Wednesday, March 28, 2012

FAQ’s about the Baby Celebration

I’ve been getting asked a bunch of questions about the party and I figured I would just compile a FAQ list for everyone to just refer to. I want to be as helpful as possible so everyone can have as much fun as I will!

1. How do I get there?

Well I do not want to post directions on this blog, but the hall is easy to get to from the GSP, Route 21 or Route 3. If you are driving from Manhattan taking the Lincoln tunnel to 3 West would be your best bet, but if you prefer the bridge take route 80 to GSP south and boom, joo there. If you need more specific directions, call a bitch!

2. Where are you registered?

Jeremy and I are registered at Target. You can search my name or his name. If you don’t know how to spell my name…how are we friends or family?

3. How long is the party?

The party is only from 3pm to 7pm. You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay there!

4. Wait, can I really drink at the party?

That’s what it said on the invitation, didn’t it? We will have beer supplied for you but you can always bring your own bottle if you prefer. Just don’t get sloppy drunk! This is a baby shower after all!

5. Should I buy a gift?

It is a baby shower! Of course you can always go in with another person and get a group gift to save some bucks. I’m excited to have my friends and family there and the thought always counts with me! Just try to get that thought at Target!

6. What should I wear? Do I have to get dressed up?

I didn’t think it was important to dress up, but some of my co-workers want reasons to wear pretty clothes and I said “go ahead”! I think it will be cute to have everyone there in their Sunday’s finest. But it isn’t necessary. If you are more comfy in t-shirt and jeans than so be it.

7. Where are you registered?

I’m registered at Target. That’s the stuff I really need. I probably won’t need 18 adorable bear shaped blankets and will probably return 17 of those so please try to keep to registry stuff!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Most Awesomest Co-Ed Non Girly Baby Celebration EVER!

That is what Jeremy and I decided to call our “baby shower”. I am not a traditionalist. As a matter of fact, I will go left if right is what tradition is. I am always looking for new ways or different ideas to celebrate or do something out of the ordinary for something that “traditionally” is done another way.

Why would my baby shower be any different?

As I have mentioned time and time again, I am not a girly girl. I see a baby bottle filled with jelly beans or a sock filled with chocolates and I want to run the other way. It’s so cliché. Just thinking about me surrounded by women in a room discussing breast feeding or diaper disaster stories makes me cringe. Or listening to stories from the single girls about how their boyfriends don’t want to commit will probably illicit a response from me like “ Get pregnant” while I shove mac and cheese into my mouth. I just don’t do these types of things well.

To me, having a baby shower for just me is a selfish thing to do. Jeremy is one of my closest, bestest friends and to have him not included in festivities celebrating the impending birth of his daughter seems like an outlandish idea. I want him there, drinking a beer, opening presents, mingling with my family and friends (most of his are on the west coast), and have his friends on this side enjoying themselves as well. I want all my friends there, not just the girls, but all those awesome dudes I’ve spent hours partying with. I love my friends husbands and boyfriends. I want a celebration!

So I decided to enlist the help of my mom and sis (my friends are busy and I don’t want to burden them with planning my baby shower) and decided to mold the idea of this baby shower to them. At first, they were a little “huh?” when I said I didn’t want to do the wicker chair, wishing well, diaper cake, baby feet, baby girl banners, etc etc. But as I explained how I thought all those embellishments were tacky, cliché, and kinda weird for guys to be around, they started to understand.

So here are some of the decisions we have made:

Home VS Hall VS Restaurant – Unfortunately the baby is due to pop in late April so the shower has to be in March or early April. Not the most reliable weather in the world happens around then. So the option to have it at a home seemed a little unreasonable (I have a big family). Restaurant seemed like the next logical choice, but restricted us from having the kind of celebration I really wanted. The hall seemed like the better choice. So we rented a space where we can be free to be as loud as we wanted!

lunch VS dinner – I suggested finger foods (sandwiches, empanada’s, hors d’oeuvres) but my mother was a nay on that. We looked at caterers but couldn’t decide on any. My precious auntie Aya volunteered her cooking services and now what I thought would be a simple few eats has become a full menu! Rice, chicken, pernil, potato salad, etc etc. This is going to be a Puerto Rican feast! Hey, Jeremy and I are not complaining! WOO HOO!

Entertainment – my brother will be bringing his DJ equipment and we will be listening to some of our favorite tunes! I want songs 80’s, 90’s and today. 80’s for when Jeremy and I were born, 90’s because that’s when our personalities were ultimately formed, and today for when our daughter is born. Aww adorable. Plus I want to get down to some Biggie, Nas and Mary J. East Coast for life!

Games – I want active games. Not those word finding games or jelly beans in jars. Those are okay, but not really me. What I designed was a contest. 6 teams of 2 people (preferably couples) will vie for the first place prize. 2nd  and 3rd prize games available too. Games will include beer in a baby bottle chugging, timed rubber ducky bobbing, nipple toss, bottle bowling and maybe baby charades. I’m still formulated the whole thing. It’s going to be epic. We may also have a poker tournament going on for the gentleman that prefers to win a little money. That will happen based on if we have enough volunteers.

So that’s pretty much it so far. As I get the things together I will post how it is going along. April 1st is the day it all goes down. Everyone thinks its going to be when I announce the ultimate April Fools Joke: “HEY GUYS, GUESS WHAT, I’M NOT PREGNANT”

As awesome as that sounds, I assure you, I’m fully knocked up!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Self Centered


I had a dream the other night. The kind of dream where you lose yourself entirely and become completely enraptured and absorbed into the pseudo realm of your inner psychosis. In other words: I believed this shit to be real.

I went through the whole magic of labor and birth and had this beautiful baby girl. She was a cutie, with dark olive skin, green eyes and a creepy, intense stare (like her dad). The hospital said I was free to go home and I did. I was never so excited in my life. When I got home, I rushed to the mirror and looked at my body. I was a size 6 again. YES! I size down from before I had the baby. My breasts had retained their shape and I could walk around and breathe normally again, at the same time! I started to run around and I grabbed Charlie for a walk around the neighborhood, something I haven’t been able to do since before I got pregnant. He was so excited to see me like my old self again. Jeremy came home and I gave him a huge hug and told him to look at how great I looked. I was me again! No more acid reflux, cankles, swollen feet and hands, and I had energy! I felt like a million dollars. He was excited for me and we went for a run.

Jeremy’s first alarm out of his 85 that he sets went off. I awake and give an agitated grumble . He turns it off and flips over. I look down and my belly is still there. I get upset. I’m pregnant again. I still have 1 month and a half to go. I don’t want to do this anymore.

Then I realized the most messed up aspect of this whole scenario. After I had the baby, she was NO WHERE to be found in the dream. The one thing I was most excited about was not being pregnant anymore.

I recanted the dream to Jeremy and laughed at how ironic and ultimately disturbing how the one thing that I was most excited about was the fact that I was no longer pregnant.

“Isn’t that funny Jeremy? Just look at where my mind is, huh?”

I get creepy, intense upset stare. OOOPS!

Ok, so as horrible as it sounds that my subconscious is being a complete self centered dick, I understand exactly where its coming from. I am a very independent, fast paced, gotta’ move now and get it done kind of person and all this pregnancy has done was slow me down and make me rely on everyone else to give me a helping hand. It has completely denigrated me. An uninspired, low esteem Maraley is a very sad Maraley. So I can see why in my dream all I cared about was being me again. Having energy to do the things I loved to do. Looking the same way I did before. Before all the sudden surprises and change of my whole life.

Does it mean I unwelcome it? No, not at all. It just means that I don’t know for sure who or what I will be after I have my daughter. That is the ultimate fear. I’m sure once we meet all the apprehension will be put to aside  and I will be very comfortable with my new role as a mommy to my precious little girl. I always love a new challenge and as long as I don’t have something growing inside of me sapping away my energy, I’m sure I will accept this new stage of my life gracefully.

Hooray for self centered, mind opening revelations!

Oh and Jeremy is going to be a totally coo’ father. I just wanted to throw that in there and give his little ego a rub.