"If you want to find out the gender of the baby before the shower, the theme could be 'Boy or Girl?', or we could do one on nursery rhymes, books, meals, or even on just for you!" Cece said. Boxes of my stuff sat in the driveway, but all my stuff still wasn't packed yet.
"Wow, there's a lot of themes to choose from," I said. It was all so overwhelming.
"Don't worry about it Clare, we can figure it all out later. Those are just some ideas," she assured me.
I smiled and looked around. It had been a long time since I was in the Goldsworthy household. It wasn't exactly what I would call homey, but I couldn't handle even the thought of going back home. Ever since I got out of the hospital, I'd been living with Bullfrog and Cece. We had to go back to my house to get some things, but I barely talked to my family. Jake told me twice the he wanted me to stay, and I could tell in his eyes that he really didn't want me to go. Eli was already in Hudson though, and this was really happening, so I had to shrug it off.
"What if the gender was revealed at the party? Is that a good idea?" I asked.
"Adds extra drama, I like it! Plus, everyone's there! No need to send out a mass email or snail mail," Cece said.
"Is there any kids in your family that you want to invite?" I asked.
"Oh, we won't invite any kids if you don't want too," Cece asked.
I shrugged my shoulders.
"It might be nice to see all the kids in Eli's family. It would be easier to plan for just adults though. I don't know," I said.
"Again, we can work it all out later," she reassured me.
I smiled at the thought of having a kid-friendly baby shower. The theme would have to be something appealing to children.
"We could make it shark themed," I giggled.
Cece smiled but shook her head.
"I've heard of an around the clock baby shower, where everybody is given a time frame and they need to buy things that we'll need during that time of the day," I said.
"What do you mean?" Cece asked.
"Like if someone get's 8:00 AM, they get clothes that we would dress the baby in, or anything else we would need to get the day started," I replied.
Cece seemed intrigued by the idea. She nodded her head, I think she liked it.
"If we figure out a name by then, that could be the theme, or we could base it on books," I said.
I could hear and feel Bullfrog come in and sit on the couch next to me, though I couldn't see him.
"You know Bullfrog, I heard that guys hold baby showers now," she said. I could tell she was trying to get her husband excited about it.
"Really? Back in our day men weren't even allowed at the baby shower," he said, drinking his beer while watching his wrestling match.
"Yeah, maybe Eli could hold his own baby shower," she said, still trying to spark her husbands interest.
"Wouldn't that be a little girly?" he asked.
"No, it would just be guys hanging out and everyone brings a pack of diapers," she said.
"So it would be like what I'm doing now, only with diapers?" he asked.
She shook her head.
Bullfrog shrugged.
"Sounds okay," he mumbled under his breath while he continued drinking.
Cece looked only slightly upset that she couldn't effectively get her husband interested.
"Now Clare, I could help you with the invitations if you liked," Cece said, turning her attention back to me. I was very happy to hear her offer this because I didn't know the slightest thing about this kind of stuff, but I knew Cece had experience.
"Yes please, that would be very nice," I said.
"Okay," Cece said with a smile.
"Do you remember that Neptune's Ocean video that Eli really liked when he was a baby?" Bullfrog asked suddenly.
"Oh yeah, he never stopped watching it, he loved it so much," Cece said with the biggest smile on her face.
"Oh, wouldn't that make such a cute baby shower theme?" she asked her husband.
"Where would you get stuff for a Neptune's Ocean party?" Bullfrog asked.
Cece shrugged.
"Online? It doesn't need to be exact," she protested.
While they talked, my mind drifted off to memories of my childhood. Even when I was seven I still loved watching Baby Einstein, and the name Neptune's Ocean ringed a small bell.
"I think that I watched that when I was a baby too," I said.
Cece looked over my shoulder again.
"How cute would it be if our son and the future mother of his child watched the same video tape when they were babies?" she asked.
"They probably did, there wasn't a lot of tapes for babies back then," Bullfrog said, not paying much attention to anything except the TV.
Cece scoffed and turned her attention to me again.
"I heard there is a website called Wedding Bliss Market that sell really cute baby shower items, so maybe we can check them out," she said.
"Okay," I said.
"Cece, don't forget that we have family all the way across the pond in England and Russia," Bullfrog said.
"Yeah, I don't know if it would be worth inviting them since they probably won't be able to make it," Cece said.
"Just invite them, and if they say no, then they say no," he said.
"You guys have family in England and Russia?" I asked.
"Oh yes, Bullfrog's grandfather was English, and his dad moved here when Bullfrog was a boy, but his aunts and uncles didn't move, so much of his father's family is still in England, and a cousin of ours is married to a girl in Russia," she said.
"Wow, I didn't know your family lived all the way in England and Russia," I said.
"You can thank Eli for our Russian relatives," Bullfrog said.
"What?" I asked.
"Oh, well..." Cece has a awkward, uncomfortable look on her face.
I looked at her in confusion.
"When Eli was still dating Julia, he brought her to a family reunion. Well, he introduced her to our cousin who was single at the time, and she mentioned that she had some relatives from Russia in town and that her also single cousin would be a good match for them. They hit it off, got married, and moved to Russia with most of Julia's family," Cece said.
"Julia was from Russia?" I asked.
"Mostly. She was raised around the world, but her family was Russian, so she spend most of her time in Russia, her first language was Russian, and her accent was Russian," Bullfrog replied.
"Was she a foreign exchange student?" I asked.
"No, her dad was relocated here for his job with her and her younger half twin siblings," Cece said.
"I never knew all that about Julia," I said.
"Ah, she was an interesting girl. She was a prodigy who knew a lot of languages and was close to graduating early. She was very friendly, but because she was so smart she knew how to push people buttons. She grew up around the world and spoke so many languages, she could put up a front and sound like she was purely French, a Texan, or like she was from Chinese. She fooled natives. She knew how to make people upset and lie and manipulate very well," Cece said.
"Oh, well now she doesn't sound very nice," I said.
"Mmm, she wasn't horrible, but she did make heads turn," Cece said.
"Never a dull moment with her," Bullfrog said.
After that, a thought hit me.
"Would it be a good idea to invite them? I mean, I'm his new girlfriend who's having his baby," I said.
Cece froze, maybe she hadn't thought of it either.
"Maybe I should ask our cousin if it's a good idea to ask them," she said after a moment of silence.
I nodded.
"If they want to come but they can't, maybe we should have them set up on webcam's during the party so they can still be there," I suggested.
Cece nodded.
"We have to keep in mind the time differences," she said.
"That shouldn't be much of a problem," I said.
Bullfrog suddenly jumped up and leaned towards us.
"Mmm, maybe we shouldn't invite my family in England, they've all turned into eco-freaks," he said.
"What's wrong with that?" I asked innocently.
"Well, it means you'll have to make everything 'uber-green' unless you want to never hear the end of it from them," he said.
"A eco-baby shower shouldn't be too hard, it actually might be fun," I said.
"You want to throw an eco-friendly baby shower?" Cece asked.
"Well, yeah. Eco-friendly can be cute now, everything's clean, no harm done, right?" I asked.
Cece shrugged.
"Well alright," she said simply.
"What's wrong with it?" I asked.
"Nothing, it's just that were not very big eco-people," she said.
"You just haven't been to a fun eco-party," I said.
I smiled in memory of a couple of fun eco-parties I had been too. They were always fun.
"Whatever, it's your decision!" she said, throwing her arms up.
I leaned against the couch more.
"I really like the idea of focusing the baby shower on the baby's name. Everything would be personalized... growing up I hated seeing things with people's name's already printed on them like key chains or necklaces, because they never had my name. I hated the way it was spelled because of it. It would be nice to see the baby's stuff personalized," I said.
"You could just name the baby Bob or Susan," Bullfrog said.
Me and Cece both turned and looked at him, but his eyes were glued to the screen.
"Bullfrog, she doesn't want to name the baby Bob or Susan. Her and Eli are much more creative than that," she said.
"Yeah yeah yeah, I know, our boy's a genius," he said, continuing to drink from his beer. I giggled and stood up.
"I think I'm going to head up to bed, I'm getting tired," I said.
"Alright, good night Clare," Cece said.
I headed up the steps and into the bathroom. I took a quick but very relaxing shower, brushed my teeth, and put my body lotion on. I sat on his bed and looked around. I loved being in his room.
I pulled my pajamas on and curled up into his sheets. They still smelled like him. His cologne, his hair products, him.
"Just a couple more nights Clare," I thought to myself.
Just a couple more nights...