18 and counting

No, I'm not talking about the Duggar family. I'm talking about our Friday night standby, affectionately known as Baby Happy Hour. BHH was born on a fall evening in 2004. Before kids, every Friday we would attend happy hour after work, and eventually end up at dinner somewhere with all of our friends. When we had kids, we were not going to let those pesky progeny change our plans. We were going to be the cool parents, and kids weren't going to keep us from our happy hour! I know, you are thinking, best-laid plans, right. You know what the commercial says, having a baby changes everything.

But we did it. Charlie and Joseph attended their first happy hour, at Onion Creek, the Friday after they came home from the hospital. The next Friday, we welcome their new friend Cate to happy hour. We modified our plans only slightly, conceding to frequent only bars with outside decks (smoke isn't good for infants, we'd heard).

Then one fall evening at Onion Creek we arrived for happy hour early. Luke was now walking well and was into everything. His baby brother Sam had arrived, meaning that their mom and dad had to handle an infant and a roaming toddler. Cate, Charlie, and Joseph had started eating solids. By the time we got there, we had to feed babies from a baby jar, then a bottle. Cate's mom nursed her in a bathroom stall. We had only been there half an hour--the whole time feeding babies--when we had to leave our beers half-drunk in order to put the kids to bed.

So the three couples hatched a plan, which we affectionately called baby happy hour. We would have our own happy hour, but at one of our houses instead of out at a bar, every Friday night. The tradition has held strong for well over four years now. And it's such a good idea, many of our kidless friends show up too. And we've added a few families along the way.

Which brings me to the title of this post. This week, the aforementioned Luke and Sam welcomed twin baby sisters, Anna and Tess. With these new additions, the "baby" (and now, kid) aspect of baby happy hour has grown to--get this--eighteen children. All age six and under! And those are just the regular attendees. It doesn't count five or so occasional attendees. And for the "and counting" . . . there are two more babies on their way!

So, here's to Luke, Jack, Cate, Charlie, Joseph, Ellia, Claire, Avery, Sam, Jane, Frances, Vaughn, Helen, Will, Meredith, Vince, Anna, Tess, and the two more on the way. We enjoy every Friday night we get to spend with you kids, and our friends, and I know we will miss it when the time comes that you all no longer want to spend your Friday nights with us.