Post by GGJ5 on Jun 27, 2010 21:37:22 GMT -5
OOC: I fail at titles. Pretend I gave it a good one. lol BIC:
The clock on the stove flipped over to 1:00 just as Cassie's knock filtered past the door and into the kitchen. Erin hadn't been able to help herself, despite Cassie's insistence that she let her friend take care of the food for the baby shower; instead, Erin had woken up early in her excitement and started preparing in her own way. Just as Cassie arrived, Erin had been cutting into squares the hot fudge sundae brownies. She set the knife down and reached the door as fast as she could-- which, unfortunately, wasn't fast enough to suit her with Baby slowing her down. She was sure she looked like an overweight oompa loompa whenever she walked now. Thank God there was only a month left, and then she could hold her baby in her arms instead of inside her body.
"Hey, mom!" Cassie chirped playfully when Erin opened the door and greeted her with a familiar hug. The shower didn't start until three, but Cassie was the hostess, even if it was at Erin's home. She leaned down as Erin stepped back to open the door for her, standing back up with a large paper bag that she carried in with two hands. "There's more in the car," Cassie explained, setting it down in the middle of the living room, then adding before Erin could move-- "You can unload this bag while I go get the other bags and bring them in, okay?"
Without responding beyond a happy "oh!" sound, Erin began to unload the first bag of stuff Cassie had brought. Earlier, when they'd first started talking about baby showers and everything, Cassie had brought over five or six different samples of themed napkins and dishes and the like. "I wasn't sure which one you'd like the best… and a lot of them were for either a boy or a girl," she'd explained. Erin had made a face, rolling her eyes at the non-present Yukito. "He insists on keeping it a 'surprise' or something. Like that's more fun. I have half a mind to break in and steal my freaking records…" Erin had continued to half seriously/half jokingly jab at Yukito while she'd analyzed the different samples Cassie had brought. Finally she chose one, and now Erin was thrilled to pull out of the bag the things she had chosen. At first, when Erin had pointed at the brown and baby-blue napkin with the white silhouette of an expecting mom, Cassie looked unsure. "Are you sure? Not this one, with the couple under the umbrella?"
"No," she'd responded immediately, fully certain. "Yukito won't even be here, and this one kind of shows it's like me and the baby, together. And look, it's sparkly!" The silhouette mom in the picture had a thread of sparkling black ribbon around her hair and around her dress, capturing Erin's eye. Her final declaration had made Cassie laugh, and won her over, too.
Now from the bag Erin was pulling out packs of blue and brown napkins with the motherly silhouette, little body lotion bottles with the same design to give as favors, plates, and cups, along with the light blue cutlery Cassie had bought to match. When she'd told her mother the colors of her baby shower-- brown and blue-- Mandi had posed her concern that everyone would think she was having a boy, when she might just end up with a girl with only boy clothes to wear. But Erin was for some reason adamant about the color scheme, reminding her mother and everyone who shared her sentiments that "the invites have right on them that we don't know if it's a boy or a girl! 'A bundle of joy, whether a girl or a boy.' See, right there!"
Cassie brought the rest of the bags in, then sat down next to Erin to try to get everything out and organized. Soon she started to disappear to run this to the kitchen, to set this on the dining room table, lay these favors out on the little table beside the sofa, leaving Erin to sift through the party things giddily, cooing over her attempt of a baby book or the games they were going to play or the sweets she'd been baking. "And I'm sure the brownies are cool enough to eat now. Oh, Cassie, you need to try one! They're in the kitchen! Bring me one, too!"
Cassie turned around, placing the last of the utensils in a little holder on the table. "Erin, I told you not to worry about making anything. Your mom is on the way with the cake and everything. You didn't have to--"
"I know I didn't have to, Cassie," Erin retorted, frowning up at her from her spot on the floor. "I wanted to. Is that okay with you?"
For a moment, Cassie looked taken aback at the sudden snap. It was hard to not snap back sometimes when she did that, but Cassie knew from experience it would just make things worse, and the best thing was to be patient in explanation. At least, that worked for her. "Of course, Erin. I just didn't want you to have to do any more work than you need to. You're already working twenty-four/seven." Her soft smile was slowly reflected on Erin's face at the mention of her growing motherhood. "So," Cassie chirped, opting for a brighter tone. "Is the chocolate thing a craving, or are you just a chocoholic?" She started moving Erin's brownies from the pan to one of the plates she'd bought, setting the stack in the middle of the table. Taking two and putting them on the shower napkins as Erin giggled at the question, Cassie added, "Because I bought some of those pastel-colored M&Ms to set out in little dishes, and I don't want to, you know, burn you out on it or something."
Now Erin was laughing. "Cassie, are you kidding me?" She reached out to take the napkin and brownie Cassie offered her. "I always love chocolate, baby or no baby. And Baby likes it, too," she said proudly. "Watch, if my mom brings the cake I picked out and we have it, I bet you anything the baby'll start kicking like crazy after a while."
"Because it's hyperactive just like you?" Cassie teased, sitting down next to Erin and tasting the brownie by biting off its corner.
"They're made with ice cream," Erin exclaimed, gesturing to the brownies. "And they're so good!" she tacked on in a sing-song voice just as another knock came to the door.
"I bet that's your mom," Cassie said, setting her half a brownie down and hopping to her feet. Erin ate her last bit of brownie and shot Cassie a look, then before she reached the door, called, "Hey!" Cassie turned around to see the pouting expression on her friend's face.
"Oh, sorry!" Quickly she returned to Erin's place on the floor and reached down to take her hands. "Sorry, I--"
"I keep sitting down on the floor like it's freaking easy to get up," Erin muttered, groaning a little as she got to her feet.
"I would think sitting down would be hard, too," Cassie muttered as Erin regained her footing, using her friend as a temporary stabilizer. "It is," Erin agreed, pulling open the door, one hand resting protectively on her stomach. "But I'm too stubborn to give up sitting on the floor, apparently." Immediately she turned to her mom, who was standing at the door with a huge smile that matched the huge cake in her hands. "Omigod, it's beautiful! Come in before it falls!" she cried, reaching her own hands underneath the cake to help.
"It's fine, I got--"
"How did you knock holding this thing, anyway? Omigod, I can smell the peanut butter!"
"Now, the peanut butter thing has to be a craving," Cassie said, following the two generations of moms to the kitchen. "I know I don't remember you loving it this much before."
"Last night we were over for pizza," Mandi told Cassie, loosening the lid on the cake. "And instead of using the pizza sauces to put on her crust when she ate it, Erin put peanut butter instead." Mandi started to laugh at the memory, Cassie's mouth fell open a little in playful disbelief, and Erin protested, "But it tasted good! Don't judge me!"
Mandi gave another small laugh, pulling Erin into a hug. "You know you're pregnant when…" She placed her hand gently on Erin's stomach. "How's my grandbaby been today?"
"Quiet… Like I told Cassie, just wait… He'll be moving around like crazy in a little while. Or she… whatever." Erin leaned forward to read the cake, its peanut butter frosting shining brown behind the blue lettering of "The Big Day is Drawing Near… Little Baby is Almost Here!" It wasn't a fancy cake when it came to decoration, but Mandi had made it from scratch, per Erin's wishes, and used real sugar instead of her preferred Splenda in making the dark chocolate cake. "Aw, you kept my colors and everything!" she cooed. "Mama, get my camera, it's in the bedroom, on the nightstand. Go get it, please?"
A quick kiss against Erin's cheek and a laugh preceded Mandi's agreement. "Sure, querida." Down the hall she called behind her, "And why wouldn't I keep your colors? They turned out so nicely!"
"Very baby-chic," Cassie agreed as Mandi returned, holding out to Erin the little red camera. "Thank you!!" Immediately Erin started snapping pictures of everything-- the cake, the table laid out with all the blue and brown decorations, with the glittery motherly silhouette, the little candy holders Cassie had mentioned earlier…
"Oh, I almost forgot the rest of the food in the car!" Mandi announced before disappearing out of the house again. A few trips later, the counter of the little kitchen was filled with the shower cake, Erin's ice cream brownies, a plate of fruit with caramel and cream cheese dips in the middle, seven-layer-dip and lime-sprinkled tortilla chips, and a punch bowl filled with sparkling white grape juice. Cassie's little collections of M&Ms were set up around the living room and kitchen area, and Erin was taking pictures of everything.
Mandi and Cassie were too quick at working together to finish setting up the shower to give Erin an opportunity to try to take over. During her pregnancy, she'd developed a tendency to work too hard in her excitement that made dizzy spells leap on her like flies on food. The last thing they wanted today was a fainting pregnant mommy. After she'd taken all the pictures she could, Mandi pulled her to the new gliding-style rocking chair she and Erin's dad had gotten as an early form of a shower gift for Erin. It was a soft plush green one, with a footstool, and it was supposed to go in the baby's room so Erin would have a place to sit as she rocked her baby, nursed, etc., but for now it was in the living room, which turned out to be a very convenient thing. It was easier now to get her to take a moment to relax than it had been earlier in her pregnancy. Now she had a sore back and puffy ankles among other things that made it easier to cave to moments of stillness. Even if she had urges to be productive, to help, to organize… But with both Cassie and her mother working together, it didn't take very long to make the front part of their home look like a total explosion of Babies Are Us.
"Hey, Mami?" Erin called, finding the little green footstool a very thoughtful addition to their collection of furniture, "What do people normally wear to these things, anyway? Like, the pregnant people. Am I supposed to wear a dress or something? Do the shorts look okay, or…?"
"Dresses are always nice, but you don't have to dress up if you're not comfortable," her mother responded, then her face lit up as a thought occurred to her. "Oh, why don't you wear one of the cute tops I bought you?"
Erin had avoided those tops like the plague. They were the typical V-neck pastel maternity tops with a tiny ribbon that wrapped around just above the belly if she ever wore them. And when her mom had found out she was going to have a grandbaby to dote on, she had turned up at Erin's doorstep with at least eight of those shirts in different colors. "Enough for a whole wardrobe for the whole nine months!" she'd said excitedly. And she'd bought a couple of pants, too, that had yet to be worn because they reminded Erin too much of business-suit pants. Black and boring. If she couldn't wear her regular jeans, she'd at least get to wear jean shorts, even if they had to be the custom-design type of jean. It was the closest she'd found to feeling both cute and comfortable with pregnant-people-clothes. So instead of wearing the boring, mass-manufactured and dull mommy-clothes that filled the store racks (and now her closet), Erin had collected cute T-shirts where she could find them and an array of comfortable shorts, with a couple of unique dresses for special days. Now Erin looked at her mom and gave a little shrug. "Nah, I'm good. I like this," she said, tugging a little at the light green t-shirt, the pale brown and pink cherry blossom design cutting across it diagonally. "Hey, who turned off the music?" It hit her suddenly that at some point the music she'd been piping throughout the house had stopped.
"I got it!" Cassie volunteered, exchanging Erin's iPod in the dock for her own and putting on the playlist she'd discussed with Erin for the party. Cassie had wanted to do something cheesy like put all songs with the word "baby" in the title, but Erin refused. She just wanted good music, no theme or anything behind it. So now from the speakers came the familiar old tune of Weezer's "Buddy Holly", making Erin half hum and half sing along, happily holding her hand on her stomach. Hurry up, one month, so I can hold my baby for real!
The earliest guests starting coming in not too long after Cassie turned on the music, which definitely felt like perfect timing to Erin. At first, Cassie and Erin had discussed having a coed shower, keeping Yukito there and having all the males stay, but the more Erin thought about it, the less the idea seemed to be fun anymore. Yukito would probably slink away into a corner somewhere, waiting for all the goofy games to end and stuff, so what was the point? And just girls could be a lot of fun, too. Plus she'd invited Makisan, which had earned a moody Yukito the rest of the evening after Erin had told him. "She's my family, too, you know," Erin had protested. "And our baby's grandmother. You'll make it through somehow."
It wasn't as big of a shower as Erin had hoped for-- she must have sent out around thirty or forty invitations (which had made Cassie temporarily panic until the RSVPs started coming in)-- but it was a good fifteen or so people, which made the small house seemed filled to overflowing with all the mingling female voices, hugs, laughter, and gifts coming into a pile at the corner of the sofa and Erin's nursery chair. She was also glad to see she wasn't the only expecting mom, and since some brought their own offspring, she avoided the usual trend of being the youngest person in the room.
Erin spent the majority of the first part of the shower hovering by the fruit tray, talking endlessly to everyone and enjoying the tastes of strawberry covered in caramel. The peanut butter frosting of the cake was so close, constantly giving her its rich scent, and soon she caved and pulled out a jar of peanut butter to spread over the strawberries, earning a few playful teases from her mom. Soon, though, she abandoned her pos at the fruit tray to show off the baby's room to her guests. It wasn't painted quite yet-- that was in Cassie's hands-- but the crib was set up, at least. And the space for the chair from Erin's parents was clear. There was a tiny baby-dresser with a baby-sized radio on top, off to one side of the room with a few little outfits inside its drawers Erin had found on grocery trips to WalMart that she just couldn't pass up. (It was harder shopping for baby clothes when you didn't know if it was a boy or girl, and she never lightened up on reminding Yukito of this fact, but it only seemed to make him want to tease her more. It was driving her nuts.) A little diaper hamper was near the changing table she'd found at a garage sale a month or so ago, and a small bunch of neatly folded blankets sat on top of a baby-sized quilt inside the crib. Erin felt bubbly with pride in her baby and the little room as she shared what would soon be the most frequented room in the house. Just one month, she chanted to herself regularly now, as Baby's energy picked up and she could feel him-- or her-- moving about. She --or he-- was probably as restless as Erin felt, her thoughts being pulled in a thousand beautiful directions. Well, they were beautiful today. Some days all the thoughts seemed to drive her crazy and all she could do was cry, or scream, or curl up in bed as much as Baby would allow her to, but definitely not today. Not with so many warm faces around, excited with her, and the little girls who had come with their moms asking if they could feel the baby kicking, and everyone gushing about the room and the food and the decorations for the shower…
Before, Erin had always thought baby shower games were only cheesy and usually awkward. But her shower games, she'd decided, were something she could actually get excited about. When each guest came in, they got a little piece of blue and brown note-paper, using the same decorations as the rest of the shower things, that had printed at the top, "I'm a new Mommy-To-Be… Please give some helpful hints on how to raise a new baby!" Cassie had made a pretty little box for the notes to slide into, and once everyone was there and had mingled long enough, Erin sat down in her gliding chair and began to share the notes aloud. Everyone had to participate, Erin had announced, even the single girls who didn't plan on becoming a mom any time soon. Oddly enough, their advice was the more serious stuff. It was the veteran moms whose advice made for the most laughs and bizarre expressions.
"'In the future, never loan your car to someone to whom you have given birth,'" Erin read aloud from one of the cards and looked up from it before even reaching the name, her eyes and smile both wide. "Whose is this? Omigod! Can I have the kid first before we start talking about driving and stuff?" she asked through laughter. No one claimed it, though she saw her mom gesturing with a little nod to the guest next to her. Erin laughed again, glancing down to read the name and seeing the now familiar signature of Yukito's mother. Her mouth fell open. "Makisan! That was one time! People jogging pass us up when he drives!" The sudden rise in laughter and conversation nearly drowned out her response, but Erin was pretty sure she said something like, "It was just a suggestion."
Another game came as Erin started giddily opening all the gifts brought for her and her baby. Cassie handed out to everyone a bingo card and the little containers of M&Ms (or what remained of them) and announced a prize for the person who won bingo, covering a column full of M&Ms if they had Erin's gifts on their card. One of the little girls who came with their mothers ended up as the winner, though Erin didn't think it was a fair win. She won on the gift "cute outfit", but really, it was a school-bus-yellow onesie which qualified, in Erin's mind, as neither cute nor an outfit, but it was the gift from that same girl's mom, so she did her best to hold her tongue. And reminded herself to give Yukito an earful about the surplus of all things yellow and green they were getting for their baby. Cassie presented the little girl with her prize-- a polka-dotted bag that had lip balm, lotion, and a tiny tea candle inside. The girl took out the lip balm and passed the rest of the prize happily over to Mom.
The shower lasted technically until five, but Cassie and Mandi stayed behind a while longer-- cleaning, mostly, as Erin continued to deliver commentary-- now brutally honest as everyone else had gone-- over all the gifts. "The only clothes our baby's gonna have are green and yellow and white onesies. Why would you put a baby in a white onesie?! They'll get ruined as soon as the baby poops in 'em! What happened to red? Why didn't anyone get anything red for my baby? Or orange? And who says that blue is a boys-only color? What if I wanna put my baby in blue, huh? And what if I don't want to put a bow in her hair to make her 'look' like a girl?"
"Erin, you're getting too worked up over nothing," her mother started, setting down the crumpled wrapping paper she was about to throw away.
"It's not nothing!" Erin retorted. "It's my baby! We wouldn't even be in this mess if I knew what sex it was! Ugh!" She shoved the new clothes off her knees and crossed her arms, slumping back into the chair.
"It's not a mess, Erin," came Mandi's quiet consolation as she picked up one of the three different diaper bags Erin had opened up that afternoon. "Look, Alana remembered your colors. Oh, did you see this monogram she added?" The last words came out as a gasp as Mandi held the bag up for Erin's inspection. She hadn't seen it-- it had still been half-wrapped in blue tissue paper, but now Erin looked closer at the blue and brown polka-dotted bag. On the corner of the bag was a series of what had to be Japanese characters. "I can't read it… I didn't tell Alana a name, so…" Erin mumbled, staring confused at the blue stitching.
Cassie peered over, studying it for a second before deciding, "I bet it says 'Maki'. Show it to Yukito when he gets home. It's beautiful, Erin."
"A lot better than those sucky baby clothes… My baby deserves cuter clothes to come home in, thank you." Suddenly Cassie's words hit Erin. "Yukito! Omigod, I forgot to call him and tell him he can come home!" She shoved the footstool away with a kick to its feet and also shoved herself out of the chair. "Where's my phone, where'd I put my phone?" she repeated, thrusting her hand into the crevices of the couch and in the pockets of her shorts and swiveling around the room. "Where's my phone?! Where--?"
Suddenly she felt herself caught by the shoulders and found her mother guiding her down to the couch. "Shh, shh, your phone is in the kitchen. Cassie sent Yukito a text a few minutes ago, all right? Shhh, shh… "
Sniveling and feeling the frantic pattern of her heart, baby protesting to the sudden rush of panic, Erin reached over and pulled herself close to her mom in a hug. "I want Yukito," she started to sob.
"I know, baby," her mom responded, her hand patting her back in an attempt of comfort. "I know. You've had a long day…"
Erin nodded into her shoulder, trying her hardest to subdue the urge to cry. "I dunno what's wrong…"
"Nothing's wrong…" Gently Mandi brushed the hair out of Erin's face. "I'll go get your phone. All right?"
Erin sat up and nodded, wiping away the remnants of her tears. She reached over and grabbed the closest present-- a set of tiny baby bottles. To busy herself while she waited, she slowly pried off the plastic around them, freeing the bottles individually.
Soon the familiar sound of a car door slamming reached Erin's ears, and immediately she perked up. "Yukito's home!" After a moment of difficulty, Erin won the battle against gravity and had just regained her balance when Yukito came in. "Yukito!" For some reason, it felt like he'd been away for ever. She held her hands out to him expectantly, and was soon wrapped in the hug she needed desperately.
"Hey, Sunshine." He caught her lips in a kiss before catching a glance at the remains of the shower. "Looks like the shower went well…"
Erin nodded, keeping her arms around him. "I missed you…" She tilted her face to give a kiss on his cheek.
"Are you all right, Erin?" Yukito asked, watching her curiously. "Did something happen?"
"No. I just missed you, okay? Is that all right with you? Didn't you miss me?" Her eyes were locked on him, and for some reason, this felt like the most important question he would answer in a long time.
By answer, he pulled her into another kiss. "Always." He was confused again, but that feeling was becoming more and more common lately. He felt like he was winging it, and hoping for the best. "Show me some of the things they decided to give our baby."
The combination of Yukito coming home and getting to fawn over all the gifts again brightened Erin's mood, and she drew him over to the little corner of presents. "Look, Alana monogrammed this baby bag. Cassie said she thinks it might say Maki…"
When it was just Yukito and Erin and all the new things for Baby had been moved into their proper places in the baby's bedroom, Erin pulled Yukito to her side and inhaled a satisfied breath, keeping one hand around Yukito and one on her belly. "Baby's kicking again." She leaned her head over to rest on Yukito's shoulder.
He reached over, placing his hand next to hers. "I can't imagine how that feels to you, Erin…" Yukito mumbled.
"What, you thinking of trying it next time?" she giggled, making Yukito gawk at her. "I'm kidding," she added, nudging him a little.
"I know, that's the scary part," Yukito teased her, earning a sharp pout from Erin, who didn't feel like playing just now. He moved to encircle her in a whole hug. "You should go lay down for a little while…"
"No, Yukito, you've been gone all day, and I miss you, and don't want to miss you again," she muttered even as Yukito walked with her to their bedroom, hand guiding gently, resting on the small of her back.
"Then I'll stay with you. I missed you, too, you know."
"You did?" she asked, turning around and stopping at the edge of the bed.
"I told you I did," he reminded her, gently pulling her down to the bed with him. "You, and our baby…" Another kiss paused their conversation.
"I didn't know I was so tired," Erin murmured after a minute. "I feel like an old lady… "
"No, you feel like a new mom whose giving all her extra energy to grow our child," Yukito responded, making a grin come to Erin's face as she closed her eyes.
"You've been reading those books more, haven't you?"
Yukito just chuckled, stroking her hair as she fell asleep.
The clock on the stove flipped over to 1:00 just as Cassie's knock filtered past the door and into the kitchen. Erin hadn't been able to help herself, despite Cassie's insistence that she let her friend take care of the food for the baby shower; instead, Erin had woken up early in her excitement and started preparing in her own way. Just as Cassie arrived, Erin had been cutting into squares the hot fudge sundae brownies. She set the knife down and reached the door as fast as she could-- which, unfortunately, wasn't fast enough to suit her with Baby slowing her down. She was sure she looked like an overweight oompa loompa whenever she walked now. Thank God there was only a month left, and then she could hold her baby in her arms instead of inside her body.
"Hey, mom!" Cassie chirped playfully when Erin opened the door and greeted her with a familiar hug. The shower didn't start until three, but Cassie was the hostess, even if it was at Erin's home. She leaned down as Erin stepped back to open the door for her, standing back up with a large paper bag that she carried in with two hands. "There's more in the car," Cassie explained, setting it down in the middle of the living room, then adding before Erin could move-- "You can unload this bag while I go get the other bags and bring them in, okay?"
Without responding beyond a happy "oh!" sound, Erin began to unload the first bag of stuff Cassie had brought. Earlier, when they'd first started talking about baby showers and everything, Cassie had brought over five or six different samples of themed napkins and dishes and the like. "I wasn't sure which one you'd like the best… and a lot of them were for either a boy or a girl," she'd explained. Erin had made a face, rolling her eyes at the non-present Yukito. "He insists on keeping it a 'surprise' or something. Like that's more fun. I have half a mind to break in and steal my freaking records…" Erin had continued to half seriously/half jokingly jab at Yukito while she'd analyzed the different samples Cassie had brought. Finally she chose one, and now Erin was thrilled to pull out of the bag the things she had chosen. At first, when Erin had pointed at the brown and baby-blue napkin with the white silhouette of an expecting mom, Cassie looked unsure. "Are you sure? Not this one, with the couple under the umbrella?"
"No," she'd responded immediately, fully certain. "Yukito won't even be here, and this one kind of shows it's like me and the baby, together. And look, it's sparkly!" The silhouette mom in the picture had a thread of sparkling black ribbon around her hair and around her dress, capturing Erin's eye. Her final declaration had made Cassie laugh, and won her over, too.
Now from the bag Erin was pulling out packs of blue and brown napkins with the motherly silhouette, little body lotion bottles with the same design to give as favors, plates, and cups, along with the light blue cutlery Cassie had bought to match. When she'd told her mother the colors of her baby shower-- brown and blue-- Mandi had posed her concern that everyone would think she was having a boy, when she might just end up with a girl with only boy clothes to wear. But Erin was for some reason adamant about the color scheme, reminding her mother and everyone who shared her sentiments that "the invites have right on them that we don't know if it's a boy or a girl! 'A bundle of joy, whether a girl or a boy.' See, right there!"
Cassie brought the rest of the bags in, then sat down next to Erin to try to get everything out and organized. Soon she started to disappear to run this to the kitchen, to set this on the dining room table, lay these favors out on the little table beside the sofa, leaving Erin to sift through the party things giddily, cooing over her attempt of a baby book or the games they were going to play or the sweets she'd been baking. "And I'm sure the brownies are cool enough to eat now. Oh, Cassie, you need to try one! They're in the kitchen! Bring me one, too!"
Cassie turned around, placing the last of the utensils in a little holder on the table. "Erin, I told you not to worry about making anything. Your mom is on the way with the cake and everything. You didn't have to--"
"I know I didn't have to, Cassie," Erin retorted, frowning up at her from her spot on the floor. "I wanted to. Is that okay with you?"
For a moment, Cassie looked taken aback at the sudden snap. It was hard to not snap back sometimes when she did that, but Cassie knew from experience it would just make things worse, and the best thing was to be patient in explanation. At least, that worked for her. "Of course, Erin. I just didn't want you to have to do any more work than you need to. You're already working twenty-four/seven." Her soft smile was slowly reflected on Erin's face at the mention of her growing motherhood. "So," Cassie chirped, opting for a brighter tone. "Is the chocolate thing a craving, or are you just a chocoholic?" She started moving Erin's brownies from the pan to one of the plates she'd bought, setting the stack in the middle of the table. Taking two and putting them on the shower napkins as Erin giggled at the question, Cassie added, "Because I bought some of those pastel-colored M&Ms to set out in little dishes, and I don't want to, you know, burn you out on it or something."
Now Erin was laughing. "Cassie, are you kidding me?" She reached out to take the napkin and brownie Cassie offered her. "I always love chocolate, baby or no baby. And Baby likes it, too," she said proudly. "Watch, if my mom brings the cake I picked out and we have it, I bet you anything the baby'll start kicking like crazy after a while."
"Because it's hyperactive just like you?" Cassie teased, sitting down next to Erin and tasting the brownie by biting off its corner.
"They're made with ice cream," Erin exclaimed, gesturing to the brownies. "And they're so good!" she tacked on in a sing-song voice just as another knock came to the door.
"I bet that's your mom," Cassie said, setting her half a brownie down and hopping to her feet. Erin ate her last bit of brownie and shot Cassie a look, then before she reached the door, called, "Hey!" Cassie turned around to see the pouting expression on her friend's face.
"Oh, sorry!" Quickly she returned to Erin's place on the floor and reached down to take her hands. "Sorry, I--"
"I keep sitting down on the floor like it's freaking easy to get up," Erin muttered, groaning a little as she got to her feet.
"I would think sitting down would be hard, too," Cassie muttered as Erin regained her footing, using her friend as a temporary stabilizer. "It is," Erin agreed, pulling open the door, one hand resting protectively on her stomach. "But I'm too stubborn to give up sitting on the floor, apparently." Immediately she turned to her mom, who was standing at the door with a huge smile that matched the huge cake in her hands. "Omigod, it's beautiful! Come in before it falls!" she cried, reaching her own hands underneath the cake to help.
"It's fine, I got--"
"How did you knock holding this thing, anyway? Omigod, I can smell the peanut butter!"
"Now, the peanut butter thing has to be a craving," Cassie said, following the two generations of moms to the kitchen. "I know I don't remember you loving it this much before."
"Last night we were over for pizza," Mandi told Cassie, loosening the lid on the cake. "And instead of using the pizza sauces to put on her crust when she ate it, Erin put peanut butter instead." Mandi started to laugh at the memory, Cassie's mouth fell open a little in playful disbelief, and Erin protested, "But it tasted good! Don't judge me!"
Mandi gave another small laugh, pulling Erin into a hug. "You know you're pregnant when…" She placed her hand gently on Erin's stomach. "How's my grandbaby been today?"
"Quiet… Like I told Cassie, just wait… He'll be moving around like crazy in a little while. Or she… whatever." Erin leaned forward to read the cake, its peanut butter frosting shining brown behind the blue lettering of "The Big Day is Drawing Near… Little Baby is Almost Here!" It wasn't a fancy cake when it came to decoration, but Mandi had made it from scratch, per Erin's wishes, and used real sugar instead of her preferred Splenda in making the dark chocolate cake. "Aw, you kept my colors and everything!" she cooed. "Mama, get my camera, it's in the bedroom, on the nightstand. Go get it, please?"
A quick kiss against Erin's cheek and a laugh preceded Mandi's agreement. "Sure, querida." Down the hall she called behind her, "And why wouldn't I keep your colors? They turned out so nicely!"
"Very baby-chic," Cassie agreed as Mandi returned, holding out to Erin the little red camera. "Thank you!!" Immediately Erin started snapping pictures of everything-- the cake, the table laid out with all the blue and brown decorations, with the glittery motherly silhouette, the little candy holders Cassie had mentioned earlier…
"Oh, I almost forgot the rest of the food in the car!" Mandi announced before disappearing out of the house again. A few trips later, the counter of the little kitchen was filled with the shower cake, Erin's ice cream brownies, a plate of fruit with caramel and cream cheese dips in the middle, seven-layer-dip and lime-sprinkled tortilla chips, and a punch bowl filled with sparkling white grape juice. Cassie's little collections of M&Ms were set up around the living room and kitchen area, and Erin was taking pictures of everything.
Mandi and Cassie were too quick at working together to finish setting up the shower to give Erin an opportunity to try to take over. During her pregnancy, she'd developed a tendency to work too hard in her excitement that made dizzy spells leap on her like flies on food. The last thing they wanted today was a fainting pregnant mommy. After she'd taken all the pictures she could, Mandi pulled her to the new gliding-style rocking chair she and Erin's dad had gotten as an early form of a shower gift for Erin. It was a soft plush green one, with a footstool, and it was supposed to go in the baby's room so Erin would have a place to sit as she rocked her baby, nursed, etc., but for now it was in the living room, which turned out to be a very convenient thing. It was easier now to get her to take a moment to relax than it had been earlier in her pregnancy. Now she had a sore back and puffy ankles among other things that made it easier to cave to moments of stillness. Even if she had urges to be productive, to help, to organize… But with both Cassie and her mother working together, it didn't take very long to make the front part of their home look like a total explosion of Babies Are Us.
"Hey, Mami?" Erin called, finding the little green footstool a very thoughtful addition to their collection of furniture, "What do people normally wear to these things, anyway? Like, the pregnant people. Am I supposed to wear a dress or something? Do the shorts look okay, or…?"
"Dresses are always nice, but you don't have to dress up if you're not comfortable," her mother responded, then her face lit up as a thought occurred to her. "Oh, why don't you wear one of the cute tops I bought you?"
Erin had avoided those tops like the plague. They were the typical V-neck pastel maternity tops with a tiny ribbon that wrapped around just above the belly if she ever wore them. And when her mom had found out she was going to have a grandbaby to dote on, she had turned up at Erin's doorstep with at least eight of those shirts in different colors. "Enough for a whole wardrobe for the whole nine months!" she'd said excitedly. And she'd bought a couple of pants, too, that had yet to be worn because they reminded Erin too much of business-suit pants. Black and boring. If she couldn't wear her regular jeans, she'd at least get to wear jean shorts, even if they had to be the custom-design type of jean. It was the closest she'd found to feeling both cute and comfortable with pregnant-people-clothes. So instead of wearing the boring, mass-manufactured and dull mommy-clothes that filled the store racks (and now her closet), Erin had collected cute T-shirts where she could find them and an array of comfortable shorts, with a couple of unique dresses for special days. Now Erin looked at her mom and gave a little shrug. "Nah, I'm good. I like this," she said, tugging a little at the light green t-shirt, the pale brown and pink cherry blossom design cutting across it diagonally. "Hey, who turned off the music?" It hit her suddenly that at some point the music she'd been piping throughout the house had stopped.
"I got it!" Cassie volunteered, exchanging Erin's iPod in the dock for her own and putting on the playlist she'd discussed with Erin for the party. Cassie had wanted to do something cheesy like put all songs with the word "baby" in the title, but Erin refused. She just wanted good music, no theme or anything behind it. So now from the speakers came the familiar old tune of Weezer's "Buddy Holly", making Erin half hum and half sing along, happily holding her hand on her stomach. Hurry up, one month, so I can hold my baby for real!
The earliest guests starting coming in not too long after Cassie turned on the music, which definitely felt like perfect timing to Erin. At first, Cassie and Erin had discussed having a coed shower, keeping Yukito there and having all the males stay, but the more Erin thought about it, the less the idea seemed to be fun anymore. Yukito would probably slink away into a corner somewhere, waiting for all the goofy games to end and stuff, so what was the point? And just girls could be a lot of fun, too. Plus she'd invited Makisan, which had earned a moody Yukito the rest of the evening after Erin had told him. "She's my family, too, you know," Erin had protested. "And our baby's grandmother. You'll make it through somehow."
It wasn't as big of a shower as Erin had hoped for-- she must have sent out around thirty or forty invitations (which had made Cassie temporarily panic until the RSVPs started coming in)-- but it was a good fifteen or so people, which made the small house seemed filled to overflowing with all the mingling female voices, hugs, laughter, and gifts coming into a pile at the corner of the sofa and Erin's nursery chair. She was also glad to see she wasn't the only expecting mom, and since some brought their own offspring, she avoided the usual trend of being the youngest person in the room.
Erin spent the majority of the first part of the shower hovering by the fruit tray, talking endlessly to everyone and enjoying the tastes of strawberry covered in caramel. The peanut butter frosting of the cake was so close, constantly giving her its rich scent, and soon she caved and pulled out a jar of peanut butter to spread over the strawberries, earning a few playful teases from her mom. Soon, though, she abandoned her pos at the fruit tray to show off the baby's room to her guests. It wasn't painted quite yet-- that was in Cassie's hands-- but the crib was set up, at least. And the space for the chair from Erin's parents was clear. There was a tiny baby-dresser with a baby-sized radio on top, off to one side of the room with a few little outfits inside its drawers Erin had found on grocery trips to WalMart that she just couldn't pass up. (It was harder shopping for baby clothes when you didn't know if it was a boy or girl, and she never lightened up on reminding Yukito of this fact, but it only seemed to make him want to tease her more. It was driving her nuts.) A little diaper hamper was near the changing table she'd found at a garage sale a month or so ago, and a small bunch of neatly folded blankets sat on top of a baby-sized quilt inside the crib. Erin felt bubbly with pride in her baby and the little room as she shared what would soon be the most frequented room in the house. Just one month, she chanted to herself regularly now, as Baby's energy picked up and she could feel him-- or her-- moving about. She --or he-- was probably as restless as Erin felt, her thoughts being pulled in a thousand beautiful directions. Well, they were beautiful today. Some days all the thoughts seemed to drive her crazy and all she could do was cry, or scream, or curl up in bed as much as Baby would allow her to, but definitely not today. Not with so many warm faces around, excited with her, and the little girls who had come with their moms asking if they could feel the baby kicking, and everyone gushing about the room and the food and the decorations for the shower…
Before, Erin had always thought baby shower games were only cheesy and usually awkward. But her shower games, she'd decided, were something she could actually get excited about. When each guest came in, they got a little piece of blue and brown note-paper, using the same decorations as the rest of the shower things, that had printed at the top, "I'm a new Mommy-To-Be… Please give some helpful hints on how to raise a new baby!" Cassie had made a pretty little box for the notes to slide into, and once everyone was there and had mingled long enough, Erin sat down in her gliding chair and began to share the notes aloud. Everyone had to participate, Erin had announced, even the single girls who didn't plan on becoming a mom any time soon. Oddly enough, their advice was the more serious stuff. It was the veteran moms whose advice made for the most laughs and bizarre expressions.
"'In the future, never loan your car to someone to whom you have given birth,'" Erin read aloud from one of the cards and looked up from it before even reaching the name, her eyes and smile both wide. "Whose is this? Omigod! Can I have the kid first before we start talking about driving and stuff?" she asked through laughter. No one claimed it, though she saw her mom gesturing with a little nod to the guest next to her. Erin laughed again, glancing down to read the name and seeing the now familiar signature of Yukito's mother. Her mouth fell open. "Makisan! That was one time! People jogging pass us up when he drives!" The sudden rise in laughter and conversation nearly drowned out her response, but Erin was pretty sure she said something like, "It was just a suggestion."
Another game came as Erin started giddily opening all the gifts brought for her and her baby. Cassie handed out to everyone a bingo card and the little containers of M&Ms (or what remained of them) and announced a prize for the person who won bingo, covering a column full of M&Ms if they had Erin's gifts on their card. One of the little girls who came with their mothers ended up as the winner, though Erin didn't think it was a fair win. She won on the gift "cute outfit", but really, it was a school-bus-yellow onesie which qualified, in Erin's mind, as neither cute nor an outfit, but it was the gift from that same girl's mom, so she did her best to hold her tongue. And reminded herself to give Yukito an earful about the surplus of all things yellow and green they were getting for their baby. Cassie presented the little girl with her prize-- a polka-dotted bag that had lip balm, lotion, and a tiny tea candle inside. The girl took out the lip balm and passed the rest of the prize happily over to Mom.
The shower lasted technically until five, but Cassie and Mandi stayed behind a while longer-- cleaning, mostly, as Erin continued to deliver commentary-- now brutally honest as everyone else had gone-- over all the gifts. "The only clothes our baby's gonna have are green and yellow and white onesies. Why would you put a baby in a white onesie?! They'll get ruined as soon as the baby poops in 'em! What happened to red? Why didn't anyone get anything red for my baby? Or orange? And who says that blue is a boys-only color? What if I wanna put my baby in blue, huh? And what if I don't want to put a bow in her hair to make her 'look' like a girl?"
"Erin, you're getting too worked up over nothing," her mother started, setting down the crumpled wrapping paper she was about to throw away.
"It's not nothing!" Erin retorted. "It's my baby! We wouldn't even be in this mess if I knew what sex it was! Ugh!" She shoved the new clothes off her knees and crossed her arms, slumping back into the chair.
"It's not a mess, Erin," came Mandi's quiet consolation as she picked up one of the three different diaper bags Erin had opened up that afternoon. "Look, Alana remembered your colors. Oh, did you see this monogram she added?" The last words came out as a gasp as Mandi held the bag up for Erin's inspection. She hadn't seen it-- it had still been half-wrapped in blue tissue paper, but now Erin looked closer at the blue and brown polka-dotted bag. On the corner of the bag was a series of what had to be Japanese characters. "I can't read it… I didn't tell Alana a name, so…" Erin mumbled, staring confused at the blue stitching.
Cassie peered over, studying it for a second before deciding, "I bet it says 'Maki'. Show it to Yukito when he gets home. It's beautiful, Erin."
"A lot better than those sucky baby clothes… My baby deserves cuter clothes to come home in, thank you." Suddenly Cassie's words hit Erin. "Yukito! Omigod, I forgot to call him and tell him he can come home!" She shoved the footstool away with a kick to its feet and also shoved herself out of the chair. "Where's my phone, where'd I put my phone?" she repeated, thrusting her hand into the crevices of the couch and in the pockets of her shorts and swiveling around the room. "Where's my phone?! Where--?"
Suddenly she felt herself caught by the shoulders and found her mother guiding her down to the couch. "Shh, shh, your phone is in the kitchen. Cassie sent Yukito a text a few minutes ago, all right? Shhh, shh… "
Sniveling and feeling the frantic pattern of her heart, baby protesting to the sudden rush of panic, Erin reached over and pulled herself close to her mom in a hug. "I want Yukito," she started to sob.
"I know, baby," her mom responded, her hand patting her back in an attempt of comfort. "I know. You've had a long day…"
Erin nodded into her shoulder, trying her hardest to subdue the urge to cry. "I dunno what's wrong…"
"Nothing's wrong…" Gently Mandi brushed the hair out of Erin's face. "I'll go get your phone. All right?"
Erin sat up and nodded, wiping away the remnants of her tears. She reached over and grabbed the closest present-- a set of tiny baby bottles. To busy herself while she waited, she slowly pried off the plastic around them, freeing the bottles individually.
Soon the familiar sound of a car door slamming reached Erin's ears, and immediately she perked up. "Yukito's home!" After a moment of difficulty, Erin won the battle against gravity and had just regained her balance when Yukito came in. "Yukito!" For some reason, it felt like he'd been away for ever. She held her hands out to him expectantly, and was soon wrapped in the hug she needed desperately.
"Hey, Sunshine." He caught her lips in a kiss before catching a glance at the remains of the shower. "Looks like the shower went well…"
Erin nodded, keeping her arms around him. "I missed you…" She tilted her face to give a kiss on his cheek.
"Are you all right, Erin?" Yukito asked, watching her curiously. "Did something happen?"
"No. I just missed you, okay? Is that all right with you? Didn't you miss me?" Her eyes were locked on him, and for some reason, this felt like the most important question he would answer in a long time.
By answer, he pulled her into another kiss. "Always." He was confused again, but that feeling was becoming more and more common lately. He felt like he was winging it, and hoping for the best. "Show me some of the things they decided to give our baby."
The combination of Yukito coming home and getting to fawn over all the gifts again brightened Erin's mood, and she drew him over to the little corner of presents. "Look, Alana monogrammed this baby bag. Cassie said she thinks it might say Maki…"
When it was just Yukito and Erin and all the new things for Baby had been moved into their proper places in the baby's bedroom, Erin pulled Yukito to her side and inhaled a satisfied breath, keeping one hand around Yukito and one on her belly. "Baby's kicking again." She leaned her head over to rest on Yukito's shoulder.
He reached over, placing his hand next to hers. "I can't imagine how that feels to you, Erin…" Yukito mumbled.
"What, you thinking of trying it next time?" she giggled, making Yukito gawk at her. "I'm kidding," she added, nudging him a little.
"I know, that's the scary part," Yukito teased her, earning a sharp pout from Erin, who didn't feel like playing just now. He moved to encircle her in a whole hug. "You should go lay down for a little while…"
"No, Yukito, you've been gone all day, and I miss you, and don't want to miss you again," she muttered even as Yukito walked with her to their bedroom, hand guiding gently, resting on the small of her back.
"Then I'll stay with you. I missed you, too, you know."
"You did?" she asked, turning around and stopping at the edge of the bed.
"I told you I did," he reminded her, gently pulling her down to the bed with him. "You, and our baby…" Another kiss paused their conversation.
"I didn't know I was so tired," Erin murmured after a minute. "I feel like an old lady… "
"No, you feel like a new mom whose giving all her extra energy to grow our child," Yukito responded, making a grin come to Erin's face as she closed her eyes.
"You've been reading those books more, haven't you?"
Yukito just chuckled, stroking her hair as she fell asleep.
-Mascii(:
