Matthew's Irish Twin

I can't help it, when I see my friend Kate's baby John, who was born just short of 11 months after Matthew, I can't help thinking of Matthew in his first few months.


I took the almost exact same picture when Matthew was a little guy. (Granted this post would be a lot more charming if I had that picture anywhere handy to post it.) It just made me laugh to see, us moms all think alike. Erin's done the same thing with Bridget. "I've got this pile of stuffed animals and he doesn't even care about it so (UGH - loading up stuff animals on baby noise) here you go, kid. Kodak moment time."

Then I saw THIS picture of the little man pushing himself up and I completely had another nostalgia moment for my own son when he was just a tiny little guy.


I remember taking a zillion photos of Matthew on his playmat, and it being so exciting when he was pushing himself up. They finally start to take on their Kid format vs. their Baby format and it's just SO much fun to watch.

Then I saw this, which just about put me over the edge.


Because in our house, as well as Tim and Erin's, and now Kate's, dogs are integral. Everything is baby and dogs and paws and bottles and dog hair and dogs stepping on babies and babies sticking hands into dogs mouths and it's just ONE BIG DOGGY BABY MESSY love fest. Having dogs and babies makes for twice the mess but ten times the fun. Well, not that I'd know the difference. But that's my position as a dog owner, twice over, and if I let my mind wander to how life could be better/different/CLEEEEANNNERRRRRRR without said dogs, I'd have to question our thinking and possibly sanity to have so many live bodies jammed into 1200 square feet.

Anyway - Kate is my best friend from high school and it's been thrilling to see all the photos of her little man John growing up these past few months. We have kept in touch since high school, and we've known each other since junior high. When THOSE friends are having babies, well, you're not just old, you're OLD and grown-up and officially into the next life phase.

It's not like when your co-worker has kids, or even your college or post-college friends. This is border line babies having babies (and I'm sure Kate felt the same way about me) to see your friend that you discovered curling irons and boys and sneaking beers and crying because you didn't get invited to the slumber party and hating high school and counting the days until graduation ... those friends ... having kids. It's the end of the line, we're here, college days ain't coming back, we have mortgages and spend the weekend "working on the yard" and running super fun errands like buying dog food and going to Sam's. We aren't kids anymore, and we ain't never gonna be again.

I wouldn't have it any other way. It's exciting and joyful and just all around, makes for a wonderful life. But (before anyone accuse moi of being cheesy) it's a huge huge huge change. And it was great talking to Kate for about TWO HOURS about this the other night. On the one hand, it was totally normal to talk about breastfeeding and birth stories and crazy (read: incredibly obnoxious) nurses bossing us around in the hospital. On the other hand, the whole time I'm thinking, is she holding her baby? Is my 13 year old friend KATE holding her CHILD while I'm talking to her? And is my ONE YEAR OLD still asleep in his BABY crib in his room? You see what I'm getting at. Just when you accept this complete life change as normal ... someone goes and pops out another kid and you're talking to them about "getting the kids together."

And you realize Kate's no longer just Kate, she's John's mommy, just like you're MATTHEW'S MOMMY and you will be in charge of that honor for the rest of your life.

But no pressure or anything ...