72 Degrees and 100% Chance of Showers

I've been on maternity leave for a week now, which is supposed to mean I should be lounging, elevating, snacking, napping, reading, and snoozing. When I'm not doing any of those things, I'm supposed to be relaxing. Or so they say.

In actuality, I had to write down a list entitled "Before Baby Comes", and if Becky is reading this, we really don't know what her name is yet. We're not just being secretive. And if we did, we'd certainly tell you before we told Kathleen. :)

To get back on track, it's a long list. The most intimidating entry was "write thank-you notes" for the two baby showers that were very graciously thrown me (and the baby, but really, me). It was intimidating because of the sheer number of notes I needed to write. The shower in Utah was great - intimate, best friends and sisters-in-law (and one mother-in-law) present, and a lot of laughing and good advice. The shower in California was a madhouse. All told, there were about 70 people packed into one house, and the mountain of cute packages was an obviously daunting task.



Before launching in to the opening frenzy (and it was seriously a frenzy. I was hot and sweaty by the end of it), I made some stupid joke about it looking better than Christmas growing up. You know, you come into the family room with the presents piled everywhere and you think of how many things you're going to get and you're so excited you can hardly breathe, but then you realize the loot is divided up between 9 siblings and two parents, so you end up with 4 things, one or two of which aren't what you wanted at all. But at your baby shower, they're all for you! And since every friend and family member has cute taste (and how can you have BAD taste for a baby girl??), everything was perfect! If you can get past my double chins and the belly dropping into my crotch, I thought I'd post a few photos. This was a blanket my visiting teacher made. LOVE the orange and the dots - perfect.



These were four of the ladies who took care of the fabulous food. We became pals during our freshman year in college and ended up settling down in SoCal together, so 4 weddings, 7 kids, and 2 feti later, here we are, in all our glory.



I believe I'd made mention a time or two about my love for peanut M&Ms (I registered for large bags of them on our baby registry - despicable, I know). Well, it paid off.



I need to take a picture of it, but a friend I grew up with even knitted me a hand-sized peanut M&M, brown with the white "m" on the front. She put a little rattle inside it. The baby will not be touching it. It is mine.

To make myself feel better, I'm including a picture of two women who are/were due within days of me. Melanie, the girl in pink, *update* had her baby yesterday morning - a big boy, and Doris is due about ten days after me. We get together at church and have misery sessions together. No details given at this point.



With so many like-minded women in one spot, there were bound to be some duplicates of things, and there were, much to the disappointment of the duplicate givers. I've been there, and I've personally felt saddened that the present I gave wasn't original or necessary or whatever. To those folks, I say: the baby is going to be spitting up or pooping on everything, so I figure I'll use the duplicate while the other is in the wash.

What was extremely UNexpected was this duplicate. Are these shoes to die for or what??



One of the givers told me a week or so before the shower that she had just bought my shower present and was SO excited to give it to me, for obvious reasons. I opened hers first and couldn't help but comment that I used to have a pair of underwear that looked just like them and that they'd been my favorite pair out of my entire collection (which was extensive and ridden with personality). Then, what to my wondering eyes should appear but a duplicate pair - for a one-year old dear. Oh, how I laughed! Am I that predictable??



Ladies, thank you for a VERY memorable and sweet shower. I had a ball, and this baby is going to be dressed to the nines. I will be reminding her over and over how lucky and loved she already is.