We put some of the last finishing touches on the nursery today, and as I am writing this, my wife is filling the closet with the mountain of baby clothing that we’d received at the shower, fresh out of the laundry. Washing everything took the better part of two laundry baskets and two full loads – it’s funny to think that, in the very near future, this momentous event will be a commonplace, everyday activity. But for now, we’re enjoying it to the fullest.
Things feel really good right now. The best thing that I can compare this to would be the culinary term mis en place, only instead of having everything in place to roast a chicken, everything is in place for the arrival of a person who herself will be not much larger than an oven roaster. Shortly after accounting for all of the gifts that we received at the baby shower, there came a moment of anxiety – what did we still need to pick up so that, if the baby came tomorrow, we’d be ready? As of next week, a delivery wouldn’t even be considered pre-term. Anything can happen.
So, we did our part for the economy last week, and we picked up the rest of the essentials that we needed – car seat, that little travel stroller frame that the car seat hooks into, a changing table, lactation pump, and a few other things. We put off buying a full-sized stroller, since there won’t be a real need for it until close to the end of maternity leave. Thanks to Amazon, we were able to have everything shipped directly to our door, no sales tax, free shipping – I think the UPS driver was happy that I was home to help him unload the truck.
It’s been quite a few years since I’ve had something to look forward to at the change of the season. For a while now, I would get a little bummed each September, because I still remember what it was like in college, to leave the summer internship behind, buy your books at the campus bookstore, rejoin your friends and start classes. Being all grown up and a worker bee, I don’t get to have that experience anymore. While it’s nice not to have lab assignments, my days at the office in September mirror those in August, which feel exactly the same as those in June, April, and February. You don’t get to have semesters at the office, and the only week-long breaks you get are the ones that you schedule for yourself.
But now, with the imminent arrival of the Sprout, I feel like I’m in school again, if that makes any sense. It’s a change in seasons, both meteorologically and metaphorically. I get to learn to do things that I never knew how to do, shoehorn myself into a new schedule, and meet new people, with all the sense of wonder and amazement of a kid at freshman orientation.
