Loot

Holy crap, I think we're having a couple of babies around here.

Ezra wanted to bow to the superstition of not buying any baby stuff before the babies are born, or at least not having anything at home. I'm not one for superstition, period (in fact, I'm pretty sure that following superstitious practices runs counter to Jewish law, but that's a post for another day), but for much of the pregnancy I didn't argue. He agreed to order the car seats, a double Snap-N-Go, and a co-sleeper far enough ahead of time that we could be sure to have them here before the kids came home. We ordered furniture such that it would be ready by...oh, soon-ish, I think. And I thought I would be content with that compromise, and letting Ezra and his parents stock up on everything else from clothes to wipes to receiving blankets while I was still in the hospital with our day-old kidlets.

Oh, but I did not believe in The Power Of Nesting.

And, really, I'm going to blame it on Ezra's sister, because she talked me through most of my Amazon shopping spree. So by the time the last of the packages arrives later this week, we will have: a dozen side-snap t-shirts (half with long sleeves, half with short), ten receiving blankets, sixteen washcloths, a few hooded towels (those things are expensive, yo), a bunch of burpcloths, and...oh, I can't remember exactly what else. More sheets for the co-sleeper, nail clippers, stuff like that. When he heard I was also ordering some pacifiers and bottles, Ezra knew I'd gone off the deep end. Which is probably why he didn't protest too much...there's no telling what a nesting pregnant woman will do if you ruffle her feathers.

But he's more upset by having the baby stuff around than I realized. So before he gets home from work this evening I will try to get everything packed away into the corner of a not-often-used room (not the room-that-may-have-babies-in-it-soon). And then he doesn't have to see it all and start worrying about how he'll feel if the worst happens and he comes home to pace packed with baby paraphenelia. And I'll peek in on it whenever I want that little lift in my heart that says Chances are, the babies will come home, safe and sound. And soon. And you're going to have to figure out how to adjust the harnesses on those seats.

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There's also the homemade loot. I love to cook, but even moreso, I love to eat what I cook. Unfortunately, my urge to spend hours in the kitchen kind of fell away early in pregnancy, and I haven't fully regained it. Still, by doubling recipes and socking away leftovers that would otherwise have had an encore dinner presentation, I managed to fill our freezer with the following homemade foodstuffs:

• two quarts French onion soup


• a gallon of vegetaian chili, divided into smaller portions


• three loaf-pan sized vegetable lasagnas (each is two dinner servings and one lunch)


• a few pounds of brisket, plus nearly a quart of leftover gravy


• almost two quarts minestrone


• three squash kugels (8x8)


• one yerushalmi kugel (8x8)


• several smaller portions of broccoli-spinach kugel


• six cups roasted pureed squash (in case I need to make...more kugel?)


• three loaves pumpkin bread


• one raspberry-chocolate pound cake, and


• eleven loaves of whole wheat challah

There's also about ten pounds of frozen stew meat and an assortment of ready-made foods that found their way onto the shelves. I'm still looking for the partridge and the pear tree; I think they're hiding behind the chili.

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Last but not least, I bought myself a little something for the hospital. I'm not entirely sure I'll be covering my hair during labor, but I will definitely want something to wear in the postpartum room, and my usual cotton berets are not the best for sleeping (or even wearing all day while awake, since the roll-brims that do such a good job of keeping them in place can start feeling tight enough to give me a headache). So on the spur of the moment last week I got in touch with Miriam at Heavenward Designs, and within a few days I received this beautiful (and comfortable!) snood in the mail. I'm generally not a snood person, but I'm very excited to wear this one...