Dedicated to Sveden

A day off in my world from work especially when voluntarily elected translates into sleep till 6:50 a.m. as opposed to 5:50 a.m.. Clean, dress and feed kids so Josh can run them to school while staring at undone chores, mounds of laundry and a million other little projects I always intend to do but somehow never get around to until I have a "day off" !

These past couple of weeks have been extremely busy and I decided on Sunday that I was taking an "all me" day. What better way to spend it than an hour from home at my really good friend Chanti's house and conveniently she just had a brand new baby that I was sure she would let me hold all day if that is what I wanted to do.

I FB'ed her with my request to come and spend the day at her house.. of course she is on maternity leave mode and excited.. so it was set..

I have known Chanti since 1998-early 99. She was Josh's best friend in high school and we met in Norfolk VA. Her story was that she was coming to "approve" of Josh's new love and my story is she showed up (military orders) and we just hit it off right away.. there was no question in my mind of course whether Josh's new love would be approved of *wink*

Since then we have kept in touch over the years and found ourselves all back in Houston-via Florida-via Italy-via Iceland (for her)-via Connecticut-via (for her again) Virginia and now, well now we are here..

She got her nickname, which actually started off as a joke about her attempt to learn the Icelandic language. Some of the words she tried to tell me, were bizarre sounding, but always fun to say.. and I am certain we mixed some German words in there too.. Offweeterzing.. (ok, sorry I do not know how to spell that) Anyways.. she began calling me Sveden (in German/Icelandic/Swiss accent and it has always stuck.. So, when I say Sveden, I mean my sweet friend Chanti..

In any case, her and I got to spend an entire day doing nothing at all.. We literally sat on the couch ALL DAY! I think we tallied it at 7 hours.. I did however get to meet Julian, hold him, and giggle with Chanti about all the funny newborn sounds he makes, the way he smiles now and how she is so excited to hear what his voice will sound like.. there is nothing better than to watch a brand new mommy and her glow for her new love.. a newborn baby.. We did order some chinese food and I took several pictures of her dogs, Diesel and Lance.

Diesel is massive and the most lovable Doberman I have ever met.. He smiles.. and if you have ever seen a Doberman smile, it looks like he is snarling.. I really tried hard to get a picture of it, but he doesn't smile on command like everything else he does.. he can play dead, speak, sit, stay, fetch, whisper..etc.. etc... He also responds to Chanti's command of "really?" which is what she says when he is being a clown or hounding her for attention. The other really adorable thing he does is sit on her couch without touching his paws to it.. *smile*

Lance is the mini version of Diesel and I love him just as much.. He is not as tricky and social as Diesel, but none the less a perfect fit for the Aldana family.. :) (Adrian is not pictured here :) )

Anyways.. I had a wonderful day and we look forward to doing it at least once a month now! Thanks Chanti for all you have done for me, you are a great friend.