Baby Shower 1.0

On Sunday, March 21, your aunt Nikki hosted a baby shower to celebrate you and help us get ready for your arrival. I was worried about it. I'm never comfortable being center of attention, especially at an event where everyone brings you gifts and you have nothing to give but your sincere gratitude and appreciation. As anxious as I was, I had such a great time. Your Aunt Nikki and Great Aunt Kathy came up with the cutest decorations, the yummiest munchies, and I would say the funnest games, except I didn't win any of them.

They had a three-tier "cake" made out of rolled up diapers and decorated with ribbon, little butterflies, and mini plastic bottles, pacifiers, and pins. It is so cute, I haven't had the heart to take it apart yet. They also had a bouquet of "roses" made out of little baby socks. This is sitting on your dresser right now because I can't take it apart either. Everything looked so nice, right down to the teeny tiny little bottles they had spread out on the table with the cake and on the counter with the food.

We played some games, which the competitor in me loved. For one of the games, you had to guess what the poo was in the diaper. Most were candy bars--Twix, Three Musketeers, Tootsie Roll, etc. It was fun watching people peer into and sniff diapers. I don't know why, but no one would taste the poo to determine what it was. When we arrived, everyone received a little clothespin to clip on. Later we were told that during the shower, if someone caught us saying the word "baby," they could take our clothespin(s). The person with the most at the end would receive a prize. Your second cousin, Christy McKinley, tricked me by asking me what was in the little jars for the next game. I responded (thinking to myself, baby food, duh), "looks like baby food," and she took my clothespin. Sure, I'm an idiot for falling for it, but how rude is she for tricking the pregnant chick out of her clothespin?! I definitely underestimated her sneakiness. Keep that in mind, Sophie. Look out for that Christy McKinley. So they had taken the labels off the baby food, and we had to guess what kind of food it was for the next game. I only got three of them right, and I only got the third one because your Great Aunt Peggy whispered it to me. Finally, we had to guess how many strawberry whoppers were in a baby bottle bank. I was way off, almost doubling the number. So I'm easily tricked, have no idea what kinds of things babies eat, am bad at math, and couldn't even win the candy game (if you can believe that). But I still love those silly games!

Getting ready for you is a costly endeavor, to say the least, and everyone who attended the shower was so generous. The guest list included (almost everyone was from your dad's side of the family): Grandma Peggy, Great Grandma June, your adopted Grandma Laura (Aunt Nikki's mom), Aunt Kandace (along with Uncle Keith and your cousins made the trip from Indiana), Great Aunt Peggy and her daughter Mary, Great Aunt Elta, your second cousins Christy and Stacie, and Jennifer Cox (a friend of ours--your dad used to work with her, and she adopted our kitty, PJ, and gave him a home for many years). As I've mentioned, your Great Aunt Kathy was there too, but she really co-hosted the party.

Your adopted Grandma Laura crocheted a blanket and personalized it with your name, and Great Aunt Kathy made you a rag quilt and a Moses basket. Your Grandma Peggy also made you a Winnie The Pooh quilt but gave it to us before the shower. All beautiful keepsakes. We received three neat little gadgets I never knew existed: 1) a thermometer we can just run over your forehead to take your temperature, instead of probing your little bum; 2) a rinse cup that is flat on one side with a little rubber piece that gets placed above your eyes and conforms to your noggin so when we pour the water, you don't get any water and/or soap in your eyes; and 3) feeder bottles made for the transition to cereal, so you don't have to get used to cereal and spoons all at once. Who knew? Well, apparently the great moms in the room knew, and now yours does too. Your closet is filling up, thanks to all the cute outfits many people gave. Christy and Stacie made you "Sophie's Closet." It had little doors that opened, and a bunch of little onesies hung up inside. Christy had some of them embroidered with your name, and your Aunt Nikki's favorite is one that has "I (heart) Aunt Nikki" on it. Stacie painted your name and little birds and flowers on the closet. So creative! We also received a high chair, Boppy pillow, bibs, burp cloths, sleepers, pacifiers, a gift certificate, and more. We're well on our way to actually being prepared for you.

Your dad, Uncle Paul, Uncle Keith, and cousins Kyle and Kaleb all went to see the movie "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" while the shower was in progress. They got back just as the last guests were leaving. We certainly didn't want the menfolk there during our all-girl party. But we did get to visit with them afterward. Your Aunt Kandace was in rare form. She kept me laughing all afternoon. I would go into detail, but most of it is wildly inappropriate for little ears (or teenage ears), especially since it involves your nearly perfect aunt and mom. Let's just say it was mostly girl stuff.

After such a great day, thanks to all who came--with a special thanks to a lovely hostess, Sister Nik, and her partner in crime, Great Aunt Kathy--I'm really looking forward to the next one. On April 13, we will celebrate you again at a baby shower at my boss's house, hosted by a few friend from work. One of the best things about being at a baby shower is that it is totally appropriate to go on and on about you, without feeling like I'm overdoing it with baby talk. We all know that any time someone dominates a conversation month after month with the same subject, it can get boring for the listener(s). But everyone expects me to talk about you at baby showers. So I can't wait, because you are my favorite subject.

What Do We Do With You?

March has been the month of classes. We decided against birthing classes. Lots of people told us it wasn't worth it. My doctor's opinion was that some women feel empowered having the information and some women are just overwhelmed by it. I believe I fall within the latter. I've decided that when I get to the hospital, they're going to tell me what to do and a really long time after that, you will arrive no matter what I learned or didn't learn from those classes. However, I did start to feel like I couldn't go into this totally blind, so your dad and I started reading the Labor and Delivery chapter from "What To Expect When You're Expecting." We had to stop last night after reading the An Episiotomy section. It had me screaming and covering my ears and your dad closing his eyes and wiping his forehead. Now I'm back to thinking I should just go into this blind. What I don't know won't make me scream before I have to.

The first class we took was Going Home: The First 90 Days. This one was important to us. We wanted to know what to do with you when we weren't in the hospital with a bunch of experts. A lot of it was common sense, but it's funny how sometimes you don't really think about something until someone says it out loud. We learned about bathing you before and after the icky part of your belly button falls off. We practiced making a baby Bean burrito (swaddling) which your dad is better at than me. I, however, was better at the diapering. Not sure I should be admitting that though. In his defense, the diaper was a little small for the doll we were working with. The teacher went over safety issues, breast feeding, bottle feeding, bathing, and more. She made us aware of just how much you will poop, what it should look like, and how much time we'll spend just feeding and changing you. But the best thing I learned--and I had no idea that there were products being sold just for this purpose--was about Tummy Time. Tummy Time will be my favorite!! This time is for you to practice moving your little noggin and strengthening your neck, but more importantly... it is time to get your back side naked to give it a little air. It is the time I will spend grabbing, patting, and tickling your little bum. I can't wait, because there is nothing cuter than a baby butt, and now I find out that there is actually an excuse to set aside time to get it!

We also took an infant CPR class so we know how to help you if you stop breathing and what to do if you start choking, besides freak out. I think your dad and I both felt like we learned everything from the book they sent us. However, we also both agreed that reading about how deep you push into the chest for CPR and how hard you hit for choking is much different than actually doing it. We were glad we got to practice on the CPR mannequin. I'm hoping that having this knowledge is like bringing an umbrella when there is a chance of rain, that I'll never have to use it.

I do feel better after taking these classes, but I'm convinced that there aren't enough classes or books to really prepare us for what we're getting into, for the overwhelming responsibility of taking care of you, of raising you. I think we'll get most of it right, hopefully the really important things, but some of it we just won't. To help make up for our inevitable mistakes, we plan to teach you all about tolerance and forgiveness. It should help when you think we're driving you crazy.