Boyfriend 2.0 - a much needed update

So it turns out that my new(er) man, "Boyfriend 2.0" was a much needed and welcome update :) I now feel it's *safe* enough to include him on my blog and not incur shame in the event that he shamelessly dumps me.

This past week was a nice mini-vacation that included the often dreaded, and feared by all ... meeting of the parents. After flying to Little Rock, we traveled to Branson, MO to celebrate the 85th birthday of my granny with all of my mother's family who were gathered en masse at my aunt and uncle's lake house. Certainly an opportunity more stress inducing than a simple dinner with the parents given that all of my assorted aunts, uncles and cousins were present, as well as a generous supply of beer. Luckily Boyfriend 2.0 was well up to the task and fit in marvelously.

For my parental test, we made a slight detour through his hometown of Fayetteville, AR for brunch with his parents. We didn't get to spend a great deal of time with them, but I'm pretty convinced that they didn't totally hate me at first sight. Though he has yet to get a full report.

The picture above is the requisite cheesy old time photo that was our souvenir of our Branson trip. It was either that, a tshirt, or a mountain dulcimer ... I went with the photo. My cousin Joe was totally grossed out that they were loaner fishnets - they were just thigh highs and it didn't even occur to me to be disgusted.

In addition to this most recent trip, Boyfriend 2.0 recently traveled to Denver in early June for a get away on my week off. We went to the zoo on a beautiful sunny day, traveled to Estes Park and toured through Rocky Mountain National Park, ate Thai food quite a few times (Little Rock is sadly devoid of any quality Thai food). He passed quite the test when meeting JCR, one of my dearest friends who gave him a two thumbs up which is quite a feat for a girl who closely scrutinizes even the color of her neighbor's home. Below are pics from that visit, including a few that boyfriend (who is a wanna be amateur photographer) took of me.





Probably the most interesting event from his trip was our overnight babysitting duties for my friend Chrissy's infant twins. Chrissy and hubby had a wedding to attend in the mountains and I had offered my services. As a trained NICU nurse, how hard could it be to watch a pair three month olds?? I had arranged this gig prior to Boyfriend's plan, so I was surprised when he voiced his willingness to extend his trip knowing that 24 hours of baby watching would ensue. I have to say that it was a blast!! The twins (a boy and a girl) are absolutely adorable and it wasn't long before Boyfriend was feeding and burping like a pro despite having never attempted such duties. It was essentially 24 hours of changing diapers (which I did not make him do ... I have it down to an art form after 3 years), bottle feeding, and attempting to soothe the screaming child with reflux who is incredibly adorable when he's smiling, but quite loud when refluxing. We took them out for a walk in the park in the double stroller and between the two of us managed quite well. Despite my enjoying the experience, I still ask the universe to only grant me ONE (1) healthy child at a time if you please :) I honestly don't know how Chrissy does it!!

Hopefully this will satisfy some of those blog readers out there wondering, "what on earth is going on with Jenn's love life?" and "is she even still alive at this point?" I'm posting this from the Northwest terminal of the Little Rock airport and hoping to compose a Disney post while laying over in Memphis......