Monday, March 21, 2011

Preparing for SIL Baby Shower in May

How do I muster up the... the what? courage? emotional stamina? for my sister-in-law's baby shower in May? This is for B's side of the family...

I've got some time to prepare but I'm sure that if I don't do the work now, that date will soon be upon me and I will be unprepared.

I could always not go, but I'd rather try to prepare and think I can deal with it.

It's going to be a big ordeal and I'm actually surprised that it will be a big ordeal. And I don't know if I can handle a big ordeal.

It's mostly my mother-in-law, though. I think she's the one I have to prepare for the most. She will likely say 20 things that will bother me and I need to figure out if I can let it just roll off or what.

In thinking this through, wespent Saturday with my side of the family and micraculously without any references to pregnancy. In fact, after awhile, I was the one who asked my (other) sister-in-law about her best friend who just had a baby and her sister-in-law who is expecting in April. It actually felt good to be able to talk about it all and feel normal about it.

I really do just want to be normal. But I also know that what we're faced with isn't normal, so trying to create normalcy is challenging.

And in the meantime, I have to contend with our church's focus right now on our toddlers and babies, and it can sometimes get to me. Not as much as it used to but still... The good news is, I spent time with my nephews and my best friend's kid this weekend and loved every second of it!

Seven weeks till this big baby shower. I can do it! :)

2 comments:

  1. yikes. This is making me happy to be jewish, we don't really do baby showers too much. I have found the best thing to do is to keep as busy as possible. Give yourself jobs, like clearing dishes, collecting wrapping paper, whatever- just keep moving. And sit far, far away from your MIL so she cannot annoy you so much. I tend to find the anticipation of this stuff to be worse than the actual event, hoping this is the case for you.
    hang in there
    Carrie

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  2. I've thankfully only had to endure one family baby shower since IF struck three years ago. I missed my SIL's, which I'm sure was the worst. But for DH's cousin's, I did exactly what cgd said - I stayed busy. I helped out the hostess, spend time talking to Grandma and refilling her drinks, and basically avoided any conversations about babies or pregnant people. The worst part was watching her open her gifts, but I got through it (with two mimosas!). My MIL, who usually says stupid shit, was even on her best behavior. You WILL get through this. I know it! :)

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