The Aftermath of Callie and Arizona

Holiday Road

Arizona's POV:

After surviving another Halloween, we immediately realized our baby shower was only a few weeks away. Of course, a few weeks after the shower, there'd also be Thanksgiving and before we knew it, Christmas would be over.  And eventually, we'd all be cleaning up streamers and noise makers that had been discarded at the start of the New Year, but so is the holiday arc that exists in our country.

Despite all the busy moments in our lives, things were going as planned during the two weeks leading up to the baby shower. Teddy and Meredith had everything ready to go, and for a change, it was nice all we had to do was show up to our living room that afternoon.

The shower was going to be a pretty small group on a Sunday and was going to include friends, Ari and Renee, my Mom and folks from the hospital. Thankfully it wasn't going to be huge, but probably around 30 people. However, when it's your house, that still feels like a lot people packed onto one floor. 

As much as I'm not a fan of baby showers and other similar events, Callie, I learned during her pregnancy, is a fanatic about baby showers. She had already started getting excited about our shower the second it turned midnight on Halloween.  Throughout the two weeks leading up to the shower, Callie continually talked about all the games we might play, gifts we might receive and food we were going to have.

While Callie didn't have a say in the games or the gifts for the shower, she did manage to get her opinions known by Mer and Teddy, as to what finger foods she liked for the heavy appetizers/lunch items being served. Only my wife would think of her stomach when it came to event planning. 

Thankfully Callie knew better and also consulted me regarding the food and in the end, I was able to get Callie to pick options she might not have. Otherwise, we would have ended up with a lot more peanut butter, chocolate and dessert foods if it were up to her.

Not that any desserts are bad, but an entire menu of all things sugar, does not make for a diverse, "heavy appetizers," kind of baby shower lunch. In fact, it sounded more like a dessert bar for a buffet restaurant, you probably know the kind of restaurant I'm talking about. These establishments always have multiple desserts displayed, just before you reach the chocolate fountain or soft serve ice cream machine at the end of the line. 

The Colonel used to love a good buffet restaurant when we were growing up. He always appreciated the fixed price and the, "all-you-can-eat," guarantee. Too bad my Father didn't seem to seek out quality as a food standard too when picking restaurants. Then again, quantity over quality was an unspoken motto my Dad had long held onto to throughout my entire life.

Once the day of the baby shower finally did arrive, Callie and I were only responsible for socializing, which was nice for a change. The shower included plenty of food, drinks and (thankfully) games were kept to a minimum at my request and much to Callie's disappointment during the event. (Remind me again why I want to identify a melted candy bar in a diaper anyway? I never understood some of the games that are played at baby showers...)

Everyone was very generous and thoughtful with their gifts, something we weren't expecting. We just assumed since we were older and this was our second child, that people wouldn't think we needed much. However, we were starting from scratch again since Sophia was almost 10 years old, so everything we got was going to be put to good use.

After the baby shower, the holidays felt like they came and went, as I predicted they would. Of course during those weeks of crazy, demanding schedules, I never would have said everything was just cruising by. Instead, I would have probably made a comment about how those days were mowing me over or how I felt like I was stuck in a burning pit of molten lava.