This isn’t what I meant when I agreed to a “baby shower”

So, the final baby shower was Saturday afternoon.  This one was family/ close friends /out-of-town people.  However, before we got to the fun of the baby shower, we had some water-related drama at our house. 

PLUMBING FAIL (scroll down if you only want baby shower details)

We live in a co-op, which means we are not responsible for our own plumbing.  The buildings were all built in the 1930’s and our unit has much of the original plumbing remaining.  Whenever an owner, such as ourselves, wants to do internal improvements that involve the plumbing, the co-op maintenance people have to be involved.  We dutifully contacted them to let them know we were having our bathtub surround replaced.  They sent a plumber over the day before that work was scheduled to be done and replaced a bunch of pipes/faucets/plumbing stuff in the wall.  They also left a gaping 2 foot hole in the cinderblock /plaster wall, meaning we couldn’t use the shower/tub. That was Thursday.  On Friday, the wall guy (not from the co-op) came out and patched the hole, then installed the new tub surround.  It was stunningly beautiful and clean.

When we showered for the first time late Saturday morning (24 hrs for the caulk to dry) we were horrified to turn off the water and discover 2 inches of water covering the bathroom floor and seeping through the floor to drip into our kitchen below.  This was T-1 hour to the arrival of my sister from out of town and T-2 hours until we had to leave for the baby shower.  After using every towel in the house to mop up the water, we called the emergency maintenance number.  They arrived within 15 minutes.  They determined that it was only the shower portion of the plumbing that was leaking.  We’d be ok to use the tub until the problem was fixed on Monday.  And they wanted to cut a hole in the kitchen ceiling  and bring in a dehumidifier to stave off any mold issues within the wall.  I also called the on-call person from the bath wall company.  There was a great pow-wow between the 2 groups and the plan was made to leave things alone for the moment, do the kitchen ceiling thing on Sunday, and repair the plumbing issue on Monday.  That meant no shower for another 2 days.  Joy.

My sister arrived and was informed of the issue and agreed to skip a shower for her stay with us.  We went to the baby shower and a good time was had by all.  (Details to follow).  On Sunday, the co-op guys never showed up to cut the ceiling hole.  This morning after sponge baths in the tub and washing of hair in the kitchen sink, the co-op plumber shows up and examines the problem.  And can’t fix it without taking down the pretty new walls.  So the NEW plan is for the wall guy and the co-op plumber to come by together tomorrow to fix it.  Which means another day with no shower.  And of course, they are all pointing fingers about whose fault it is.  The only good thing is that they are all in agreement that it isn’t OUR fault.  I did pitch a pregnant lady fit about not having a shower and the co-op assured me I’ll have some way to shower when we get home today, but at this point I’ll believe it when I see it.  Oh, and they won’t be cutting a hole in the kitchen ceiling.  They will instead remove medicine cabinet installed in the wall cavity in the bathroom (same wall as the shower plumbing) and dehumidify things from there.  Needless to say, this has all been horribly annoying and stressful.

BABY SHOWER

Ok, now the fun stuff.  The baby shower!!  Our friends and relatives were all wonderful and beyond generous.  We now have more adorable baby clothes than we know what to do with.  Among our favorite gifts were a beautiful handmade quilt from Strawberry’s mom and a whole stash of hand knit sweaters and hats from my grandmother.  My mother made tasty Nutella  frosted cupcakes with strawberries on top and hosted an amusing version of “The Price is Right” filled with baby items that we got to take home.  And yes, I was subjected to the ribbon around the belly game again!  My aunt came the closest, with perhaps only 1/2 an inch too short a ribbon.  Many people had travelled from out of town just for the afternoon so the party wrapped up fairly early as people headed back home.  It was great to see everyone, some of whom we only see once or twice a year.  And it’s crazy to think that the next time we see almost all of them, we will have a baby with us!

quilt handmade by Strawberry's mom

 

How big IS that belly?