baby love

This morning I attended my first baby shower given for a friend of my own instead of a family friend. Holy smokes, that makes me feel old. Actually, the mommy-to-be (and classmate of mine) is quite a bit younger than me as she zoomed through college and in to dental school quickly. It was a small affair but we had a good time eating brunch, playing games, and opening presents. I particularly liked the game where we all tried to estimate the circumference of her belly using a piece of yarn cut to our specifications by just looking at her. We all way overestimated the size of her baby bump and she pretended to be miffed. As far as gifts, I chose to buy some adorable onesies and a blanket from her registry, a safer bet than the onesie that simply read "Tax Deduction" on the front which I found hilarious. That's not to say I didn't like what I gave -- I was literally moved to tear-filled eyes as I browsed the baby section of Target last night, a scenario colloquially referred to by Josh as my suffering a "cute heart attack". I could barely handle the "rattlin' mittens" for newborns and the totally unnecessary (and virtually non-functional) newborn shoes made me squeal.

None of this is really new for me of late, however. Although I detest the notion of a "biological clock" ticking a woman's life away, I must admit to being in a total baby mood ever since we covered the reproductive system last fall. I didn't exactly learn anything new but since then I've been prodding all of my married or financially stable friends to have a rugrat so that I can parent vicariously through them. One would think that watching the 23 minute video of a live birth in my Medical Emergencies class on Thursday might put me off babies for a while but I was unfazed. I even perused the Ultimate Baby Name book at Barnes & Noble for over an hour today (although the argument can be made that I'm just a general fan of word etymologies). *sigh.

Obviously I don't really want a baby right now; Josh and I can barely keep up with our newspaper subscription let alone a little one. I think it just all comes back to my itch for some kind of change lately. We started browsing post-graduation dental service corps opportunities the other day, 2 year (or longer) commitments to clinics in low-income and underserved parts of the country that provide public health dentistry experience and help with loan repayment. It was exciting to think about picking a new city, packing and up and going, kind of like closing one's eyes and spinning the globe. My travel itch has also recently been reinstated and I've been fantasizing again about that European expedition I haven't quite gotten around to. Maybe as a graduation gift in 2009, who knows. *sigh again.

I guess for now I'll have to put the wedding, baby, and Eurotrip plans on hold and settle for smaller, though more immediate, adventures. Today I hot-dogged while driving around just a little bit and tomorrow is the Pistons game. Those'll do for now.

xoxox