There has been something/someone that has been on my mind quite a lot these days. Its the arrival of a VERY important boy into my world. A boy who will become a major part of my life, a serious commitment ....until death do us part.
No not that kind of lifelong relationship - the girl IS still single and as I am living in Fort Lauderdale I'm not anticipating THAT status update to change anytime in the foreseeable future......
No this boy will be of the infant variety. My first Nephew.
He is due to arrive in exactly 10 weeks. 10 weeks and our lives will be forever changed in this house of estrogen horror. 3 generations of Italian women will soon be invaded by a little wee babe.....with a penis. He will show up to be cared for and adored by fun, social, loud, opinionated women galore and a bevvy of fun "fairy godfathers" - a term our neighbor has bestowed upon himself and his friends, the core group of gay men who are regular fixtures at our Sunday night dinners. Oh my....this child will be ushered into more feminine energy then should be legal under one roof. 10 weeks of remaining estrogen dominance.....the clock is ticking......
Now granted I am not the one giving birth and living with him 24 - 7, that gig goes to my sister and her boyfriend, who are both in some sort of blissful denial of how different their life is about to be and how a full night sleep is something they will not see again for quite a while, but as we live so close to each other and are the type of family who is constantly up in each others .....business, life, shit etc.. I know that life will change here as well. Already our garage is filling up with, well...STUFF. The stuff needed for babies. And I tell you - we only have maybe half of what is needed yet - and it's a LOT of stuff. It's amazing that something so small can take up so much space!
So being the good sister that I am I threw the baby shower. The party that honors the glowing mother to be, and allows everyone to get good and buzzed to be able to tolerate watching her open mounds of pastel wrapped presents for the boy. Also being the crazy gluten-free-martha-stuart-type nut job that I am able to be while still jobless and full of free time, the floral tea party themed, gluten-free desert fest that took me 2 days of baking was received with much aplomb. Thank goodness
Wanting the deserts to be Gluten Free I contacted the people at
Pamela's Products - the company with the best gluten free all purpose flour and cake mixes on the market in my humble opinion) and found them to be SO incredibly accommodating! They emailed me some special recipes in advance of publication so I could make my sisters request of Red Velvet Cupcakes. If you have
Celiac or ever need to bake for someone who has it, I must urge you to try
Pamela's Products goods. I have raved about them before on my blog and have to say it is WORTH $16 a bag of flour. Yes being allergic to Gluten is an expensive annoyance but all things being relative - not so bad.
I did go a wee bit overboard on the amount of pastries and cupcakes I baked, but god forbid there was a lack of sugar at the event was my theory. I found that the best way to avoid answering probing questions about my own chronic single and childless status was to keep people liquored and shove pastries down their throat. (Well not literally but you know what I mean)
My one disappointment of the day was discovering that being the caterer, host and sister of the mommy-to-be leaves little time for focusing on photographing the event to the best of my ability. These will suffice, I guess..... although along with being a crazy baking perfectionist I am also hyper-critical of my work. I guess it comes with the territory.
I am however looking forward to the next few weeks of photographing sister in all her pregnant-ness, and once the little man arrives, well lets just say he will be one WELL photographed baby. My permanent guinea pig for practice. I can't wait!
Meanwhile, Lucy better enjoy the silence now - I can't wait to see how the animals react to a screaming infant. Oh joy!
