Just under two weeks until we welcome our daughter to this world. She is my second, so there is the anticipation of the joy of meeting her; and the anticipation of the chaos of adding a new (hungry and crying) member to our family.
In a change from my first, I passed on having a baby shower when it was offered. Partly, because I felt we made the decision to bring a little one here- it’s not fair to ask people to come to a party and furnish supplies for her. The other, remembering the volume of ‘stuff’ I got for my son, I wanted to purchase only the Essentials for baby. So many things went unused, or only used 1 time, it made me sad to see things leave the house brand new with tags on it.
I feel prepared, but there are still the unknowns- Not being sure her exact size at birth makes it a challenge for buying both clothes and diapers. To satisfy my panic, I bought two small packs of diapers one in Newborn, one in Size 1. Clothing is at a minimum as well- Some one size sleepy time bags (I remember the challenge of changing a diaper at 2 am and not wanting to stir a little one). We were blessed by a family friend who donated two large boxes of beautiful newborn and infant clothing to get us started as well.
My son’s crib and changing table I hung onto for 5 years. I was too sentimental to let it go- sad that he may be my only baby, especially after my divorce, I had nearly given up hop

e. But something in the back of my mind made me keep that, and a diaper Genie and other various necessities. I tucked everything out of sight in the basement, and waited. Thank God for Hope, or women’s intuition- saving those items literally saved us hundreds of dollars when we found out we were expecting.
I am glad my son will not be an only child- although I will miss the ‘just the two of us’ time we had. He may never remember it, but I remember the several years as a Single Mom and how we grew together thru the experience. He is now blessed with love from many people- my favorite new memories are watching my husband play guitar for him and having Vince laugh and dance and sing; or the three of us going to the local hockey arena and cheering for ‘Our’ team at the top of our lungs.
I can’t wait to meet Baby, and looking forward to the memories our family will be making.