Stuff

I'm a little overwhelmed with the amount of "stuff" that comes with/before baby.

I spent the afternoon at Lan and Michael's baby shower. Lovely day by the pool. Four preggos in all. Snacks and booze (I had half a beer) and kids and water noodles.

And presents. So many presents. They must have 50 onesies now. Really amazingly cute onesies and shirts for sure. But holy crap, there were a lot.

Ross and I made way for the piano (deal = I get pregnant, he gets a piano) by ditching old couch, coffee table, vinyl cave/stereo stand and bookshelves. We moved my couch/bed downstairs, bought a massive IKEA shelving system to hold all his records and all of "our" books. So there's a ton more room in the living room.

By removing the sofa from my room, we'll have room for the bookshelf we are converting to clothes/toy shelves and a cushy rocking chair thing that I can squirt milk on, study or sleep in.

We have a crib, but have not set it up and a stroller in the shed. (Thanks, Tracy and Goran!)

We have a chair/massage thing, that I think I can hang on a hook when we're not using. (Thanks Mike and Carly!)

We have a car seat in my car, that needs to be de-catified. (Thanks Kate and Jason!)

And I have a box of hand-me-downs, including at least a dozen adorable pink-ish things that have never been worn. (Thanks Nicole and Piper and Sander!)

And the shower/bbq festivities are this week. I LOVE getting gifts. I love the attention. I love seeing what people "gift," make, recycle, offer, etc. And I even had fun putting together the registry and list of goodies.

But watching Michael and Lan open all the baby stuff (bouncy chair, I want! play mat with oodles of toys, so cute! etc.) made me feel, yeah, overwhelmed. And I found myself wishing I could drink more than one drink, in a row, in quick succession, maybe even on a mostly empty stomach at the bbq/shower, to better handle the fact that all these gifts mean that baby being here, on the outside of my body and demanding all these things that I have been preparing for and in no way can ever prepare for, is right around the corner.

But, rather than get loaded while pregnant in order to deal, I'll make a list of who gives what so I can send out a thank you note that includes a print of her tiny foot. Or a placenta print. Sonogram? Photo of her sleeping on Ross's belly? Photo of me in mid labor, being all cave woman and stuff? Or more likely, I'll make the list, make plans to do some creative, sweet, original arty thank you note and not. quite. get. to it. For a while, anyway, after she is born, and is here, and is amazing and alive.

And none of the stuff, that we don't get, can't afford or can't find a place for, will really matter. At all.