Now Entering Parenthood...

After lots of hard work and planning, Loretta & Leslie managed to pull off a fantastic baby shower to celebrate the arrival of our son. They went all out, decorating our house with carefully selected fabrics and all kinds of “baby gear”. Games were played that involved unscrambling baby words, racing to find matching pairs of baby socks, and even guessing the name and delivery date of the little guy. Our house was loaded with women, so I took a backseat and spent a lot of time keeping drinks refilled and occupying the few men that found themselves in the minority, mainly my dad & neighbors. My parents, together with Tom & Sarah, took care of the food, which was a huge success and also a lot of work. (One thing you can guarantee is that there is never a shortage of food at a Strickland party). At the end, we sat down and began to open the massive amount of gifts that were given to us. We got all sorts of great stuff….everything from clothing & toys to high chairs and baby wipes! Our invitations had requested that our guests buy a small book instead of a card so that we’d have a small library of books for the baby right from the beginning. Everyone seemed to follow through with that idea, which was a very good one suggested by our friend Stephanie. In the end, the only thing I was left wondering was, “where are we going to put all this stuff”?