Waiting for Nou

Lately, I've been spending hours and hours in the room we've set up with the baby's things - she doesn't have much, honestly - but babies don't really need all the *stuff* the magazines and television ads try to convince you they do (although thanks to a new local friend via Freecycle she now has more clothes than I do!). There is no crib (she will sleep with us) but the fourth bedroom closet is stocked with many miniature hangers holding tiny pink, ruffled bits and pieces. There is also a changing table against one windowed wall complete with little towels, cloth diapers, wool soakers and receiving blankets. There are also a few stuffed toys, a tiny baby bathtub, and my favorite: an extensive collection of Burt's Bees Baby Bee creams, lotions, potions, oils, ointments, and other slatherables that smell absolutely divine. I stand at the window where these luscious little tubes and bottles reside and open each one in turn, smelling the contents with a deep, satisfied sigh...imagining the sweet scent of our little girl.

When I was in elementary school I had a new cousin, a baby boy. He was very cute; fat and squishy the way babies are supposed to be with big eyes and a tiny dollop of hair on top of his head. We all adored him and would jockey for keeping him over when his parents had something to do that required leaving him behind. But as cute as that child was he had the strangest smell about him...like sour cheese. His odiferousness permeated the few hours he spent with us each week and I can only imagine how much more adorable he would have been had his parents slathered him daily with Apricot Baby Oil and Buttermilk Lotion.

In any case, Nou is scheduled to arrive in approximately two months, on August 11th. And aside from dreamily handling all of her tiny things on a daily basis, I've been enjoying my weekly prenatal yoga classes and Hamid and I have also had the first of twelve Bradley Method classes (where we are learning skills that will help us birth this baby, totally drug-free, at home). Otherwise, there really isn't much else to be done in anticipation of her birth. It's one of those hurry-up-and-wait situations...where you've sprinted out the door and down the street, not wanting to be late for your very important appointment. You look at your watch as you stand outside the locked door - only 1,440 some-odd hours to go.