SOOO much to catch up!!

So the last time I blogged was only on Wednesday, but SOOOO much has happened since then! Not only did some kick-ass Navy SEALS kill the most hated terrorist in the WORLD , but we got a visit from one of my BEST friends in the ENTIRE world, Mandy/KatMandoo, AND we got to spend a weekend with family raising money and awareness for our AWESOME nephew, Corbyn, who is living with a blood disorder that needs a cure, AND we had a fabulous time enjoying GORGEOUS weather at a beautiful park while cooking out, celebrating family birthdays, and remembering Eric's stepmom, Robin!

While history was being made and bin Laden was getting what he deserved, I was proudly snapping  pictures and video from a FABULOUS weekend filled with some of my very favorite people on the planet :)  We'll start with Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday.....

A little history...waaaay back in 2006, Eric and I started trying to get pregnant the summer after we got married.  I knew HOW women got pregnant (duh), but I knew that we might be up against some special circumstances due to my cyst issues, so I wanted to make sure we were giving ourselves the best odds each month. A quick google search brought me to AmericanBaby.com, where I found a huge interactive group of mommy message boards dedicated to the questions and concerns I was having! Whether you were "Trying to Conceive", "Pregnant", "Parenting a Toddler", or "Raising a Preschooler" or all of the above,, there was a group for you on those message boards.  I started out on the "TTC" board and desperately wanted to "graduate" to the "Pregnant" board quickly!  There wasnt a specific "IVF" or "Fertility Treatment" board there, but I found an INCREDIBLE group of girls who walked through our fertility, and eventually, adoption journey with us, via the internet.  Thought the message boards no longer exist, many, many of those girls are still great friends to me via facebook or blogging or email, and I am continually amazed by how much they all love Whitney like their own, having prayed for her from "the start".  Those friendships are so special to me and to Eric, who got to know these girls and their kids through their kind gestures or emails of prayers and concern and hope through the years.  Some of the girls even sent me their unused fertility medications after they got pregnant, and many of these girls sent gifts when Whitney finally came home.  These girls werent just "internet friends" or "people I talk to online".  They have literally become true FRIENDS. 
(Well, most of them anyway. There is that tragic handful of girls who are just so manipulative and pathetic to their cores that they ONLY have friends on the internet because they simply COULD NOT manage a true, real-life friendship in the real world. Those girls have been weeded out ("WEED" ....haha, get it?? Couldnt resist.) now, and only the good girls remain in my life.)  And that brings me to Mandy.

As friend after friend became pregnant (in real life AND the friends in my computer), I found myself venting and crying and laughing and bonding with one internet friend in particular.  On the message board, you could have a "signature" where you could post badges or blinkies that let people know a little bit about you.  I had a small blinkie that said "Tall Chicks Rule", and Mandy messaged me asking if she could snag it for her own signature.  We got to talking and the rest is history!  HERE is what she wrote about our friendship on her own blog in 2008. (Scroll down...im last)  We have chatted through email while we were both at work or as our husbands begged to know what we were laughing about.  We've laughed and cried over AOL Instant Messager at all hours of the day or night and through several time zones, as she lived in Illinois, then in Belgium until March, and is now back in Illinois...and now that she's back in the States, we find ourselves texting throughout the day.  We worry about each other and bring each other back to reality when necessary and when life throws us curveballs, and we are thrilled and excited for one another when life blesses us beyond our wildest dreams, over and over.  We just have one of "those" relationships where I can tell her anything and she wont judge me, and vice versa.  Yet....five years after she asked to join my "Tall Chicks Rule" club, we had never met in person. 

So when Mandy's family moved back after a three year business trip to Belgium, naturally her first priority was booking a trip to see ME!! I kid.  But really, when they arrived back in Illinois and her hubby was settling back into the working world, Matt was awesome enough to request (demand?) the days off work so they could book their tickets to come see us for a week this month.  We are alllllll sooooo excited for the very first KatMandoooo Adventure.

Side note: Get it? KAT...MAND...DOOO!! Four years ago we thought we were absolute geniuses when we came up with that nickname...and then it stuck and  our husbands and other internet friends from those American Baby days started refering to us as "KatMandoo"...and so, of course, we embraced the silliness, started talking about "katmandoo" in our real lives, and we now wear it proudly since its like our own little symbol of strength and enduring, lasting, meaningful friendship.
To be honest, unfortunately, and with few exceptions (you know who you are, and if you read this blog!) we found out that the original group of girls who came to be called the "Hot Mamas" ended up being ruined,  spoiled, and dragged through some rough dirt by some of  "those crazy people you meet on the internet" type people I mentioned above.  The kind we later found out were growing marijuana in their basement, steps from their childrens' playroom....and then using suspected drug money to lavish extreme, attention-seeking gifts on my kid. WEIRD!  Or the kind who cant handle the children God placed in her own home, yet is now running for a seat on her local school board.  SCARY! The kind who CANT maintain friendships in real life, so they lie and make stuff up online to make themselves appear to be something they are definitely NOT.  And while they arent ALL horrible, weak, manipulative, painfully unimaginative women,  I have learned that being a sheep isnt a good way to live life either. 
So while I clearly and, yet, passive aggressively, dislike those girls, I can honestly say that, like all people, God placed them in my life for a reason. They taught me a lot.  They taught me what happens when someone loses their sense of self and their self respect.  They taught me how important it is to have (and keep!) good girlfriends who you can trust without question.  And they taught me that sometimes good things do happen to bad people.

Aaaaand, moving on.  That is the last time Mandy or I will bother giving those girls the time and attention they have sought from us for SOOO long.  We are extremely proud of our friendship, and are BEYOND excited for Mandy and her family to come stay with us for a week! We are going to spend several days at Disney, have lunch with the princesses, spend time at Bibbity, Bobbity Boutique, go to the beach, hang in the pool, and lose track of the number of times we wet our pants laughing and having fun! 

As we planned this fabulous week of fun, and as our awesome husbands got the week off from work to join in our adventures, Mandy texted me from work one day and said "business trip to conference in Orlando week of April 25th. You be around?"  I texted back immediately:  "Are you joking!? OF COURSE! You tell me when and I'll be there!"

And so our KatMandoo Preview was set :)

Mandy flew in on Wednesday night and I happily met her at her hotel where I greeted her with a bottle of wine and some flowers....thus, prompting the check-in desk to ask "umm, how many people are staying in your room??" because there was only one bed. Nope. Not that kinda friends :) But I cant blame them for putting those "clues" together haha
We went to dinner and chatted like we had just had dinner last week and Mandy joked, "Thats what happens when you rack up thousands of hours on instant messager night after night!"
We snapped this pic, and excitedly posted it to Facebook for the other girls and family to see us in the same room together after alllll these years:

Matt Millhollin (Mandy's hubby), Stori Nicole Harper (Hot Mama), DeeAnn Kasprick (ORIGINAL Hot Mama) and 9 others like this..(other Hot Mamas, my fabulous neighbor who was excited to meet Mandy, my hubby, and a few other great AB friends-for-life)

Ashley Markisohn (Mandy's sister) REAL LIFE!!! And wait...did you cut your hair off sid??


April 26 at 10:42pm ·Lauren Weese (Hot Mama) Yay!! I'm so happy for y'all! I know how bad y'all wanted that time together! Hope y'all had a great day!


April 26 at 10:48pm ·Randi Hubbard (FABULOUS AB friend who became a 'real life' friend when her family visited Orlando last year) SO very awesome :)


April 26 at 11:16pm ·Cyndi Bern Scott (Mandy's Mommy) oh look at the two of you in the same photo!!!!!! finally!


April 27 at 12:05am ·Amanda Millhollin Yayyyy. Can't wait to take an even better one!


April 27 at 12:24am · Sarah Geiter (Mandy's high school bestie) ‎*tear* so excited for you two!!! :)


April 27 at 3:01am · Brittani Bowman Lee (Hot Mama)  Awesome. Miss u girls!

Both of our hubbies asked us if it would be weird or if we would be nervous to meet each other for the first time.  Matt likened it to meetin on eHarmony or a dating website, where you chat a little bit ahead of time, but dont REALLY know someone.  Mandy and I both laughed that A) our husbands are SOOOOO alike and B) neither one of us was even SLIGHTLY nervous about the other one chopping us up into small bits and sprinkling us in a field somewhere, never to be seen again.  We know each other well enough to know that we arent "those" people.  It all just fell into place neatly and nicely, like we grew up together.  And in a sense, we did!

The next afternoon, after Mandy's conference was done, she headed to our house to meet Whitney and Eric and spend the night before heading back to Illinois.  Her daughter, Brooklyn, was upset and asked "How come YOU got to meet Whit-a-nee FIRST??"  And I was instantly overwhelmed and teary-eyed when our Whitterbug immediately became best friends with Miss Mandy, showing her toys and asking her to read books.  And my heart melted jsut a little bit when Whitney begged "Miss Mandy, Up! Up! UPppie!!" on Friday morning when Mandy was packing to leave us.  She cuddled her close and put her head on Mandy's shoulder...something she has NEVER done with ANY of my friends, no matter how much she adores them all!  Whitney reallllly, genuinely LOVES Mandy, and that means the world to me.  And Mandy really, genuinely LOVES my daughter, and doesnt have to spend money or bake her giant cakes to prove it.  She shows it through her words and her hugs and her smile.  And THAT is what earns someone an extra special place in our lives and hearts. 

This picture was taken within 10 minutes of Mandy walking in our front door.  Its like Whitney just KNEW she loved Mandy already.  :) I can not WAIT to get my arms around Brooklyn this Saturday!!!!

Whitney absolutely cracks UP when Miss Mandy says "Porkchop! Porkchop!  Porkchop!" and tickles her legs.   We couldnt get Whitney to smile for a picture this weekend, so we just busted out "Porkchop!" and she smiled and lit up and said "Miss MAY-un-DEE says dat!!!"

We went to visit my mom and dad so they could meet the other half of KatMandoo, too! She means sooo much to me and I love that she cares about our family as much as she does about our Whitter.

We are plotting and planning our week together, but are also excited to let the good times roll without needing a plan for every single second of the day and night.  We just KNOW we are going to have a great time with lots of fun and excitment and happy memories.....and are already pre-planning the KatMandoo Vegas Adventure for the end of the year! (Kids not included...)

And, like I promised, I will be back with fabulous pics and video from our FUN weekend with family, but all the special events from the past week deserve their very own posts :)