Saturday, April 30, 2022- 16 weeks
I'm watching Dr. Who in the living room when Amy shuffles in, sleep still evident in her eyes. She drops onto the couch next to me and lifts my arm to tuck herself next to me. It's rare for her to be up early in recent weeks. I glance to my right and gently kiss the top of her head as she wraps her arms around me. I tighten my arm around her and continue watching my show. It's a matter of minutes before I notice a change in Amy's breathing. She's fallen asleep. I don't move until Dr. Who ends. "Amy," I whisper. "You should go back to bed. It's more comfortable than the couch."
She groans and slowly stretches. "What?" she mumbles, struggling to sit up.
"Go back to bed. You'll be more comfortable. Why were you up so early this morning? It's been months since you were up before Dr. Who was over."
"Your sister called me and I couldn't fall back to sleep, so I decided to get up, but I guess I needed more sleep. I'm sorry for falling asleep on you like that."
"Missy called you?" It's never good when Missy calls outside of our regular phone calls. I don't know when the last time was she called Amy. "What did she say? It's not Meemaw or my mom, is it? Are her kids okay? She's not planning to come out here, is she?"
Amy waves her hand in front of me, I think to calm me down. "Your mom and Meemaw are both fine. She didn't mention coming to California, but she was calling about our trip to Texas next month. Meemaw can't travel that far; she won't be able to come to our baby shower,"
"Baby shower?" That's a party. I hate parties. I'd been hoping if I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't have to have one.
"Yeah," she nods. "Missy got the idea to have a small baby shower for us while we're there. Mostly for Meemaw's sake, but I guess some of your mother's friends from the church have been asking if we have a baby registry so they can get us something. Missy mentioned she got some pretty nice things from them for her kids." Missy kids. She's got four boys- they're eight, almost four, and the twins just turned one. She's got her hands full, but she's happy and that's what matters, or so Amy keeps reminding me. I just hope our children aren't as wild as Missy's; I don't think I could handle that. "Anyways, Missy said she knows it's still early, but wanted to know when we were going to put together our registry so she can pass it on to everyone there who wants to get something for us. I don't have any plans today, so I told her we would work on this weekend."
Yep. That's where I thought this was going. A day of following Amy through Buy, Buy Baby as she oohs and aahs over things that are much too expensive for their size. "I don't know. Do we really need a registry?"
"Yes. It will be so much easier when anyone wants to get us a gift, we can simply tell them where we're registered. I know how much time you spent researching cribs before we chose one. You can do all the research and choose things like the car seat. I'll pick all the clothes and not ask your opinion on everything."
She's going to continue asking me if I don't agree. Maybe we can get this over with quickly. "Fine. Get dressed so this doesn't take all day."
Amy's off the couch and lunges toward me with an excitement that reminds me of a puppy. She plants her hands on my shoulders and quickly kisses me. "Thank you! I promise this won't be as bad as you're thinking it will be."
I've been in Buy Buy Baby before, not only when I found the frame for Amy's first ultrasound photo, but when Amy dragged me along to purchase gifts for our friends. This time is different as I follow Amy to the customer service desk. "Hi, how do we create a registry?" She asks.
The college-age woman behind the counter eyes us, a grin spreading across her face. "Congratulations Mommy and Daddy! It's super easy. Just download our app, enter your names and due date, then scan whatever you want to add to your registry. You can use this QR code to download our app," she points at the counter in front of her.
Amy angles her phone at the square, prompting the app to download. She begins to walk away, turning to check if I'm following her. She begins scanning items without stopping to read reviews or check any information about the item. "Do we need all of this?" I ask. "Can't we just get a car seat, a high chair, a couple of bottles, and a box of diapers?"
"The baby will go through dozens of diapers a week; we're going to need more than just one box. And we can get bottles, but I want to breastfeed. If we're lucky, it will be months before they need a bottle, if ever." She turns down the next aisle. "I've been asking Penny and Bernadette what they used all the time and what they never used. I want to keep our registry to a minimum, especially with how much Penny held onto and said we can use."
The pacifiers I was inspecting drop from my hand and my head snaps up, "Why would she hold onto stuff for you? Did you tell her we were trying for a baby?"
"No," she slides her phone into her purse. "I didn't tell anyone we were trying to have a baby, not the girls, not my mother, not even Meemaw when she asked when we were in Texas last year. I think she held onto it in case she and Leonard need it again."
"Oh." I hadn't considered that possibility, considering how Penny didn't want to have children until after she was pregnant. She did get pregnant once without meaning to, I guess it wouldn't be too far-fetched for that to happen again. "You're adding a lot of things for wanting to keep our registry to a minimum."
Amy shrugs her shoulders, "I thought I could add a bunch of stuff to get this over quickly since I know you're not a fan of shopping, then we could sort through it and select the essentials to keep, while deleting what we decide against. I promise I'll do another trip to add clothes and stuff after we find out the gender."
"Would you be opposed to not telling everyone when we find out the gender? I know that's not for a few weeks, but I've enjoyed keeping most of this to ourselves." I don't know where that came from, but I just realized I don't want everyone giving us their opinions on names or how to raise our son or daughter. I'd rather have our friends and family asking if it's a boy or girl for the next six months than listen to their parenting advice.
Sighing, Amy asks, "But what about the clothes? People love buying baby clothes."
"You can exchange the neutral stuff they get us for what you want for our baby," I suggest.
"Okay," without warning, Amy slips her arms around me. "I'll try to finish quickly. The comic book store is just across the parking lot. We can stop before heading home if you want."
