The Number Field

Happy shower attendees.

Before anything else, I want to thank Christine for planning and executing a fantastic baby shower for Jenny. In addition, thanks to John and Karina for opening their house. Finally, thanks to everyone who came to the shower, or who wanted to come but had other obligations. Thanks for your gifts, of course, but also for your love and support as we get ready for the baby to arrive.

Jewel didn't attend the shower, but she has been sniffing around the presents.

While Jenny was at the shower, I got to hang out and do manly stuff with Matt and Danny, who came up from Houston so that Carrie could go to the shower. We looked at the geese from the boathouse dock, and Matt asked Danny if he wanted to go swimming. Danny declined with great vigor, especially when Matt was holding him over the water. At our next destination, a park with a nice fountain , Danny brought a little Buzz Lightyear action figure that had been in the car. I don't know if he was influenced by the previous experience, but he decided that Buzz wanted to go swimming. Over and over again, he threw Buzz into the water and asked us to retrieve him. After doing this several times, we made Danny participate in the Buzz retrieval by holding him, upside down, over the water so that he could reach down and grab Buzz. I can't wait to do similar things with Sunflower, but I know that it will still be a couple of years before we can do that. I sent both of our cameras to the shower with Jenny, so I don't have any pictures.

Our third stop was Pluckers , where we had a lunch of fatty hot wings. Danny did some fun things there, too. Mostly, he made a huge mess, starting with when he dipped his corn dog into the ranch dressing, making the container overflow. Then he tried to stuff the whole thing in his mouth, and since it couldn't all fit, the hard-won ranch dressing dripped off onto his face. It continued from there.

Cute shower decorations!

Trifle and Cupcakes

While we were doing our boy stuff, Jenny was at her shower with Carrie and many other friends. By Jenny's reports, Christine and Karina had decorated the house wonderfully, in pink and brown, with balloons, roses, and even little onesies hung up as if on a clothesline. The onesies were more than just decoration, of course; they were yet another gift that will look even better on Sunflower than they did on the wall. Many of the guests brought nonfat foods to share, but the piece de resistance was a batch of nonfat chocolate cupcakes, special ordered by Christine. She brought most of them home, and we have been enjoying them together (since we don't want them to go bad).

It's good that salsa is a nonfat food!

There were too many people at the shower to play the typical baby shower games. Instead, Christine had asked me to write some funny stories that she could read to the guests. Here's one that she recounted:

When we were dating (still several months before we got engaged), we went to a fourth of July picnic. The other attendees were mostly families with small children, but it wasn't people we knew very well, so we didn't know many of the kids' names, and only picked up on them when their parents called them. Like I said, we didn't know anyone very well, so we were talking to each other, and against this backdrop got on the topic of childrens' names. We were in the process of hashing out some good names, when a lady sitting near us said "I couldn't help but overhearing. Are you expecting?" She said this loud enough that our host heard, and quickly jumped in, apparently embarassed, and said "No, they're just dating" and then turned the conversation in some other direction. Ever since then, however, we've been set for baby names--the one we're using is the one we picked out that day for our first girl.

The others were about my adventures in buying a home pregnancy test, and how Jewel is responding to the pregnancy.

Jenny opens a present.

Christine demonstrates some features on the best stroller ever.

When I met up with Jenny after the shower, she said "opening presents is hard work!" I can understand what she means, since there were so many of them. Along with the numerous cute outfits, blankets, washcloths, and stuffed animals, many people pitched in for one big gift, a travel system consisting of a stroller and car seat. Apparently, some of the shower attendees thought that I would be anti-stroller, perhaps because of this post about our experience registering for baby things. First, I want to say that I was never anti-stroller. At that time, the stroller became a symbol of my doubts and fears about the unknown experiences ahead. Second, I want to express my thanks for this gift in particular; I am deeply touched by this act of kindness. All at once I felt relief about not having to make what seemed like an overwhelming decision, and I now feel prepared for Sunflower's first days of life. Special thanks again to Christine for organizing the coalition, then researching, purchasing, and even putting together the stroller.

Jenny and Christine, after the party.