So My Girlfriend Is Having a BABY...

I have a good friend of mine that is getting ready to have her first baby. While away on a trip, I decided to do some shopping for the baby. I found a local "baby store" and decided to go in and check it out.

It's been a good many years since I have gone into one of those specialty baby stores. Probably nearly 10 years. Most of my friends have finished having new babies, and those few that do - well, I place an order for something online.

My daughter had really been wanting to go shopping at this store with me. You have to remember that she is my youngest and to this moment is still asking me to have another baby because she wants a baby sister after having three older brothers. I've made it clear that that ship has sailed long ago. I am nearly 41 now and my husband is turning 50 in a matter of weeks. Tho there was a time a few years ago that I would not have been opposed to that thought again. Funny what raising teenagers will do to you though! It's kind of like puppies. They sure are cute but eventually they grow up and start tearing up your house.

Anyhow, I decided to go check the store out prior to shopping with my daughter. I'm not sure why - probably just killing time while she is taking class and I am waiting. I look in the windows and it looks like your typical baby galore store. I walk in and start to browse.

It is filled with all of those cute little clothes and trinkets that you would expect. I find a display of tiny little baby clip bows. I start to laugh remembering how I would take my daughter's one long wisp of hair when she was 8 months old and twist it and stick the bow in on top of her head like she was Pebbles Flintstone. Just this morning she was flinching angrily at me, while I put that long thick hair into a bun for her dance class. I pick up some pink bows for my friend.

I round the corner and find the boys section. I know that my friend is having a girl so it isn't really necessary for me to pay any attention to this section whatsoever, yet I can't seem to help myself. Those little denim overalls are hanging on that rack. I walk up and take a pair down. I can close my eyes and remember each of my boys in these. Snapping those snaps all around their inseam and watching them toddle off with that huge padded diaper on their bottom. I hang them up and turn away.

Next I find a section of hard books. Goodnight Moon. I remember when my girlfriend gave that to me at my first baby shower when I was 24 years old. I remember crying when I opened it. I was pregnant and hormonal. Funny - I could cry right now again. I search the shelf of books. There is my daughter's favorite...The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Then I see it - A Time For Bed. I remember Son #1 asking me to read it over and over at bedtime, at naptime, out on the swing. I pick it up. I flip through the pages. Haven't seen these pictures in a long time. Maybe my friend should have this. But it was our special story...I put it back.

I saunter into the toy section passing the Desitin, Baby Magic and Oragel teething ointment. I see the crib toys, stuffed animals, rattles, and chew toys. None of them are exactly like anything my children had. There are versions of those things but it has been a decade since my last baby so things have obviously changed. I don't feel drawn to any particular toy. I look at the bows in my hand. They are making me sad. I return to put them back.

I stop and look at the onesies and the zip up fuzzy newborn nightgowns. I remember what lifesavers they were when changing so many diapers. I pick up a package. I walk around a few aisles with them in my hands. I return to put them back.

I round the corner to find "Seasonal" items. You know, Baby's First This, Baby's First That. I look down to see a red headband with devil horns on it. I remember when Son #2 was 8 months old. For his first Halloween, I put him in a red sweatsuit and put those devil horns on him. Funny. He is still my most devilish child.

I see the plastic "entertainment" toys for infants. Fish in a line. Hmmm. They still make those. Those multi-colored fish that you chain together and sweep across the baby's bouncy chair for them to reach for and look at while you are trying to accomplish a million different things in a ten minute span. We had those...for years.

Past the diapers I see a display of blue Diaper Sacks. I think to myself, "I loved those things. They really worked." I remember having them stashed everywhere. In the nursery, my purse, the car, the diaper bag. Hard to believe that I travelled for nearly 8 years with those on my person...

I stop and look at the socks and shoes. I remember needing to buy only the socks with the grip on the bottom. Son #3 would rub his feet together like a little cricket and get those suckers right off if I didn't have the ones with the grip on the bottom. I stand there and I can picture him in his carseat with his big old pacifier moving up and down - those little feet working, working, working to shed those socks. That boy still hates socks. All of his shoes smell now because he wears them without socks. I think, "Do they make socks with grip on the bottom for men's size 7 foot?"

I stop and take in the full circumference of the store. I realize that I feel completely overwhelmed in here. I'll wait and come back with my daughter this evening...with her perhaps I'll have a whole different perspective. Right now, I just really miss my babies.

I get back to the hotel. My husband texts me that Son #1 can't find his Driver's License and do I know where it might be?

Wow! It's amazing how fast you can snap out of it!