Yes Lisa I have been secretly planning his birthday already

Daddy's secret burping technique

Today I made a pit stop at Lisa's house to feed Lucas after running errands in town. I ended up staying longer than I planned (which I always do and never mind) because I love the adult talk! Also I love watching Lucas and his cousins interact. It is so strange to think that Lisa used to babysit me "back in the day" before she married my brother. She's known me for such a long time and our relationship has changed. I used to be this bratty elementary school kid to developing a genuine friendship with her. I have more inside jokes with her than anyone else I know. It is funny to watch Curt try to follow a conversation Lisa and I are having because we have this strange sense of humor. I think now that we both have kids we will become even closer.

The one thing I crave right now is more mom friends and at the same time I think I need to be careful what I wish for. When I was going to my childbirth classes there was this girl Ashlee that I clicked with and would daydream about our sons growing up together. Her husband even mentioned a few times that he would like to hang out with Curt. Lucas and her son ended up being born less than a week apart (Lucas was two weeks late and her son was right on time) and we have kept in touch almost weekly with phone calls which has been nice in a way but now she is moving down the street from us.

The problem I have with her is I can tell already we have different parenting styles. She doesn't really understand why I breastfeed even though she sat through the same classes I did and she is always trying to convince me to give Lucas formula with cereal to make him sleep longer, which she had been doing since her son got home from the hospital. She tries to convince me of this by saying "then you can let him spend the night with each of his grandparents!" As much as all of Lucas' grandparents love him I don't think they are quite ready for over night sleepovers! I think the whole idea behind being grandparents is you don't have to get up with them at night and you get to send them home at the end of the day.

Our sons aren't even 3 months old yet and she is already feeding her kid baby food. She also doesn't think that you should NOT pick up your kid when they are crying for no apparent reason even as a newborn because they can get spoiled. (I know this can happen later on but not when they are this young). So her son spends most of his day in things. She thinks I'm crazy for giving Lucas tummy time and that I don't bathe him enough (she gives her son at least 2 baths a day and Lucas gets one every other day) and she thinks I should be slathering him up with baby beauty products. To each their own. I understand that there isn't one right way to raise your kid but I think the reason all those things gets under my skin is that she seems to be one of those competitive moms. When I mentioned that Lucas was grabbing at toys or holding his head up "oh my sons been doing that for weeks" and then a few weeks later she would excitedly call me "he's grabbing at things now!" So now I try to steer clear of mentioning things like that because maybe I'm coming across as bragging and that I think my son is better than hers.

At the beginning of November she will live two minutes walking distance from us (They are moving in with her husband's mom to save money for a few months) so I am a little nervous of how that will go. Maybe it will be cool to have another mom that close so we can go on stroller walks together. I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt because it would be cool for our sons to grow up as friends. They were even circumcised on the same day (which is where they first officially "met." I know friendships take a while to grow so maybe ours will develop over time and not be as superficial. Who knows maybe next July we'll be at each of our son's birthday party's looking back at how much they have grown. Besides I know I'll be getting another mom friend soon because my friend Crystal is due with her first child on November 14th. ANOTHER BOY for Lucas to play with one day.

Curt made dinner again tonight. It was really good and tonight I stayed out of the kitchen. I can't criticize what I can't see! He made chicken Parmesan, some sort of Curt seasoned rice, and spring mix salad. I thought when he talked about making it that it sounded strange to eat that type of chicken with rice but it was really good. He has become quite the cook from the first meal he made the first week we were married. The Curt special then was 1 can of meat ravioli, 1 can of cheese ravioli, and 1 can of spaghetti o's topped off with 1 can of black olives. I don't think I have bought pasta in a can since.

Asking for help and accepting it really has made a difference in our house. Everyone is happier right down to our dog Jadie. I can't remember the last time since our talk that we have gotten in a fight. Now I can take a both a joke and a compliment from Curt without rolling my eyes. I'm not hyper sensitive because I am stressed out and yelling about every little thing causing Jadie to hide. I'm also feeling more affectionate towards Curt when I used to be like "I've been touched by the baby all day long you must stay 5 feet away from me at all times!"