Bon Voyage

Nobody really likes their neighbors anymore, I've discovered. Gone for most are the block parties and the bringing in of each others trash cans and the borrowing of a cup of sugar. But we had great neighbors. And now they will be someone else's great neighbors in some Atlanta suburb. And I am sad.

Dr. & Mrs. Roede have moved on and this weekend we spent time celebrating all the fun stuff we did while they were here. Not only were they neighbors (this happened quite by accident as we knew them before they moved in a few houses down from us) but Danyel worked with Derrick and they were just great friends. We went to shows (FOO FIGHTERS!!) and movies and even on trips. Yeah, good enough friends that we could even travel with them....that doesn't come by everyday.

We laughed on their patio watching the chiminea till 2 in the morning....we fixed up our backyard for the little bugs to play in....we had birthdays and showers and weddings and snow days and homecooked dinners. Somewhere along the way the went from friends and neighbors to best friends and the greatest neighbors and even babysitters for miss Elle. The kind of neighbors you most certainly take for granted until they are gone.

Eliana walks around all day saying "Peep, peep!!" as her way of asking about JR who would honk every single time he drove by our house for the past three years. We love you JR & Danyel. We will miss you. And we're planning to come visit ASAP.

Our Day in the Sun...

The sun came out today. And we finally took advantage of it.

Our friends Darci & Preston generously invited us to join them at the Lakeshore pool this morning for some sunning and swimming. Wonderfully fabulous and now I'm more tempted than ever to join. The trip was probably my first official solo-parent adventure with the two kids. We had such a great time and I have a feeling this is Eliana's summer to turn into a little fish. She LOVED the pool and even got quite brave walking out all the way to her chin. I'm sure I'll be hearing about the "Pool, Mommy! Pool!" all week. Parker slept and lounged and got all the attention, what a little flirt. I managed to keep up (and get a little sunburned. I was too worried about the kids!!) Impressive.

I'm glad to get a bit of sun before our big Wednesday. My dad, Jim, goes in for kidney surgery tomorrow afternoon. It's a big six-hour ordeal and while the parents keep assuring us things are just fine...it's scary to think of him in any pain. We'll be thinking about him all day long....while we're down at Children's Hospital having a surgeon meet with Parker for potential surgery on his umbilical hernia. What a day.

I know there will be lots more good days for us this summer. Happy, sunny, laughter-filled days. We just have to get through tomorrow. ;)

Surprise

Mr. Pope still has the ability to surprise. Not something I necessarily expect after, what, seven years together? Here we are, doing the baby thing, living the baby life. Our paths cross at odd hours for feedings and bath time and every now and then even for dinner. We have a couple of laughs over the phone some days and when we're actually in person the conversations usually turn to planning and organizing, if we even have time (or mental capacity) for that.

This is in no way a complaint. I can only speak for myself, but I'm deliriously happy right now. We have two beautiful, healthy kids. I'm kind of in the stay-at-home-mommy groove. And my husband is awesome. He cooks, he cleans (not often, but he tries), he makes me laugh. Things are good.

I don't need 23-hour-a-day relationship validation. But then he goes and sets up a date....for me and my friend for dinner and a movie. The sneaky twosome planned it all without my knowledge and it made me feel loved beyond belief. They took the time to do it...in the middle of their busy days....to surprise me. Dinner was great (although I did yawn a few times) and the movie was just what I needed, about 2,000 laughs.

Thanks for thinking of me, love. I'll see ya tonight around 3 a.m.....

it's not over

Derrick and I joked before we had kids about how our lives would officially be over once the little bundles of joys arrived. Sure....there would always be trips to Home Depot and Bed Bath & Beyond (you know, if we have time) but happy hour and movies and nice dinners out would be out of the question.

So far, I guess we were only kind of right. This weekend, with count 'em, two kids in the Pope family household, Derrick and I saw two movie-theater movies. What!?! That's crazy talk. We covered for each other as we went out with friends on two separate nights and actually got to go together this afternoon. Very nice and unexpected....on both accounts for me...as Derrick actually had my favorite friend Penny kidnap me on Friday night for dinner and a show. I had no idea until I walked upstairs to find Penny ready to go and Derrick smiling happily at his own crafty work. Now that is love.

We laugh that our friends without kids (and we have a lot) would hate our life...the screaming, the pooping, the messy house, the lack of sleep. They are scared to call us at nap time and after eight PM as not to wake the sleeping beauties. They feel bad asking us to go out last minute because they know it's next to impossible. They ask repeatedly about the whole childbirth process as if it's not actually possible. They laugh at our domesticity while heading out to drink so much beer at a Rockies game that they wake up the next morning with no memory and missing $350. You know who you are.

But we also know all the extra joy and laughter and happiness we gain in having these little people in our lives. I guess it's nice to know that sometimes we can have it all....we still get to join the real world on occasion....it's not (completely) over.