so here's what we had to do....

We went to my sister's for a pre Christmas visit with friends, food and beverages. The people my sister and brother in law are friends with down here are wonderful, fun people that come from everywhere and have somehow all ended up in the Tampa, Clearwater or Brandon area. My husband and I got there early to hang out, visit each others babies and help out. We left at 8:30 pm...the reason why that's a big deal is usually at parties we are the last people there, in fact we usually stay the night over in Brandon, as do they when they come over here (an hour drive across Tampa). We had to make that decision that every person with a child has to make- how long to stay, how long till we have children that are suddenly turning into devil's advocates running around with meatball appetizer toothpicks and trying to swim in their pool.
Jude is great right now, all he needs is a feeding every 3 hours and he chills out looking at everyone with a furrowed brow, just like I do (he is a smaller, male version of myself). The big decision consists of the comfort factors...we decided instead of staying untill 11 or so, then having to get home, put everyone to bed, then trying to stay up like we do to bond over some wine or a movie and conversation- we decided to leave. That in itself is the big sacrifice...the big "we're doing this because we have children" decision, and it worked! We were able to have a great time, visit, and then have a few hours here on a humid 80 degree Saturday night, and have time for me to write on this blog, and not feel like we missed out. What a great night.
After 2.5 years of parenthood, I felt that i finally figured out the solution. It was a moment of zen, with Phillip driving out of Brandon, past the Ybor city signs, the Tampa International Airport where he works, through the Courtney Campbell Causeway, looking at the lights on the boats docked at Rocky Point, and into our beloved Clearwater/Dunedin area. We worked it out, half the evening out with two boys, and then half the evening with them in bed and us just enjoying ourselves at home. A very nice Saturday night.
And of course, what better way to bond than over "Talledega Nights" with Ricky Bobby on cable and some weird shaped white dog named The Dude who has moved with us six times, and never once has asked us to please feed him some organic, expensive dog food. Dream on, The Dude, maybe after tax returns.
These are good times, people, good freaking times.