Starting and A Special Friend

My little love.

Sometimes you come across something that is SO BIG you can't find the words for it--at least I do. In my case here, it would be my son. He's so incredibly amazing, I don't know how to describe that without feeling like my words are slighting him. I think it might take some time to accurately mommy-post. I can guarantee though, that my post will inevitably involve the words: eat, sleep, and poop. Newborns are pretty complex : )

What I did manage to write about turned out pretty cool. In reading Lockport's local paper (yeah, I read EVERYTHING that comes my way), I came across a columnist that asked for Lockport residents to submit life stories. I sent the story about my friend, Stephanie, and I his way.  Our story will make the paper (hopefully soon!) along with a picture of us and the babies (thank you to Kelli Anthony for the great picture---she managed to find one where neither baby was actively crying!). Below is my submission:

My story has its roots a bit outside of Lockport. I moved around quite a bit as a child, but attended school in the Lincoln Way School District for the longest stint. There I made many friends, but only actively worked to keep a few as I traveled through college, graduate school, career starts, and marriage. One of these friends, Stephanie Sunzere, is also a Lockport resident. While ours was a friendship tested, we proved to be the type of friends who could easily “pick up where we left off.” We were there for each other at the pivotal times of each others’ lives: break ups, new love interests, job starts and lay off, as bridesmaids, and now, as we enter the newest chapter of our lives, as mothers. This latest adventure is one that we truly traveled along together. Stephanie and I would often meet up for dinner and conversation, and would discuss our desires to become mothers. While we may have both had suspicions, neither one of us knew that the other was ready to embark upon the adventure until a phone call placed in early February. We, unknowingly, called each other with the same good news, that we were each pregnant. Stephanie was the first to share this development, and quickly remarked, “I thought you’d be the one calling me to say you were pregnant.” Not being able to keep my news in much longer, I began laughing and told her that I was calling to tell her that I believed I was also expecting. Doctor appointments later confirmed that we were both due on precisely the same day in October. We shared doctors and many jokes that if the babies came on the same day, our doctors would be run ragged moving back and forth between our hospital rooms sharing news of how the other was doing.

Actually, we shared a lot more than just jokes throughout this exciting and terrifying time in our lives. Many, many texts and phone calls were placed asking questions that you can only ask a friend, offering encouragement during trying times (see: morning sickness), and congratulating each other every Saturday for the accomplishment of carrying another week. We found the perfect friend to go maternity clothes shopping with, or float in the pool alongside. Many were the day that the two of us could be seen “waddling” down the streets of our subdivision trying to get in exercise as our bellies grew. We became each others’ “belly buddy,” or, the one of the few people who understood what each one of us was going through. When I received the news that I was to be induced almost a month early as an emergency procedure, it was Stephanie who I text continually as I lay in my hospital bed waiting for the unknown. Stephanie came to see my healthy baby boy in the hospital and visited us at home when I needed the company. I was happy to return the favor three weeks after my delivery. I received her text messages and went to welcome her healthy baby girl. Now, we plot play dates with our little ones and log marathon phone calls that revolve mostly around dirty diapers and other newborn wonders.

Me, Stephanie, and our little ones!