Baby!

Jen's Baby Update: Week 15 Addendum

I had written this for the 15 week update, then decided not to include it because I was afraid that people might feel pressured to send gifts, or guilty because they hadn't, and we don't want that! My friend Holly convinced me that people give gifts because they want to give gifts, and showing appreciation for the ones that we had received would make anyone feel pressured. I hope she's right! Anyway, here it is!

When I got home today after work, I found that we had received packages from both sets of our baby's (soon to be) grandparents. We were very surprised, because we didn't know that the baby was going to be getting gifts before he or she even arrives!

The Dooms sent silver spoons and a fork with little animals on the handles, along with a note that said "Never let it be said that our grandchild was born without a silver spoon for his/her mouth." They also sent two tiny silver cups on a stand, one of which said "First Tooth" and the other said "First Curl". Very cute! Thank you so much!

I don't think that I had mentioned it in a previous update, but the Dooms also sent (just days after we told them that we were pregnant) "Baby's First Classical Music CDs", including "Baby's First Mozart" and "Baby's First Bach" and several others. I love classical music, so it is an excellent gift for me. Oh, and for the baby, too! :-}

The also sent a bunch of Halloween candy for us, including a bunch of suckers and a roll of Spree, which are one of my favorite candies, if not my favorite. I ate the whole roll in one sitting, and didn't share any with Travis.

The Whites sent a bib with cute little yellow chicks on it. The bib looks like it will be as big as the baby, which is good, because I've heard that they (babies, not my parents) are pretty messy! They also sent a one-piece outfit (I'm sure it has a name, which I'll learn at some point - oh, Holly says it is called a 'onesie') with tiny yellow chicks on it. I held it up for Travis and said, "Can you believe that we are going to have something that fits into this?" He noted, accurately, that we'd have something even smaller than that, because the outfit is intended for a 6-month old baby! Wow, they must be tiny when they first come out (which I'm not sorry about at all).

They also sent two books, one of which is a book to teach a baby about colors, with a bright color on every page and a collection of items that are that color. The other book nearly made me cry because it was so beautiful. It is called "I Love You As Much..." and has various creatures telling their babies how much they love them, using descriptions of those things most important to them. The horse (my favorite example) says, "I love you as much as the green green grass".

My Aunt Debbie, probably concerned by the number of questions that I seem to consider in these updates, sent me "What to Expect When You're Expecting", which is said to be the bestselling pregnancy book ever. It is certainly the one that has been mentioned to me the most times since I told people that I am expecting. Thank you! I'll use the book to include factual information about what the baby (and my body) is up to each week!

Thank you all for the gifts! They were not necessary, because my pregnancy is an enormous gift in and of itself, but it is lovely to know that you all are so excited for us! Thank you!

In general, I won't be detailing gifts that we receive... these updates are long enough already! I'm mentioning these here just because they are the first gifts that we've received since we announced our pregnancy, and they all came in the same week!

Please don't feel obligated to send gifts to us or the baby... we have everything that we need in each other. We know that you all care about us and our baby, and that is enough for us!

Read Jen's Baby Updates: Week 16 next!