no children...

it seems crazy that the past two years of our life has been consumed with sophia...from pregnancy, to birth (early birth), to "premie" sophia, to one whole year of life with a baby girl

most days i don't notice how our life has been so drastically changed by this wonderful little girl

it now seems normal that i get up at 8 every morning...and being a nite owl, this seems VERY early

it also seems normal that i take a nap when she does if i'm not working, or have to wash diapers every other day

i guess some things you just adapt to

but there are other days when i notice the difference and change big time...like planning a trip to the grocery store-not just the quick 30 min trip it used to be

in fact, some days it takes 30 min just to get from our house to the store, parked, and walking in the front door of the store

or going out to eat...no longer a quiet time to get away...now it's an interesting time to see how long sophia can last in a wooden high chair (a long time if there are french fries around :) )

or when i get called to pick up a shift at work, before it was just, do i have housework that can't be done tonite when i get home? now it's, can i find a babysitter and get in touch with john to pick her up...so usually i end up saying no (which is fine!)

well this weekend we got a little taste of "before kids" life again

our awesome friends chris and kristi manduka decided that the couples in our small group could benefit from a weekend in a nice cabin with no children

so kristi found this amazing cabin on a private lake (that i forgot to take a picture of :( ), booked it, each couple took a meal for the weekend, we all found babysitters (thanks mom!), and about 6 pm this past friday, we were off!

chris and kristi also came up with the excellent idea to have an awesome couple from our church, the valentines, come share with us and just talk through life with kids issues

and we loved it! in fact, i'm starting to think it should be a yearly thing!

we came back sunday afternoon so excited to see little miss sophia but so relaxed, rested, excited about life and each other, and ready to take on life with kids...or at least we think we are :)

but interestingly enough, by saturday nite, most all of us parents were saying we miss our kids and were excited to see them...funny how 24 hours of non-kid fun can do that to you :)