Day 8: Gifts & Thanks (or lack thereof!)

Having a baby means that lots of people who care about you (or at least care about your family) will send you nice things. The latest items in this category are 2 fabulous childrens' books that my parents' friends Wilma & Andy sent us. While books are always nice, these are rather special - they were illustrated by Andy's brother, Ned - and they're gorgeous! One is even signed by Ned - how Ned is clearly a fabulous artist who puts love and attention into his work. I can't wait to read them to Deven!

Yogesh's father is a professional painter as well, but has quite a different style. He's a modern artist; who I describe as "Modigliani on color-steroids." But he, and Yogesh, can appreciate nice artwork, and I can't wait for Yogesh to get home to see these books and share them with Deven. These books, however, are ones that we will NOT let Deven gum-on as he teeths!

In the same category of 'fabulous gifts from mom's friends that I haven't sent proper thank-you notes for yet' are:

• The pale yellow blanket that Carla M knitted for Deven - we use it all the time (it's complete with knitted-in images of Maryland things such as lighthouses, crabs, boats, etc.)!



• The smaller knitted blanket from Aunt Carol is perfect for his naps 'round the house/yard/etc. Both of those are machine-washable...a very good thing as he's constantly drooling on them or getting them messy in some way.



• The 4 yummy, nutritious meals that our friend Sugeet cooked for us, and just called and dropped by (without insisting to come in) when Deven was ~ 4-6 weeks old; saving us from starvation and embarassment of having to entertain when I & the house were both a wreck

I hope that the gifters don't consider us complete social philistines for not saying thank-you properly...I hope they (having had kids themselves) understand that it's a little crazy around here lately, and we really appreciate the gifts and think of them every time we use what they gave us.

It's funny - in fact, I've at least tried to 'give forward' - though I don't have Wilma's or Carla's snail-mail address to send them proper cards; I at least try to do nice things for other people. Today, I brought some food over to Amie, our share-care partner who's still home with her little guy Noah. I figure if I can't say thanks back to the people who were nice to me, at least I'd continue doing nice things for other people. Makes the world a little better place.