Slowing Down

It's time to start concentrating on what's ahead. There is one last task for November that is non-baby related. Well, it is in honor of the baby. A tea party baby shower that my friend is hosting at her house this weekend that I will prepare for will be taking up my next few days. Yes, I had the grand idea of the tea party part - by no means a symbol of the political tea party from yesterday's election!  Wouldn't it be nice, I thought, to have eight ladies to afternoon tea? It's a grandiose ideal, not one you actually have to carry out when you're 8 months pregnant at age 46 and fatiguing quicker and quicker these days! Oh well, I'm always up for a challenge. I'm, making my grandmother's lemon curd (oh, so unbelievably and sinfully delicious) and ginger bread with chocolate chips. Yum. And her pumpkin pie recipe. Now if I were truly heroic, I would buy real pumpkins and scoop out the flesh.  From the Jack-O-Lantern that we carved on Halloween, a semi-large pumpkin yields about three tablespoons of pumpkin meat. Did you know pumpkins are mostly hollow and filled with seeds? (Pumpkin seeds are a great source of iron - I did toast the seeds from our Jack. I impressed myself). So canned pumpkin will have to do because there's no way I'm carving up 10 pumpkins for a cup and a half of pumpkin required for a pie.
An afternoon tea is comprised of tea sandwiches, a variety of course; followed by the second course of scones and muffins. We are going to bake two types of scones. Then followed by dessert (as if scones aren't dessert). Three need to be represented at the tea. I found myself at Bed, Bath and Beyond - a labyrinth of commercial excess - in search of teaspoons and cloth tea napkins. I requested and got a personal escort to the exact location of these items, thank goodness. No walking around aimlessly for me. The legs and bladder can't take it anymore. Only I didn't find cloth tea napkins. No one seems to have them. Pretty paper ones will have to do, I'm not that much of a martyr. Once the party is over, all I have on my calendar, and I hope that will be ALL that will stay on my calendar (no sudden going-into-labor-early-rushes-to-the-hospital for me, please), are weekly visits to my doctor. I even scheduled the weekly sonograms on the same day as the doctor to achieve an economy of trips. Yes, once again, because of my great age, I need to have a weekly sonogram the last month of pregnancy to make sure baby is growing. Hey, if the third sonogram shows baby at 7 pounds or above, I'm skipping out on the last one.  Oh yes, can't forget Thanksgiving. I'm hoping one of my home bound friends will invite us over!  If not, we'll go to a restaurant.  Or, we can eat take out at home. So that's my November. I plan to take it easy, set up the crib, and sort in piles the baby layette. That's about it. I better enjoy the down time!