Rubber Babies

Tonight we attended a Baby Care Basics class at Sharp in Chula Vista with our Fortune Cookies friends Joe and Alicia. I was really glad they were there because it was a sea of pregnant bellies. And not just bellies: lots of belly-related conversation, the kind I can usually avoid, like how to hold a baby for breast-feeding. They do a mighty hard sell on breast feeding in this class, I guess because a lot of the moms seem about 16 years old and need to hear things like "their poop won't smell as much" and "all that sucking will make their faces prettier" to be convinced. ;) But it's awfully hard to sit there and hear things like "breast-fed babies are smarter" and "breast-fed babies are healthier" when there's not a thing you can do about it!

But I did enjoy cradling our rubber baby and learning to put a diaper on her, swaddle her (a skill that we may not need) and how to pull snot out of her nose with the aspirator. I think it was good for David, too, to have a literal "hands on" experience with this baby business. And unlike the preggos, I didn't have to get up every five minutes to pee, so there! :) One guy kept talking about how big breast-feeding mamas hooters are and strongly suggested that our very entertaining instructor, Felicia, show us how it was done on hers, and I kept thinking that I'd rather be infertile than have a baby and live with that guy. ;)

We have been busy bees of late with our home improvements. In addition to the closet, we painted the nursery this past weekend, in lovely Laura Ashley shades of "Just Peachy" and "Lilac 2" (Lilac 1 wasn't quite enough of a statement :)). I painted the baseboards a crisp white and we began painting the complicated bits of the window so she doesn't inhale any lead. We went to IKEA and bought a couple of Bonde bookcases and some great wicker baskets that will make perfect baby-gear storage until she needs them BOTH for books, which, if she's any daughter of mine (and she will be! :)) is certain to happen soon!

A cute thing happened today. I was over at Grace's working on a new NIA routine when she told me that her daughter Julianna, who's 6, had insisted on buying me a gift. When she got home from school, she presented it to me with a flourish: a Mylar balloon on a stick with a pink gingham design and the message "It's a Girl!" How appropriate and lovely! It's a girl indeed. :)