There is no way I could do this event justice by simply describing it, so I'm including several pictures to give you a sense of the excitement, sentiment, and organization that were central to this amazing gathering of women. (click on each picture for an enlargement)
There were planning committee meetings.
There were clipboards. For each guest. For "Baby Shower Bingo", "Guess the Tot", and the like.
There were Debbie's Famous Whoopie Pies. With pink and blue frosting.
There was a book assembled with computer-simulated predictions of what Tot would look like and people's guesses of names, sex, size, and arrival date and time. And some wise words of parenting advice.
There was a scarecrow/mannequin of Nate's sister Kara since she was otherwise engaged in SanFrancisco. She was wearing some killer boots.
There was a Baby Castle. With tiny plastic babies scaling the walls of it, and dozens of diapers packed inside.
I was amused by a story from our friend Sara about her shopping trip with her 5-year-old Brennan as he helped her shop for their gifts. He told her, "I know why they call it a baby shower. Because everyone gives gifts for the baby to take a shower."
"Well, not really" she explained. "I mean, sometimes there are gifts for the baby's bath, but it's more like people shower the mommy with gifts for the baby."
I guess he had quite the puzzled / horrified look on his face at that point.
"You mean," he asked "She stands there naked and you throw things at her?!"
I just love Kid Think. Can't wait to get our own source for these kinds of gems.
Despite the fact that it can, at times, FEEL as though you are naked due to the sheer number of eyes on you, I am happy to report that I remained fully clothed at all times at my baby shower. Even though it looks like I got a bit shortchanged on some denim at the bottom of my maternity jeans - see below. Classic.
Isn't it a rule that the person with eighty eyes on them for 3 hours gets told if there's some kind of fashion faux pas like that going on?? Or at least a designated person to make sure that an oversized gift bag gets strategically placed in front of her calves for the remainder of the shower?!? I also noticed when I got home that evening that I had a huge piece of spinach in my teeth for who knows how long. And a booger on my nose. Okay, okay, I guess it could be worse - it was really just the highwaters. But still. I wouldn't want to get away with looking too classy at my own shower.On a more serious note, I must share the very touching quote that was at the top of the Baby Castle. If you don't cry after you're reading this, I regret to inform that, in my unprofessional opinion, it appears that you have been born without a heart.
Okay, maybe I'll concede to being a little hormonal these days. But this quote hit me as being so profound, and actually, a positive spin on the woe-is-me mood I was in yesterday as I spent a dangerous 2 hours in the car, alone with my hormones and music. The overriding theme that continued my crying jag, to and from work, was that "My life as I know it will soon be over."
This life-as-a-non-parent. With only myself to answer to. And be responsible for.
It's been a good life.
With freedom, flexibility, control, late nights out, late mornings in, restaurant meals, cross-country road trips, crafting marathons, and theme parties. Our biggest problem on a Friday night consisting of figuring out what to do, because there's nothing that we HAVE to do. Stopping at a few stores on my way home from work and calling to say I'll be a couple of hours late. And to let's just do our own thing for dinner. Obscene amounts of free time to write blog entries of this length.
And I know, I know - we decided we were ready for a change. The ultimate next step. It's been a fine status quo, but we didn't want to continue with it for the rest of our lives.
I know that the freedom I have now will be replaced with overwhelming responsibility, but also unimaginable love for someone who is still a stranger to me. Intellectually I know this, but I haven't lived it yet. So, it's still the unknown to me. And the unknown can be scary. Even though it was our conscious decision to pursue this unknown.
So, yeah yeah yeah, I'm still Nicky... but Nicky will soon be fundamentally changing.
Stay tuned, everyone.
Nicky and Nate
36 weeks
Or, T-minus 28 days. -ish.
