I mentioned a few posts ago how awesome it is to have friends.  And how lucky we are when we have good, TRUE friends.  We all have those people that we say hi to and are friendly with.  But then we have those people who know us inside and out.  People we could not talk to for months and then we’d pick up a phone or drop an email having never missed a beat.  The friends who have been with us since before we became the current us (and still like us anyways).  The true friends.  Someone that I know calls them “rocking chair friends” – the ones we’ll sit with on our porches when we’re 85 and drinking lemonade on a hot day.  That person.  That friend.

I have been lucky enough to have three of these friends in my life.  Some people have more, what can I say, I’m particular 😉  One of them is Nicole.  I met Nicole while teaching Spanish my first year at Page High down in North Carolina.  I was a floater which meant I didn’t have a classroom  – every period I was in a new room with my cart.  One of the rooms I was assigned to was Nicole’s.  (No bother that she kicked me out a few weeks in because she couldn’t run student council while I was in there – we got past that.)  We hit it off pretty much immediately.  This was when we were dating our husbands, but not yet engaged.  So we hung out, we went out, we socialized together, we bbq’d together, she was my best friend in NC and pretty much my rock when Matt was super busy and occupied with med school.   Our anniversaries are two days apart (one year apart).  Nicole was in my wedding and I helped in hers (she had much older rocking chair friends ;))  She got pregnant with her first child (a boy) and six months later I was pregnant with mine (a boy).  Repeat for #2 as well but with girls.  Kind of scary since we didn’t plan it that way. Basically, we’ve been through a lot together and lots of years.  (And so have our husbands who have a nice little bro-mance when they hang out) And through everything, through moving to Philly for four years and then moving here to RI we have stayed friends.  It might be a little while between calls or emails, but it doesn’t matter.  And now we have watched our oldest children become friends as well (as much as four and five year olds can) which is a really nice treat.  Maybe all of our kids will end up rocking chair friends, too.

When I found out Nicole was pregnant with her third (and a note to readers and especially my mother, no, I am NOT following in her shoes this time.  No 3rd children anytime soon.) I started plotting how to come down and do her newborn photos.  We worked on a plan for a while and then just picked a date about two weeks after she was due.  Charlotte ended up coming a week early so I was a little nervous when I got down there just how much I would be able to do with a three week old.  I didn’t need to even be slightly concerned as it turned out.  At three weeks, she would wake up, cry a little, eat and then sleep for three or four hours.  Repeat.  Yup.  I did three different sessions with her and only one time did she wake up.  Out of all three.  It was amazing.  I would pay serious money for all of my babies to be like her.  And not only did she sleep, she was gorgeous to boot and just so perfect.   And I got to stay and snuggle all nine pounds of her as much as I wanted. How lucky am I???  🙂

I really didn’t want to come home this time.  But then I couldn’t have edited all of these pictures to share with you and, well, that would’ve just been plain awful.  So, Miss Charlotte.  (There’s a lot)