I’ve been attempting to write about my trip for the last three days, and have scrapped the entry each time. It just kept getting too long and disorganized. So I’ve decided to split it up into three entries to be a little easier to sift through. (I make it sound like it was such a monumental weekend… really it was just a nice visit, so don’t get your hopes up for too much profound insight.)
Part 1 is dedicated to… Stuff.
The shower was just lovely, with many sides of my blended family represented. It was family-only, which made it a more manageable size, and everyone got along great. It was a picture-perfect Sunday in Chicago. Unseasonably warm at 80 degrees and sunny, so we spent most of the time outside.
The gift-opening ritual at a shower always seems a little awkward to me. I really did appreciate every single gift, from the diaper genie to every adorable onesie. But no matter how sincere my gratitude, I always feel a little fake making a scene each time I unwrap something. And I know it’s not the most fun to sit through all of the ooh-ing and ahh-ing, so I try to keep things moving along while not rushing. It’s a balancing act.
Despite my mom’s attempts to warn people of the difficulties of transporting things back to Boston, the sheer volume of stuff at the end of the day was daunting. A few people had shipped large items, like carseats and a high chair, directly from the registry to Boston. But I still got a diaper genie, bathtub, and pack & play presented in person. I had brought an extra duffle bag, and by a miracle of packing and creative carry-ons, I managed to get nearly everything home on the plane, save for the baby bathtub. However, it had a gift reciept on it, so my mom (genius!) decided to return it for me and send me the merchandise credit so I can then buy it for myself back home.
When I got it all home (thank goodness for the Smarte Cartes at the airport, even if they’ve gone up to $3), I was dying to unpack it all and show my husband the adorable onesies, hats, blankets, and other assorted very small items. And then it hit me. I couldn’t unpack. There’s nowhere to put it all.
It suddenly hit us how much there is to do, and how little time there really is. I mean, they could easily be here in three months, give or take a couple of weeks! And here we are, no cribs, no dressers… nothing. I finally came up with a solid idea for what we’ll do with our two baby rooms (one for sleeping, one for feeding/changing/dressing), but now we have to implement it. There is much cleaning, purging, rearranging, painting… and purchasing to be done. Time to get a move on.
Oh, and time to write thank you notes. Thank you, everyone!!
