Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Spring!

So I was all ready to write about the arrival of spring, and then I got a phone call at 6:30 this morning.
Snow day.
And what a snow day. It's 3:00 pm, and it hasn't stopped snowing since this morning. Actually, there have been intervals of pelting ice, but the brunt of it is heavy, driving snow. The perfect day for James and his friends to drive to Detroit to watch a Canuck's game.
Not quite.
I have to admit, I'm a little worried. For one, the roads are bad, and there are bad drivers on bad roads. It's always a little dicey taking on the highways in weather like this.. not to mention the drive on a good day is roughly 3 1/2 hours.
I am also 9 months pregnant. IF I go into labour today, the cards are against me. My husband is gone, the roads are a mess, and even if they weren't, I would have to walk myself to the hospital because the brake lines in our car rotted out, and our car was towed away to Larry's shop.
Despite these minor concerns, I'm in good spirits. Simon and Garfunkel is playing, I just finished a great book, I have an extra day to relax and prep for classes, and Katrina is on her way over for a cup of tea.
My baby is also rolling around a lot. Fortunately, my gut tells me he's quite content to stay inside for a while before braving this balmy climate. Good choice buddy. Stay incubated.
On this note, I should mention that my amazing friends threw James and I (that's right, both of us) a baby shower. I really enjoyed that both genders were present. Typically, it's all women, and I've experienced some awkward baby showers as a result. I suppose I'm not really the type to fondle every gift as it circulates around the room, making all the appropriate ooh's and aahhh's over pampers and huggies in a room that is all together way to quiet, because, of course, the focus is on the mother to be. That's been my experience anyways. This party was different. For one, James IS one to ooh and ahh over baby gifts, and so he opened most of them. We were spoiled rotten! Danielle even made a two layer giraffe cake! I was so impressed by how grown up and fancy everything was. Girls, this is a shout out to you and all the work you did to make that party so wonderfully special. We loved it!
My good friend Kristina also threw me a baby shower, no boys allowed, but fantastic nonetheless. Some people know how to throw quality parties and my friends are that type. This party also almost killed my mom.
My mom is the kind of woman who likes to be involved. Kris was pretty good at letting her know that she was not in charge of this one, but my mom is persistent. Finally, Kris told her she could bring the cake.
So, mom decides to order a nice cake- two tiers, nicely decorated--it felt about 10 pounds.
She wanted it to be a surprise, so I was not able to help her carry it into the house, because then I wouldl see it, and the cause would be lost. She got Benjamin to help.
He's five.
My sister and I were sitting in the other room, listening to mom dictate orders to Benjamin (mostly to get his fingers out of the cake) when we suddenly hear a bang and a string of curses coming from "grandma". Mom had stepped on a case of Sprite in her heels and wiped out-- seriously wiped out. She had smashed her knee on the tile, banged her arm, and smoked her head on the woodbox, all the while balancing the cake above her head. By some miracle, the cake settled perfectly on the tabletop. My mother is a phenom.
Mom needed a few minutes to recuperate, despite our assurances that nothing was as "ruined" as mom kept saying it was, except her sunglasses. They snapped in two after she knocked her face on the woodbox.
So, with a bleeding head and a bum knee, mom made it to the shower and I was the cake carrier.
Mom-- you are wonderful, but sometimes I worry about you.
Thanks again to everyone for spoiling us. We are so blessed!
Perhaps my next post will see an addition to the family--my gut says April 5.