Girls Night Out

We schedule it at 8:30 on a Friday night, so the hasbands can be home and in charge, and the kiddos can (theoretically) be in bed. We leave the men, the kids, ("Mom, where are you going? Why can't I go with you?") and even the nursing babies.

We bring lots of sugary snacks; doesn't matter if they're store bought as long as there's plenty of chocolate. And homemade apple pie was an unexpected treat. Someone brings a veggie tray, because a few bites of baby carrots and cucumbers cancels out the Keebler cookies and the Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

To the astonishment of our husbands, we don't need an xbox, a wii, or movies to keep us entertained.

We sit and talk and giggle, we commiserate and empathize and laugh.

I learn I'm not the only one annoyed by dirty socks all over the floor. We all learn that we wish we got regular visits from the laundry fairy instead of being the laundry fairy.

We talk about first kisses and worst kisses, about what drew us to our husbands and what annoys us about our husbands.

We sit and swap birth stories. (Which I am convinced is a requirement whenever you have two or more LDS women in a room at the same time...) When I get a text at midnight, just as the girls are asking me about Max's birth, I go home, get him and bring him back because I can't quite face going home yet.

We finally call it a night (a morning?) about 1:30 am as the yawns become more frequent and sleep is threatening to overtake all of us.

I return home feeling like I've just taken a healthy dose of sanity for the soul. I don't feel as invisible- instead, I feel like I've been pumped full of enough energy and friendship to last me another few weeks.

We'll need to do it all again soon.