The Baby Train

So last night I talked to two good friends: Sara and Dana. I was trying to get a hold of Dana to see if I could talk her into playing hookie from work and come dress shopping with me. No such luck as she needs to save every sick day she has to be able to cover what maternity leave won't when the baby is born.

Sara was calling just to check in, which was nice. We typically talk at least once a week. She was filling me in on what a small world Lansing, MI is with regard to her husband. I once had a friend, Matt, who seemed to know everyone in the whole town of East Lansing (where MSU's campus is). Never did I think I would meet another of Matt's kind, but then I met Miguel. He grew up in the area, which explains a lot. The funny thing about this one was it was a connection everyone else, but Miguel would have known. What I mean is this:

Mig started taking classes for a business degree. In one of his classes is this girl, Bonnie. Poor Mig is teased about Bonnie being his girlfriend (despite his marriage status and kids and how much he adores all of them). Of course, this bugs him, but Bonnie is cool and they sit next to each other in class. So fine. He gets over it. In the back of his mind, however, he is thinking that Bonnie would be perfect for our friend, Justin (Chris's best friend). He invites Bonnie to the New Year's celebration they have each year (with setting Justin up with her in mind). Bonnie doesn't show, all is forgotten. That is until Mig runs into Michelle (wife of Jerry, who is Justin's other best friend and Chris's former roommate). They start talking and Mig mentions that he is now back in school. From what I can gather, Michelle mentions to Mig that Jer's friend sits in on the same class. Can we all guess who the friend is? Yeah! Bonnie! Small, small world. I still think it would have been funny if she had shown up for New Year's and Justin would have greeted her with a big hug and freaked out Mig in a small way.

The other big news there is that Michelle thinks she is pregnant. She and Jer have been married for a little over a year and just started trying. So that's cool. Everyone says some prayers because I know that there has been some difficulty there (cramping). Hopefully it was a fluke and all will be fine.

Speaking of babies, talking to Dana last night was hilarious. Her baby is due on April 4th and it hit hard in the last week how tired she is. As in, come home and collapse kind of tired. That and the poor woman realized that if the baby comes on time she is going to need 12 extra sick days to carry her from her maternity leave to the end of the school year. Seriously, there is no point in coming back for the last 12 days. So, I offered to donate a few of mine if she needed them and the county will let me. Hopefully things will be okay, though. As always, talking to Dana keeps me in stitches. She is having a baby shower soon, which will be fun. But there has to be two separate ones because the one she will have hosted by her mom will be just like the Derby Parties, but with a baby theme. That means that some wild and crazy people will be there that the in-law wouldn't be able to handle/deal with. Besides, the in-law has a huge network of friends who wouldn't quite "fit in". We had a great conversation about true southern baby showers....I offered to go to that one too, just for moral support. Dana told me that it was okay if I didn't. I might be scarred for life by it. :) Oh dear.

In the mean time I need to think about what to send my friend, Karen, for her shower. I was invited, but she lives in California and that makes it a bit hard to get there. I also have lost the invite, so I can't really be sure when it was. I figure sending something now would be fine though. Any suggestions? I'm thinking the old standby of a book would be good. It's what is expected of me mostly (being the reader of the bunch of us) and I have very good taste in kids books (typically). So, we shall see.

Other than that- I got nothing, people. If you want to read an on-going saga of the common man and his battle against crazy neighbors...go see Magazine Man's blog. I've never had neighbors that crazy, but I can only imagine. Anyway, you'll have to go back a little to get the full story, but it is SO worth it. Thank god I am tracked out and I can check for updates whenever the mood strikes me!

As my brother would say: "MacLachlan.....out!"