In which I journey to far-off lands the East Bay in search of a mythical labor-inducing pizza. (Not because I'm desperate to get this show on the road…just mostly because pizza sounded good, and labor pizza sounded funny, and whenever the words "funny" and "pizza" go together that can't be a bad thing.)
Here's how it went.
A few last-minute things I've been checking off my list prior to Goldie's arrival:
1. Gel Pedicuring. Have I mentioned how amazing gel pedicures are? They are amazing. They last forevvver, and since I am lazy about getting to the salon generally and anticipate extra-laziness about making time for the salon in the coming months, this is a good thing. I went for neon orange sort of by accident - it looked coral in the sample, and then turned fluorescent on my nails - but hey, it's August, and toes that look like little glowworms never killed anyone. (I was going to get a gel manicure, too, but my nails are looking like they need a break from polish, so I'm going the cleanly-filed-and-bare route for a bit.)
2. Bang Trimming. Not "bangs," exactly (I'm over them for the time being), but rather "a few shorter pieces of hair in the front part of my head." Why? Because when I have zero time to deal with styling my hair, my go-to solution is to throw it all up into a messy bun, and then just blow-dry those shorter front pieces with a round brush and let them fall where they like.
We had a middle-of-the-night maybe-we-should-go-to-the-hospital episode a few days ago. Which ended up being nothing, but which also means: time to pack that bag, just in case.
So: let's talk what to bring along for the big trip.
The first time we did this, I made crazy-detailed lists on my phone of every single item I thought I might need to bring to the hospital. I still have these lists stored in my phone, and it's very cute that I thought I would absolutely require things like birthing balls and massage oils and photographs "to make me feel at home" (that is what iPhone libraries are for; also you'll be home soon and you are not going to forget you are in a hospital because Nana's face is there on the wall).
What I actually needed was something mindless to read/watch, lip balm, and All Of The Chargers. List: revised.
Our stroller (the one I stressed and stressed and stressed about buying all those years ago) sort of died.
It still works, technically…it's just that after three years of being trucked up and down flights of stairs, smushed into car trunks, and sat on by dogs and humans, it's seen better days.
Enter: this crazy thing. My life doesn't usually include marvels of technology, mostly because I am completely hopeless at figuring out things like…well, like assembly in general, but I need to tell you how ridiculous-intuitive and amazing this stroller is. Besides the fact that it makes me feel like I'm parenting in the movie Total Recall, putting it together was like the virtual opposite of putting together anything that I've ever gotten from Ikea. As in: I could do it. And I didn't cry.
OK, so the truth about Buying For Baby is that you think you need bazillions of things, and what you really need is…about one-eighteenth of that. When you walk into Buy Buy Baby or Babies 'R' Us for the first time, all pregnant and confused-looking (or, in my case, vaguely panicky), a store attendant will hand you a long (long) list of all the crap the store wants you to think that you need. And that can be helpful to some extent, but it's also way overwhelming, and way way way way expensive.
You don't need all that. (Try handing over the list to a friend who's recently been through the newborn phase, and let her go to town with the crossing-off.)
Shopping for our second child has been a completely different experience. First of all, other than the fact that I obviously went a little nuts with the purchasing of teeny-tiny dresses when we found out that we'd be having a daughter…we actually hadn't bought anything at all up until last weekend. Which makes sense: we already have about 90% of the things we'll need (crib, dresser, baby carrier, infant car seat, et cetera). We still want to pick up a good double stroller and a Snap 'n' Go (we not-so-smartly got rid of ours when our son outgrew his infant car seat)…but other than that: we're pretty good to go, I think.
