Generosity and Gratitude

I didn't have a "baby shower", and I pretty much always knew I wouldn't have one - one of the side effects of both living far away from family and not easily developing close friendships. But we have been "showered" regardless and I want to take a moment to acknowledge some of the generosity that we have received.

Just off of the baby's room is a "Jack and Jill" bathroom connecting two of the bedrooms in the house. This is going to become the general changing area, and we have recently received the changing mat and two covers for it. I am reliably informed by one who has been through the trenches that having a spare cover is definitely a good idea.



In the baby's room itself is a corner by the window that I had designated for rocking - but I had been having great difficulty finding an affordable rocker. A coworker helped me solve that problem a few months ago, and a college friend (also a recent new parent) bought this Boppy nursing pillow which she has found very useful.



Yesterday at work, another coworker (and yet another veteran of the trenches!) surprised me with a large bag of baby clothes for Fish, ranging from newborn to 18 months and carefully selected to be gender neutral. I had great fun at lunchtime poking through it all, and there are a number of duck and frog themed items in there - must be a popular theme for the Northwest! I held a show-and-tell for Martin last night and we both agreed the items were just perfect for Fish. Check it out!


Then Martin pointed out the two packages that had arrived in the mail that day from Amazon. One was from my brother and sister in law and the other was from a coworker who had found my Amazon registry. They were both incredibly generous but I particularly want to give a shout-out to my sister-in-law, who bought the breast pump that I had selected. I really appreciate that. Now to learn to use the thing! Since I will be going back to work full time at (roughly) three months after the birth, and we are hoping (fingers crossed) to breastfeed for at least nine months and longer if possible, I will be using this a LOT.

Other items in those two packages: two swaddle wraps, three books, a DVD, a car baby-mirror, some sheets, a waterproof cover for the Boppy pillow (with an amusing note: "As if you'd care if it was just WATER") and two different styles of baby-booger removers - gross, but important, because except when they are crying newborns can't breathe through their mouths, so you have to keep their noses clear.



I also received a package last week from my Aunt Irene and Uncle Carlos. Among some other things, they sent me some family heirlooms! My Uncle Carlos's mom made a crib quilt and sheet for my aunt and uncle's daughters (who are now teenagers) and they have been passed on to me! I love them and have asked my aunt for more information about the maker so I can put a label on the quilt:


Finally, I had to test out one of the swaddle wraps, and the teddy bear declared one of the hats in the pile of baby clothes to be Very Cool and insisted on wearing it:


Thank you everyone for the gifts! I haven't shown everything here, I know, but I am very grateful for everything that we have received, and I will send you photos of some of it in use (maybe not the booger machines or breast pump) once we have a non-teddy-bear model to use it on.