close in age with him. Overall I had a great time. It was a much better experience than the lunch date I had with some other Mom's from another group. I think it made a difference that everyone brought along there children.

Last Thursday we went to a playdate at someone's home. Once again I was nervous because most everyone was new to me. The Mother who was hosting is one that I met at the IHOP meet up. I walk up to the house and notice the front door is open. I debate about knocking but I realize its open so you don't have to. I open the door and walk in to see all the Mom's to my left sitting on the floor in the playroom. Most everyone had a baby(uterus twitch again). We remove our shoes & joined everyone on the floor. There were a few older kids. I believe there was a 2, 3, & 4 year old. There was a little girl there who is the same age as Grayson. He loved looking at all the babies. He stood there for the longest time just taking in everything. I didn't talk much right away but within time I found some openings. :)

Two of the Mom's there are Doula's. I think one just became one. The other Mom she's been one for a while now. At one point one Mommy left (to go to work) & another showed up with her newborn. The one who showed up later was so nice. Immediately I could feel a connection with her. Very friendly person. Actually they all are.
Some of us went to the kitchen to get something to eat. Grayson and I shared yummy chocolate chip muffins. He ate majority of them. My hungry boy.

There were a couple of new Mommy's there. It was nice when I was able to answer a breastfeeding question. I'm usually the one with all the questions. I haven't met too many new Mommy's yet.

It didn't take long for the muffin's to wear off. I went to the kitchen & got a bowl of oatmeal. There were little dishes of various toppings for it. Seriously some of the best oatmeal I've ever had. Grayson loved it too.

Whenever we went to sit down the ladies were talking about birth. Some of them talked specifically about their births. It was so wonderful to hear how all of them had natural births. Most of them had their babies either at home or at a birthing center. I was jealous about their experiences. I regret not having a doula, I regret having an epidural, I regret not having my MIL there when I first got to the hospital, & so on. I honestly feel like if I had of at least had my MIL there I wouldn't have had the epi and Grayson would have born even sooner. I was nervous about sharing with them that I had an epi and gave birth at the hospital. I decided to just go for it and talk about how I envy their births. Surprisingly I spoke up & did just that. They were all surprised that I gave birth at St. Francis & was "allowed" to have a vaginal birth. Julie the Doula talked about how rare it is now that a woman can have one. I didn't realize St. Francis was as bad as Greenville Memorial. Julie also talked about how she was glad St. Francis got rid of there doula program because it was a joke. Apparently they had some kind of quota to meet & a lot of other surprising things.

I talked to the Mom next to me and talked about how I know I need to quit thinking about all my regrets. You live you learn right? The only other option is to do it differently next time. She agreed with me. She told me about her homebirth. Her & her husband moved their dining room table and put a kiddie pool in. I thought it was awesome that she used a kiddie pool instead of buying a birthing pool. Those are so expensive. I asked her if she went to an OB during her pregnancy. She went to one, one time because they refused to see her since she wasn't having them deliver & go to the hospital they were affiliated with. I couldn't believe her OB was that way. Instead her midwives checked her out. I'm not sure where she went. Its appalling really.

I have pretty much decided I'm not giving birth at a hospital again unless there is something medically wrong with me or my baby. I have been thinking about this for a while now. I plan on giving birth at a local birthing center or having a homebirth. The idea of having a homebirth in the past was just unthinkable. The reason was because I was thinking I didn't know how well it would go at home. But now its much more appealing. My bedroom is big enough for me to have a kiddie pool in there. Sometimes I dream about my next birth. I imagine laboring in my bedroom with candles lit, very low lighting, and soft music playing. Having a water birth at home sounds so lovely. I pray I can achieve that when the time comes. I have a feeling I'll be hiring one of the doulas in my group. Mostly likely it will be Julie. She's so sweet and has a very gentle spirit about her.

I had a really nice time talking with all the ladies. Its so nice to be around women who believe in natural childbirth, cloth diapering, and etc. It was so hard to leave. I'm hoping in the next few months to have a play date at my house. I have a TON of cleaning to do before that happens.