Shower Me!

The big weekend has come and gone and it was fantastic. This past weekend was Ellie's baby shower and I received so many cute things! I've been a little behind on the blog because I have been marathon thank you note writing - 46 notes in 2 days. I'm up to my oygs in thank you notes. Oyg is Yiddish for eyeball. More on that in a bit.


My baby shower was on Saturday afternoon at 2pm the Dallas Country Club, and it was spectacular. About 35 guests traveled in from East Texas and the surrounding area. All of the tulips are blooming right now so the club looked really beautiful. Ellie got some really great gifts and it makes me want her to be here even sooner. We had tea sandwiches, strawberries, macaroons, and lots of other yummy pastries. I'm arranging all of the gifts so I can take one big big picture, but here are the highlights for now:


A going home outfit from Mom and Dad













A redneck-in-training outfit from Cousin Nicole













A personalized lambie blankie from Amanda



















A Jeep jogging stroller from the Brights so I can get my fat butt back into shape
















A baby video monitor that Lee will probably still be using in 16 years to watch Ellie and her boyfriend on the sofa watching movies (it has night vision)



After the shower I was completely exhausted so I came home and relaxed, right? No. I felt compelled to open and assemble EVERYTHING while simultaneously writing 46 thank you notes. Lee went to a concert and when he called to check on me at 8:30 pm, I was down in the garage hunting for a Philips Head screwdriver so I could put the Baby Papasan together. I continued the insanity on Sunday until my eyes felt like they were going to burn out of my head. I'm in the baby zone right now, and I'm probably going to work this up-coming weekend washing everything that she was given and all of her bedding. She's coming in 6 weeks and I have to be ready. Last weekend, we picked up her rocker, a gift from mom and dad. So comfortable. We're getting the sofa-bed recovered right now and it should be done within the week so we're almost good to go.

Other than that we've been relaxing. Barely. Last weekend, mom and dad were out of town so at the last minute, our house turned back into the Bright Dog Ranch since we wound up taking care of their dog, Abbey. She got sick at the kennel on Friday so Lee went and got her. We've seen some good movies lately - on Sunday night we watched "A Beautiful Mind" with Russell Crowe and last weekend we watched a movie called "The Prestige". We really liked it, but I'm partial to Christian Bale. Make that really partial to Christian Bale. If it wouldn't be weird at age 30 to have posters of movie stars on my wall, I'd have posters of him, Clive Owen, Vince Vaughn, Kirk Herbstreit, and a Corey Haim circa Lost Boys for old time sake. I'm not a huge fan of blonds, but for what Kirk is lacking in hair color, he makes up for in his quarterbackiness. Maybe Lee will let me put up posters in the closet?

My latest drama has been with Ellie's daycare situation. I'm going back to work when she's about 4 months old, and I thought I had it all figured out. Registered at a great place close to me so I could go see her at lunch and last week found out I'm #7 (SEVEN) on the waiting list for the day I want to get her in. Apparently people who really want to get in this place get their kids registered before they're conceived. I registered Ellie when she was 6 weeks in utero and that was too late. The director told me she'd get in eventually, but I'd probably need alternative plans for a month. So I started calling around and I've started looking for other arrangements. Today I "interviewed" my first alternative - a day school attached to a Jewish temple. I liked it, but it's $400 MORE a month that my #1 choice. Yikes.

I go check it out and the director of the school, Linda Richmond from Coffee Talk (not making that up), was my guide. I told her I wasn't Jewish and she said that was fine and told me that the school was closed on all Jewish holidays and Ellie would be observing Shabbat with the other kids and Rabbi Shlomo on Friday. That's fine. I pictured her singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" at daycare, but "Hava Nagila" will be okay too. Then I met the women who worked in the infant room. I walked in and both of the ladies were 70 year old bubbies from Eastern Europe with thick accents. The theme from "Schindler's List" started playing in my head. They were really nice and I could tell that the kids loved them. One other difference - since we're in Texas, everything in the day schools is usually labeled in English and Spanish, but here it was labeled in English and Hebrew. Then one of the three-year olds called me a schmuck. Kidding.

So it was interesting. I don't think the school is for me because it's an all-year program and I really want to have Ellie at my #1 choice so I may start hunting for a temp nanny. Oy vey. I'll keep you posted.