Baby Fever

Now don't freak out on me, I'm not getting baby fever just yet. In fact, just when I start entertaining the thought, I think about how much I love my 8 hours of sleep each night, my disposable shopping income that I get to spend on a new pair of stilettos instead of a new stroller, and most of all, our ability to up and road trip it whenever we freakin' feel like it. But Lawd is it abounding in my hometown! (Sidenote: I remember when Mr. T and I were dating and everyone I ran into back home would not-so-carefully ask when we might be "taking the next step." I would get so annoyed and in my head would respond "when you mind your own business" and then come back to Nashville and be SO thankful that I hightailed it out of my hometown where marriage, babies and being a SAHM was every girl's aspiration by age 25. It amazes me that as soon as I've gone and checked marriage off the list, they can't wait to start in on asking about the babies! Oy.)

So Mr. T and I headed south on I-65 late Friday afternoon and did the Tour de Tuscaloosa all weekend long. We ran into the mother of all summer thunderstorms about 50 miles south of Nashville and I could barely see the rain-soaked road, which caused me to hydroplane for about a nanosecond which naturally caused me to shake like a leaf until we could safely exit and Mr. T could calmly take over. We stopped at my favorite on-the-road joint, Chick-Fil-A, for the new spicy chicken sandwich. I was underwhelmed. I mean, yes, it's good, but it's no spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's, in my opinion. And it was a little freaky seeing all these kids (and adults) dressed up like cows, all in the name of getting a free meal. One guy literally stuck black-marker scotch tape dots on his white t-shirt and confidently stood in line thinking his costume was brilliant. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. Wow, no idea why I thought that tangent was blogworthy. My apologies for boring you to tears.

We made it home and caught up with the parentals before heading to bed just before midnight. Yes, we are CRAZY in our old age. As we were getting ready for bed, I looked at my new husband getting under the covers of the bed that I had slept in since I was a tot. And it was like worlds colliding. Very weird - I almost felt like I had snuck a boy into my room or something. Any other newlyweds feel like that on your first few trips back home with the new husband? Just me? Okay, never mind then.

So anyway, the point of this post - babies. Saturday started with a baby shower for my friend and brand-spanking new blogger Candice, who welcomes a baby girl, Mary Emma, in just a few weeks. You've never seen so many gifts - bottle brushes, bows, diapers, burp cloths, faucet covers that look like little ducks and even wet wipe warmers - yes, they really make wet wipe warmers, folks. This child is pretty much set with everything she could ever want for her first year of life. And when that year is up, guess what she'll be wearing to her first football game?

That's right - an Alabama sundress complete with bloomers that have elephant prints on the bottom, from her favorite Aunt Lillian. Oh, I just couldn't resist. Even if the smallest size they had was a 12 month. I'll just have that much longer to anticpate her cuteness in it. I not-so-secretly hope all my friends have little girls - I have so much fun buying clothes for them. When it's a boy I completely shut down and have to go the toy route. Which is way more boring for the shopper. Because obviously it's all about me and my shopping desires. Wow, pretty sure I just cursed myself to having all boys by putting that in writing.

Here are all the hostesses with the cute little mama-to-be in white. I know, you can hardly tell she's preggers. If I didn't love her, I would have to hate her for that.

After the shower, I scooped up Mr. T after he and my dad went to town on a slab of Dreamland ribs ("ain't nothin' like 'em nowhere!") and we stopped by to visit the new arrival of our friends Laura and Brad, Miss Camryn Culp. Check out her adorableness. And for anyone who's very observant, yes, those are little owls on her pajamas - hootie hoo, Chi Omegas!

I've known Laura since high school when we cheered for arch-rivals, but have always loved her to death. She and I got to be great friends while we were training for the half marathon two years ago, and it amazes me to see how she has completely fallen in love with motherhood. She's also honest enough to tell me it's not all rainbows and butterflies and that two hours of sleep is a good night (this is not looking good for me), which makes me love her all the more for telling it like it is. I so love that trait in a person. I also love that she and her husband Brad might be the most hardcore Bama fans I have ever met - if I told you how amazing their tailgate setup is, you might just think you had died and gone to football heaven.


We followed the Baby Parade with family dinner at my folks' house, after which I convinced my brother to get an old set of golf clubs out of the attic so I could take them back to Nashville with me to practice. Lo and behold, we find FOUR dusty old sets, one that had my grandpa's initials on them! After hitting a few balls into the woods behind our house, we ventured out for a RedBox movie and decided on this.



I give it a B minus. I wanted it to be so much better what with two amazing actors like Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, but it just didn't do it for me. However, what DOES do it for me is The Bachelorette, and I for one cannot wait for tonight's episode - can you say HOMETOWN DATES?!

And with that in mind, Mr. T is firing up the grill as we speak. Pork tenderloin, grilled asparagus, and oven-roasted potatoes are on the menu for tonight, the thought of which makes this doozy of a Monday get a whole lot better all of a sudden. And I just realized what was going to be my after-work hour at the gym to make up for Mom's home-cooked grits turned into my after-work blogfest. Now how did that happen? Oh well, I think the best part of being married is having someone to come home too, regardless of what kind of day you've had. Bonus points if they cook for you. And double bonus points if they admit to even enjoying your girly reality shows. And the baby fever? Let's just say I'm in no hurry to share my guy with anyone else just yet. I kind of like having him all to myself for now.