Showered on by Gap friends...

Shower #1 was a fantastic success, regardless of my anxieties beforehand. Not that I really had any doubts. I didn't actually take any pictures with my camera, but I know a couple of gals have posted them on Facebook, so I'll go on for the first time in about 4 months and try and connect the dots so you can see them.

One of my favorite things about this shower, aside from the great people, and they really are great people. I know I gripe about a few of them, but some of them, I think I'll be friends with for life. And those ones, well, even Mike had a good time with them, which considering the fact that they're my people and he doesn't see them much, I consider that a great compliment to them. Anyways, so one of my other favorite things, this was an especially mixed group, co-ed, young people, moms, college students, working-types, etc. and the gals organizing this shindig decided that shower games might not be the best. One of them, my girl Polly, had been to another shower last year where they had everybody decorate a onsie for the new baby. And here are some of my favorites.

I guess a couple of these might need explaination. The "cute as a bug" one is from Marcia, who loves lady bugs. When I was in Hawaii with Mom, I found her these great little lady bug tumble glasses, and with Marcia, you just buy her those things because you always know that she'll just love them.

These two are front and back. My dear, sweet husband, from the very beginning of our little adventure of growing into parents, has insisted on calling my ever-growing belly "Cleatus the Fetus." I have this ridiculous paranoia that somehow this will follow our poor child far beyond his/her time of being an actually fetus, so I tried really hard to squelch this habit. But of course, my peeps at the Gap caught wind of this, and especially Polly likes to harass me with this. So her's is the one that says "Cleatus" which apparently means "illustrious" at which point she felt the need to justify this with "see mom, it's not so bad." Grrrrr....

And my guy Kory (who's 6'7" and also got us a onsie with a giraffe on it that says "vertically chanllenged" :) who shares a love and devotion to great or not-so-good '80's movies and music, painted the one that says "no one puts baby in a corner."

And though he's still designing his personal masterpiece, also of great note, my buddy Eric got us a onsie that has Bob Marley on it and says "B is for Bob." Totally perfect coming from Eric, and I must say, Mike and I both love it too. What can I say, our kid's going to be the coolest kid on the block.

A different take on a window box...

I stole an idea from a long-past TLC show, maybe "While You Were Out" or perhaps "Trading Spaces," and in our third floor apartment where bringing the outside in, especially in MN, it works quite well, if I do say so myself. Yes, those are test tubes, also especially appropriate for our househole, the bracket-thing is some kind of tool-holder from Menards or Home Depot, and I have them perched under a mirrored window frame that I think I inherited from Aunt Barb. And roses from the Flower Guys (Jim and Harold) at the Farmer's Market. Why is it that such little things make me so happy?

Showers...

Don't know about you all, but I find it very difficult to be the center of attention and completely out of control, all at the same time.  I have two baby showers rapidly approaching, and I scoff at the term "baby shower."  I know we're getting all the stuff for the baby, and I don't know how we'd afford or be able to pull everything together without these blessed events, but I'm the one who has to survive them!  And this is all me, by the way; I have confidence in all parties involved in organizing these that they will be great events, just my own psychosis, is that the right word?  I love to host parties or showers or dinners, but man, remove that control and make me have a roomful of people sit and stare at me, and I break out into a sweat just thinking about it.