I suppose I am a superstitious person. I will not give an expecting parent a gift until they are at least 7 months into a pregnancy. I have always known that sometimes things do not work out and dread the thought of giving a gift to someone and having them have that reminder around if they have to deal with a loss. I think I am in the minority on this one though.
I am at 10 weeks 3 days and have already received a prenatal fitness DVD, body butter, pregnancy teas, and a maternity t-shirt. These are obviously gifts for me as the expecting mama. The best part of these gifts is that very few people know I am pregnant, we are waiting a few more weeks before we make the pregnancy public knowledge.
Last night I was at a casual gathering where two newly engaged friends were introducing their parents to each other for the first time. Imagine my surprise when my girlfriend decided to give me a present that she picked up on a recent trip to Hawaii. A baby book.
The parents at the party asked if we have a whole library set up yet. I said, nope, this is our first book for the baby. I have to admit, this book is really cute. You learn to count to ten in Hawaiian, most of the writing is in English, and there are Hawaiian translations for a lot of words.
I don’t know if my friend realized but my husband and I have been really curious about what our mixed-race baby will look like and when we saw this cover we laughed that this child could be a possibility.
I do have generous friends where I live. I have two friends already angling to throw a baby shower. I have neighbors that have generously offered a crib that their college-aged son used as an infant and has been loaned to many friends… we will have baby number 15 to use it. The few people who know our secret are offering to cook meals before and after baby comes, offer advice since we are first-timers, and are generally supportive in how they have been checking in on me.
I simply feel blessed to have generous and supportive people in my life and hope I have a been good friend to them in return.