The Mommy Diaries

The Mommy Diaries for me means one thing and one thing only - biting off more than I can chew. I've always done it, I still do it and I will continue to do it. Case in point, our friends baby shower. Our wonderful friends have been trying for years to have a baby and tried different methods of science, the good old fashioned way and just nothing worked until finally God smiled upon them and blessed them with a pregnancy. Mind you they are no silly friends of ours they are the godparents to my child, my husbands best friend in high school, our neighbors, our Friends. So I immediately decide we are throwing a shower for them and no measly shower - this is going the be the baby shower of all baby showers. I get it all planned out to the finest detail, the invitations, the food, the cupcakes, the games, the gift basket, the giant 7' stork. I even went as far and going to their home when they weren't home (we have keys) digging thru tons of pictures and putting together a 21 picture collage of the two of them from babies until now, I'm telling you I left no stone unturned.

T minus 5 days - I'm ready I've got the pictures done, games planned out, stork ready, food bought and I'm right on schedule. T minus 2 days - (insert scarey music) I'm getting sick! I can't get sick this is the baby shower of the year how can I get sick! No work gets done tonight and I'm behind in a big way. T minus 1 day - wine sure does taste good but I must focus while drinking wine, I catch up a good bit but tomorrow's going to be a long day. Now it's D Day and I'm up at 7am and I've got a list of my workflow and I'm set. I get started and things are running smoothly, just as I had planned of course and now it's time to start the Key Lime Cupcakes. Now just to put things into perspective here, these are the mom-to-be's favorite food so I've got alot riding here to make the prego happy. Hiccup #1 - I don't have enough milk. It's okay, I've concocted some bit of milk from whole milk that doesn't smell bad yet, the rest of Scott's skim milk and the remainder is heavy cream. Who knows but it looks good. Now it's time to get them in the pan and bake away, which brings us to Hiccup #2 - I don't have enough liners. Isn't that they way? I've been baking cupcakes like they're going out of style and I buy liners each time and now I'm out? Someone hates me! I throw together a quick fix and they bake and look okay so I'm okay. Now about this time Gillian wakes up so I go get her, change her and bring her downstairs, throw her into her activity center and off I go again. Now it's time to work on the pumpkin dip and that's where we encounter Hiccup #3, who knew you needed 2 packages of cream cheese! GEEZ! No biggie, I'll half the recipe and everyone will deal with it. Meanwhile, Gillian is getting into everything and shoving styrofoam into her mouth, she's covered in dog hair, dirt and who knows what else and my only thought is, well if she's not crying... She starts rubbing her eyes which is a tell tale sign that it's time for another nap and so off to bed she goes and now it's time to work on the icing for the cupcakes. Hiccup #4 - I check the recipe out for the 6th time today and then realize a stick of butter is missing. I first think I'm crazy (it runs in my family) then I look at Otis that big wolf of a dog that I own. This is not the first time he's stolen food off the counter with no evidence to leave behind. Fantastic, not only did he eat the whole stick of butter (paper and all) he has a really bad stomach so who knows what's going to come out of him later. I scrounge up scraps of butter to make a stick, microwave it and I'm off and what's that? Someone at the door? Who in the... great, it's the mormans. Like I have time for this mess! I've got a dog eating everything off the counter, the other dog is scratching at the door so badly that I'll probably need to replace it and Gillian is still chatting away rather than sleeping. Why can't she start screaming now so I can get rid of the mormans? Finally I get rid of them, get the cupcakes iced (yes, all cupcakes were left on the counter) and then the most beautiful thing happened. The clock turned past twelve noon, I opened that bottle of tastey wine and everything was so much better. The baby is asleep, the dogs are napping on the floor and couch and I have peace and quiet.

Moral of the story? Friends are wonderful to have and I would walk over fire for these two and this day, which turned out to be a comedy of errors is nothing to make sure they know that I love them and I am so happy that they finally get their wish. Now, off to bathe a baby and get another glass of wine...