I Suck At Seeing Friends

Since becoming a parent, I have lost track of days. I have lost track of time. Luckily, I have this thing called "work" that ever so often reminds me of what day of the week it is. As for time, my time seems based around our baby daughter's (Briana) feeding schedule.

Briana currently roughly feeds every four hours. Feeding her is like a vicious cycle. By the time Karen and I finish changing her diapers, cleaning her, feeding her, burping her, washing her bottles, making sure she goes to sleep, etc., it's almost time to repeat the cycle. Needless to say, the cycle leaves very little time for socializing with friends. I guess you can say I suck at seeing friends.

Luckily, this past weekend I was able to see a few of my friends. The funny thing about having a baby is that everyone now wants to visit you to see your baby... not you. Babies seem to have that affect on most people. It just so happens that Karen and I live with Briana... like we're both an afterthought, but I'm okay with that. I still get to see my friends either way.

On Saturday, my friend (Jen) came for a quick visit during the day. Jen came with her mother as they had spent some family bonding time by shopping. It was good to see Jen again. I sometimes feel like I don't see Jen that much. And when I do, it's generally within a larger group where the group dynamic is different, so I hardly get to chat with her. Regardless, I'm glad she came to visit.

My friends (Ron and Trinh) stopped by Saturday night. They had a busy week the week prior as one of their daughters was in the hospital (she's okay), but they had some free time on Saturday. So they also stopped by. Trinh, a mother of three, was funny. She jumped at the chance to hold Briana and she did for some time. (Ron said he'd hold Briana the next time.) Apparently, Trinh learned how to multitask while holding a baby in her arm. It's quite amazing. She made it look very easy. Given the chance, she probably could have held Briana for hours. In fact, she referred to Briana as "precious", which was a term I never thought to use when talking about Briana. The term that jumps out in my mind about Briana... stinky. Just kidding.

On Sunday, a couple of Karen's friends (Lisa and Rachel) stopped by for a visit. (Again, it was to visit Briana... or at least give them an excuse to visit Karen.) Both Lisa and Rachel know Karen through her work. I had met Lisa before while attending one of Karen's company parties. Although I had never met Rachel, I heard stories of her. And interestingly enough, her current boyfriend attended college in New Orleans and happened to be in the same fraternity as one of my other friends... while my friend was there. Small world.

For me, it was good to place a face to Rachel's name. Oddly enough, she happened to be a Facebook "friend" of mine and I had not never even had a conversation with her. (Crazy how Facebook works that way.) Needless to say, Lisa and Rachel were quite nice. As they were all dietitians, it made for an interesting time. It almost reminded me of those get-together dinners that Karen has with my friends (Hot Amy and Dolores) who are also dietitians. Interestingly enough, Lisa and Rachel recommended that I have ice cream with chocolate chip cookies. After a recommendation like that from two dietitians, how could I say no to ice cream?

While Lisa and Rachel were visiting, my favorite sister-in-law (Janine), my niece (Kaleigh) and my friend (Gretchen) also stopped by Sunday. Janine has been trying to visit Briana... when Briana was awake. Every time Janine had stopped by before, Briana was fast asleep. As luck would have it, Janine got to see Briana awake for the first time.

Needless to say, Briana got to see a lot of people this weekend. In fact, she got to be held by a lot of people this weekend, which is good because Karen and I think Briana is quite the cuddle bug. Briana apparently loves to be held. And really who doesn't like to be constantly hugged? (No, I'm not jealous.) While being held, Briana practically makes no peep. People have even asked us if she ever cries. Trust me. She does. If people only knew her once they leave...