Besties

I am so blessed to have not one, not two, but five wonderful girlfriends who I have stayed close to for more than 20 years. For most of those years we've been spread across the country, but our recent move to Cali has the added bonus of being within driving distance of three of my very best sisterfriends.

From the left: Me, Miranda ( lives in SF), Alaine (lives in Berkeley)
and Mariana (lives in LA)

My friend since we were 14, Alaine, lives four hours away in Berkeley and since our move has made the trip twice and we've been up to see her once. I've sat down to blog about our previous visits, but it's daunting because there's too much history, too many stories and so much to say about how grateful I am to have my wonderful, lifelong friend so close again.

This weekend Alaine, her husband Ian and two girls Delphine and Sophie drove down to help us get organized for the baby. Delphine, now six, was the first baby I ever held in my adult years. I fell in love with that tiny little girl and she convinced me I was ready to be a mother.

Delphine is the leader of the pack...Athena just idolizes her.

Practically the moment I found out I was pregnant with Athena, even though it was too soon to tell people, I picked up the phone to call Alaine. In that same phone call she told me she too was pregnant with her second child, Sophie, and our babies were born within two weeks of each other.

We celebrated Sophie and Athena's 4th birthdays with chocolate cupcakes and tea candles (couldn't find the birthday candles).

Since moving here, we've gotten the girls together three times, and each time they hit it off like wildfire. This weekend was no different, they galloped around the house screaming and giggling from morning til night. My girls are totally in love with Alaine's girls and my heart swells when I see them together.

Literally galloping around the house on shared horses.

The boys, Chris and Ian, painted the baby's room (woo hoo!) while Alaine and I went shopping, organized John Patrick's clothes and worked on some decorating. Alaine said she was not leaving until we had a working nursery in case John Patrick decides to come early. We still have some work to do, but it's looking really good (photos to come later).

I hope these are photos the girls will look back on many years

from now and be amazed at how little they were.

The one question on our minds this weekend is: what is a little boy going to do in the middle of all these girls?