2008 in review (Or, what has inspired me this year)

These little guys (in 2005)...

...Who are now this big.

And him, my life partner, who is my source of balance and strength every day.

Quality time together as a family...whether on vacation or around the holiday table or simple, everyday things, like hanging out in our pajamas at home (or in this case, at a campground).

This awe-inspiring victory, and what it has meant for me, our children and the potential we can reach together...reminding me just how far we have come. 

The wonderful company of female friends who are trying-to-balance-it-all-dammit. And who can also relate to this stressful, crazy, but blissful time in our lives parenting little ones.

Believing in magic, and viewing the world with the hope and wonderment that my children see with every little thing that most adults take for granted.

The beauty of children in general, and what I learn from them each day...especially the lesson about being carefree and unapologetic about anything.

The sisterhood of the traveling pant(suits)

I have a cool group of Bunko chicas I've been hanging with this year. And while many of them are very similar to me personality-wise, others are not. But we do all have one thing in common: we are all mommies who are trying to do/have/balance-it-all, dammit.

Lately, our adventures and get-togethers have extended beyond our once a month girls-night-in playing Bunko. And many of them have become my friends.

We now go to each others' kids' birthday extravaganzas.

We attend each others' own birthday dinners.

We throw each other baby showers for #2 (or #3).

We support each others' fundraisers.

We sneak away during weekend errands to get manis and pedis together.

We get together in the guise of creating farm-fresh, organic meals for our families at those big-ass dinner-packaging places when we are really just looking for an excuse to have a glass of wine with our girlfriends during the week.

We support each other when getting botox and lipo...(oh, sorry, wrong mom's club...that's in Orange County)

We even walk 5ks, train for and run half marathons together.

And so, it's opened up a whole new social circle for me: the world of Southern California suburban super-mommies. They are MY sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits.

It's a world I always knew existed but never thought I would be a part of, at least 4 years ago when I started this adventure called parenting. And here I am in the thick of it...and I love it.

But lately, my husband has been complaining.

He thinks all of these social events weekend-in and weekend-out is just too much. And that it's taking away from us. The family. Even when a lot of our activities with the sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits involve the family (outside of Bunko of course).

So why is he still bitching about it?

I am hypothesizing it's because he is slightly jealous that I've developed a bond with these ladies that he hasn't replicated with guy friends since we've lived here. I'm also conjecturing that he does not like to have his social plans almost exclusively scheduled by me. But of course, he would never admit that to me.

Or is it because, at a fundamental level, he does not understand that women need other good female friends, that they feed off each other and rely so heavily upon the female bonds we make to feel normal and semi-validated?

And that the time we spend with other women vindicates all of the seemingly crazy emotions we feel as moms-trying-to-balance-it-all-dammit. And that all of this is just par for the course of attempting to be a super-mom, a super-woman in this day, in this age, in our situations?

Well, I don't know that he will ever really understand, but I guess that's why I rely on my sisterhood.