Face The Music

Shop Til You Drop

I had so much nausea that I actually missed Thanksgiving. My mom, being the rockstar she is, did the dirty work for me and told the rest of the family. There were...mixed reactions. When your family is as big as mine, there's always going to be.

Some were actually pretty happy, because this was going to be the first baby in the family for seven years. My mom had five siblings, all of whom were infertile, and my Uncle Andrew never married, so a new baby was a pretty big deal. Wait, where am I even going with this? Ugh. Pregnancy brain.

Anyway, today I was officially twelve weeks pregnant. Once I hit that milestone, my Aunt Andrea told me it was time to start shopping. My mom loaded up my debit card, bought us some train tickets, and we were ready for a whole day of shopping in NYC.

Natty's driver picked me up and dropped us off at the train station. Natty and I sat down at the cafe and talked about all the stops we were going to make. There were so many cute baby boutiques in Manhattan.

"But remember, we have to take a few Insta-worthy shots by the tree!" Natty said.

"Are you kidding? We won't leave without them!" I said, taking a sip of my decaf coffee.

We finished eating and then went to sit over in the boarding area. They called the train going with direct service to Penn Station and we lined up for business class. Hot girls don't ride in coach. Sorry not sorry.

We boarded the train and got comfortable in our blue and gray leather seats. I put my feet up on the footrest attached to the seat in front of me. It had been a few years since I took the train down to NYC, and I'd forgotten how un-luxurious American trains were compared to some of the other parts of the world. Even in business class, it paled in comparison to some of the European trains my mom and I went on last summer.

The train started moving right as the sun was rising. I listened to some music on my phone and tried to take a nap. I'd been feeling so tired lately and naps were becoming my bff. I loved my little baby to pieces but I seriously had no idea how I was going to survive this entire pregnancy.

I woke up every now and then as the train shook, seeing the rivers and beaver dams out the window. The city came into view once we were a little over two hours into the ride. We went through tunnel after tunnel as we pulled into Penn Station. It really sucked that the trains from Oak Falls only went to Penn and not Grand Central Station.

We got off the train, went through the crowd, up a bunch of stairs, and finally made our way out to the street. Seeing all the skyscrapers brought back so many memories of when we came here to visit my Aunt Mandy's apartment on the Upper East Side.

We made our way to the nearest subway station, which was a hell of a lot worse than the train we just got off of, so we could go to the first baby boutique stop of the trip. Thankfully the ride wasn't too long.

Once we got off that awful subway, we found the Little Cuties boutique. The both of us were so giddy to get inside and start shopping. But once we opened the door, I didn't even know where to start.

"Okay, they need this, and this, and this!" Natty said, handing three white outfits to me. We were keeping everything gender-neutral for now. "Oh, and don't forget hats, too!"

"Natty, slow down!" I said, chasing after her as she went deeper into the store.

"And how cute are these pacis? Gotta get these!" Natty said, handing me a pack of gray and brown pacifiers with little animals on them.

"This is cute," I said, taking a mint green sleepsack off of the wrack. It came with a matching hat.

"Yes, totes!" Natty said.

I put that over my arm, and then we moved on to the zip-up sleepers. We picked out ones with little sheep on them, and another set with different cloud patterns. Once things started getting heavy, we realized it was time to move on. We took our armfuls of stuff up to the register and set them down on the counter as the cashier started ringing them up.

"Okie-dokie, and would you like to round up your change to donate to Forever Families?" she asked.

"Wow that's...literally the group that did my adoption. Of course I will," I said.

"Thanks a bunch! Your total is two-hundred and fifty dollars even."

"Cool. Not bad!" I said.

I tapped my debit card on the machine, took my receipt, and then it was onto the subway and off to the next store: the Cool Kids Corner Boutique. I saw the cute booties and shoes they had online and just had to go.

I bought five different pairs of booties and a cute pajama set with little koalas on it. My little one was literally going to be the cutest baby on the planet. Natty found a sweet pair of sunglasses for them too, so we tacked those on to our stuff. My baby is going to be born when it's almost summer. I mean, come on. They have to have sunglasses.

"Your total is three hundred dollars and thirty cents," said the cashier.

I stopped for a second, but it made sense. The booties alone were nearly fifty bucks each. Only the best for my little baby.

I tapped my card on the screen, took my receipt, and then we hopped back on the subway so we could get lunch. We had a reservation at a fancy steakhouse on the Avenue of the Americas, which was close to Rockefeller Center.

We were showed to our table and placed all our shopping bags down. I opened the menu and tried to figure out which steak I wanted.

"I'm getting the ribeye. What about you?" Natty asked.

"Baby's asking me for seafood today, so I'm going with the surf and turf," I said.

"You? Seafood?"

"Hey, when you're pregnant, nothing makes sense," I said.

After stuffing our faces at lunch, we went to Rockefeller Center. Natty bought some stuff for her little brother at the Lego store, and I went and got some treats for my mom at the chocolate store across the way.

From there, we made sure to get some good photos in front of the giant Christmas tree, and then we were off again. We walked to the last boutique of the day, and now that Natty was filled with food and wide awake, her silly side was coming out.

"Deni, check these out!" she said, giggling and pointing to the breast pumps.

"Seriously? Are you five years old?"

"I think I still am, actually. How can you not find these funny?" she said, trying to hold her giggles in. "These...go on your boobs!"

I rolled my eyes and walked to the other side of the store, because sometimes I just absolutely couldn't with Natty. She killed me.

We bought some more clothes, and then it was time to hop on the train back home as the sun was setting. I fell down into my seat on the train, completely exhausted.

"That was amazing, but I'm dead," I said.

"Me too," said Natty. "I hope we can do that again before the baby comes."

"Same," I said, a realization suddenly hitting me.

Once the baby was here, they'd be here. They'd take up all my time. I wouldn't be able to have spur-of-the-moment shopping trips with friends. I looked down at all the cute little clothes in the shopping bags by my feet and smiled. It would be okay. It would all be worth it.