Showers

So, I've been thinking alot about showers. Could be all the rain lately. April showers, you know...Turn my yard into a soggy mess- not that the kids seem to mind.
And then there are other showers- showers that need to be cleaned- kids in the shower- kids who need to take showers. Long, warm showers that you don't want to get out of....But I digress.

Specifically, I've been thinking about baby showers. You know, those tortuous affairs where grown women are forced to eat baby food or sniff unspecified brown stuff in a diaper (chocolate? one can only hope) in exchange for some hopefully decent food. Yep, you guessed it- I hate shower games. Not that I'm a fan of games in general (unless I'm winning). Another shower tradition I'm not really fond of is the requisite passing around of the gifts. Sure they're cute. Mostly it'll do to just look at them from a distance. Besides, does the mommy-to-be really want our grubby hands all over her new stuff? Doubt it.

So, the other night I attended what was, in my mind, the perfect baby shower. First of all, it was an open house- come when you want, leave when you want. The food was fabulous. The mommy-to-be opened gifts throughout, was appropriately grateful, but didn't make anybody else ooh and ahh. And best of all? No games! Now, no offense to those of you who throw fabulous showers with miniature babies frozen in ice cubes, but to my mind, nothing is better than being able to sit around with a bunch of women and do the two things we all most enjoy anyhow- eating and talking. It was so much fun to just sit around with a group of women, some of whom I see almost daily, some that I hadn't seen in a while, and some that were new to me, and talk- about babies, motherhood, and life in general. I've gotta tell you, it was refreshing.

So that brings us to babies. What do I think of those? They're all right. I guess I oughta think so- I had five. Really like 'em all. Glad they're not babies anymore. It's interesting the stages of life you go through. As I watched the mommy-to-be (my friend Annie- and one of my former Laurels- yikes!)- a week from having her second child- I found my mind wandering to that time in my own life. It was exciting, but kind of lonely sometimes. I remember taking Kenny to K-mart to wander around and have lunch, just so I'd have something to do. I remember spending whole days hanging out with other moms of toddlers, doing nothing but watching our kids play. I remember getting so frustrated with a baby who wouldn't sleep, or potty training, or whatever, that I'd lie face down on the carpet and cry. Was it a simpler time? You betcha. I had to look for places to go. Now I'm guessing I average about 50 miles a day. Would I go back? I don't think so.
People ask me sometimes how I "do it all" with 5 kids. Here's the secret- I don't really. I've just really, really, really, relaxed my standards. Potty training? Thankfully, I'm done. But I'll tell you, I did it differently with the last one, and it never brought me to tears. A kid that won't sleep? Pop 'em in front of SpongeBob and give 'em some candy, and they'll be just as quiet. You learn, you adapt, and most of all, you ENJOY the stage you're at. Because just like these April showers, it won't last for long.