Goodbye to Grace and Baby Lee (6 months, 20 days old)

Today we had a goodbye picnic for Grace and Baby Lee.  This was Graham’s first goodbye :(  Grace and I were in the same birthing class and her husband John and I both worked at UCSB, so even after the class was over, I still saw John.  When Graham was 4 days old, we were taking a walk and ran into Grace and Baby Lee (then a month old) on the bike path.  It was Grace who told me about the upcoming first PEP mommy group meeting (where I have met all of my mommy friends).  Grace and I started walking together when Graham was a month old and Natalie and Baby Rylan joined us a few weeks later.  We have walked together every week for months.  Our walking group (with ‘the boys’) has shared many adventures and memories.  We have run into snakes, survived baby meltdowns and learned the value of always bringing a backup carrier, shared our weekly highs and lows, watched the boys graduate from their car seats into big boy strollers, swapped ideas for fabulous new baby product inventions, and become fast friends.  Grace was always our resident expert, seemingly having thoroughly researched any baby topic we may be wondering about.  We helped each other through feeding, sleeping, and developmental stages.  Grace, John, and Lee are off to their next adventure in Washington DC and I can’t wait for the reunion when we watch the boys explore monuments, Smithsonian, the mall, etc.  Good luck Grace and Baby Lee, we will miss you!