Making Friends

As I mentioned in previous posts, our big event of the weekend was making it out to Victor (way other side of the city) to see some long-time family friends. Here's the quick rundown. The Dohertys went to college with my parents and all four of them have remained friends ever since. They have three kids--Laurie is around my brother's age, Ricky is close to mine, and Dennis is a couple years younger. Over the years both families would get together periodically. The most memorable of those get-togethers was probably the Bills' playoff game against the Houston Oilers where they made that record-breaking comeback to win and head off to (lose) the Superbowl. We actually got to watch the game, which was blacked out in WNY, because the Dohertys could get Syracuse TV. Anyway...that was cool. At some point the family moved to Philadelphia for a few years. All of us kids were getting older at that point so the family get-togethers were pretty much over by then anyway. However...a few years back, Mr. & Mrs. Doherty moved back to Rochester and the parents have since resumed periodic visits, many of which center around Knighthawks games. In the meantime, all of us kids have grown up, three of us have gotten married, and now all three of us have kids. Crazy.

Well, last year around this time, when word started getting out about my pregnancy, it turned out that Laurie was pregnant as well. She (and her mom) became faithful blog readers (woohoo!), and it's spawned a nice friendship as we've gone through pregnancy and parenthood together, albeit 9-1/2 weeks apart. Our parents have also enjoying becoming grandparents together. Laurie and her mom actually met Jacob the day he was born, since Laurie happened to be in town for her baby shower and they were in the vicinity of the hospital. That was cool, since all of our interaction over the course of our pregnancies had been via email, and then she got to see my baby, and I got to see her with her cute little bump! Side note: I said this weekend that we should be the poster women for post-pregnancy life...we both got our figures back rather quickly (or so it appears in clothes anyway)!

Colin was born in late August and all along we've marveled at how similiar our paths have been, from smooth pregnancies to all these little baby steps (pun intended) of life with an infant. My blog is a preview for her of what's to come a couple months down the road, and I enjoy reading her mini-blog (on Colin's Shutterfly photo page) to see life in the rear view mirror a bit :) Although, Colin's doing better with solids than Jacob right now, so perhaps she'll start giving ME previews on more things as we go along! It's been fun, though, being able to share stories and experiences with someone going through the same sorts of things.

Unfortunately, she lives down near Philly, so we won't get to see each other in person very often. But this past weekend she ventured up (very brave to drive that far with a five-month old!) and at long last on Sunday we made it out to visit so Jacob and I (and Craig, too) could finally meet Colin! We had a really good time, and here are some pics...

Jacob loves his Christmas moose and routinely chews on his snout. He tries to do it to Mommy & Daddy's moose collection, too, but there's a reason he has moose of his own ;-)

Apparently all the activity got to be too much, and he used his moose as a pillow...so cute!

The boys were just hanging out...Colin didn't quite know what to make of Jacob just yet. Colin's also not a big fan of tummy time yet, but Jacob's getting to be an old pro. I can just see the wheels turning now when he's on all fours, thinking, "How am I going to get over there? Maybe if I just move this leg..."

Apparently the activity got to be too much for Colin, too...or maybe the rug is just that soft! But seriously, how sweet is this picture? Remember the commercial where the screaming baby just falls asleep when it hits the carpet? I think the boys were auditioning...

Does it get any more precious than that?

Well, Jacob did try to hold Colin's hand. That's pretty precious, too. Although he probably just wanted to do a taste test...Jacob's hands are probably losing some of their flavor considering how much he sucks on them.

The visit ended with Colin falling alseep while his grandpa had him perched on top of a big rocking armchair. It was so cute to watch his little eyes get heavy. All in all it was a nice visit and we're definitely looking forward to the next one. The boys will be that much more interactive and playful by then, so it should be a good time. Thanks to everyone for the hospitality, and we can't wait to do it again!