birthday | erica nichole

In order to help me through this last dragging-on of Winter, I am trying to surround myself with Spring in whatever way I can. My lovely flower in the kitchen is one of my most cherished mood-lifters at the moment. My whole family has gotten the biggest kick out of watching this monster grow. It’s amazing, isn’t it, science and plants and growing and life?

And speaking of science and plants and growing and life, Rudy Mae’s 2nd birthday is right around the corner. I am having quite a difficult time with this. I never experienced this with the boys, I was always super excited at every age change, but I always knew there was the possibility of more children along the way somewhere. I think now that I know Rudy is our last, I am having a much harder time dealing with her growing up. She is getting so incredibly smart, and so silly (I love it!), and so loving, and so beautiful. I am excited to see the little person she’s becoming, for sure, but I just want to keep her my baby for just a while longer.

Anybody who knows me, will at least know of, if not know, my best friend Raven. We have been best friends since we were 10. It is so ingrained into our minds of being best friends forever that one time when some guy was asking me about my significant other “So, how long have you guys been together?”, Raven, without hesitation, answered “13 years.” not trying to be funny, but really thinking he was asking about us. (It’s now been 20 years, dear me, that makes me feel so old!) We are incredibly close, but are also each incredibly busy, so some time might pass now and then between visits. She lives in Bexley (Columbus), Ohio, and I in Yellow Springs (Dayton), Ohio so it’s not just a trip around the corner anymore, and takes a little more planning and a little more effort.

“We’re ‘E’ ‘R’ and we’ll send you to the *clap* EMERGENCY ROOM.”

Raven has two boys, Jon (13) and Eliot (12) from a previous relationship. I have Ziven (13) and Calum (10) from a previous relationship. They all grew up together and were very close, more at some times than others (at the end, right before Raven moved to Bexley and we were all still in Toledo, we were helping babysit each others kids at least twice a week each). When she moved, I was crushed. I went down twice in a month the very first month, and then real life took over and I realized that I couldn’t make that kind of a trip that often. Fate stepped in when I met Caleab, and I eventually moved to Yellow Springs, which in addition to living with the love of my life and finding the best community on Earth, brought me much closer to Raven, from 3 hours down to just 1.

Fast forward just a wee bit, and Raven married one of the greatest men on Earth, AJ, in July of 2010, and I married Caleab (you got it- the other greatest man on Earth) in September 2010. While wedding planning, just a short time away from our big day, Caleab and I got the most exciting (and slightly terrifying) news we could imagine- we were pregnant! I wanted so badly for Raven and AJ to join us, as I knew that they were possibly planning on trying shortly after their wedding to get pregnant, and lo and behold, just 3 months later, Raven and I were sharing morning sickness stories. (I will never forget the phone call I received from Raven. I screamed, I cried, I wanted to run all the way to her house and give her the biggest double pregnant hug in the world!)

So. Two old boys and two old boys. And now, as we could not believe we were lucky enough to achieve, a baby girl each. Although, “toddler” might be the technical term now, as Rudy Mae is 15 months, and Sam just had her first birthday. I know we cannot force friendship on them, but with moms like us, and it being in their blood, how can they not be? ;) We jokingly say that they are best friends, but I really do dream of the day when Rudy Mae looks at me with her huge, saucer eyes and refers to Sammy G as her “very best friend”.