Baby showers aren’t the cultural standard in the UK that
they are in the US. When the Duchess of Cambridge was thrown a shower for the
royal babe, people here snickered about the tackiness of making ‘such a
fuss’. However, the trend is growing
here and there are actually chances to make baby ‘wish lists’ at certain
stores, which act as a type of registry for people wanting to buy you a gift.
Fortunately for me, many of my friends are American, so they understand that a
baby can’t be born into the world without throwing his or her momma a shower
first. In fact, when I announced my pregnancy to my friends, I think Jill’s
first reaction was ‘Yes! I can finally throw a friend a baby shower!’ Well, throw me a baby shower she certainly did.
I can
honestly say that it was the best shower I’ve ever been to, and when I was
polling people as they left, they all said the same thing. Best. Shower. Ever. The
details were personal. The decorations were adorable. The food was delicious.
The presents were both precious and practical. But most importantly, I was
surrounded by an amazing group of women and I was just so honored that they all
took the time out to come and celebrate our baby boy.
I walked away feeling
beyond blessed and loved and just so grateful that God brought us here to
Aberdeen where we could be surrounded by such great friends. Being pregnant has been one of the most
homesick-ladden experiences of my life. I often whimper and pout about wanting
my Mom and the comforts and conveniences of America. Having so many friends to support us at this
time makes Baby Boy’s imminent arrival much less scary and lonesome.
But about
those shower details, decorations, yummy treats and gifts…
Details: Not only
are my friends super thoughtful, they are also mind-blowingly creative. As
someone who lacks this particular talent, I have developed quite the
appreciation for those who can make Pinterest ideas come to life. (Those who
can, do; Those who can’t, Pin.)
There were three different stations set up in
Jill’s living room for party guests to participate in. One was an iron-on onsie
making station in which Pam had supplied several iron on pictures that suited
me and Jonathan personally.
There were several travel themed options, including
our hot air balloon and cloud nursery motif. Also, knowing my love for woodland
creatures, there were plenty of adorable forest friends available as well as my
much beloved Scottish farm animals.
Other
options were Louisiana license plates, and flag ties. Baby now has onsies with
the Union Jack, Scottish, and American flags.
Our global tot will be mighty
confused about his citizenship.
The next
station was stocked with newborn diapers in which my friends wrote encouraging
and funny messages on the bum. That way, when I’m delirious from lack of sleep
and weary about changing yet another dirty diaper, I will see these notes from
my buddies and have a smile.
I just love this idea!!
And then there was the
calendar in which people guessed which day I’d "Pop" and what
he would weigh.
Most people predicted he’d be born before his due date, and
most predicted he’d also weigh under 8 lbs. They are probably right about his weight
being lower. We had an ultrasound over the weekend and it’s predicting him to
be quite a runt. If he makes it to his due date, 6.5 lbs would be about the top
of we’d expect. More on this experience later…
My own prediction was October 13
with 6 lb 11 oz as his predicted weight. He better hit a growth spurt soon if I
want to win the pot! Eileen’s prediction of 6 lb 2 oz might be more accurate.
We will see!
The décor: Nary did a lot of personal crafting to help with the
decorations. This included a pastel streamer banner, hand crafted balloon pop
ups, and plenty of bunting.
It may have been tacky of me, but I stole all of
these decorations to help decorate the white walls in our nursery. Also, the
girls had set up a mini-hot air balloon with a basket and enormous balloon.
I
thought it would be a fantastic prop for baby boy’s newborn photo shoot so they
gave me the extra supplies so that I can recreate the idea for his first
pictures.
Food: Wanting to make me feel
‘at home’ Jill and company made sure to have some Cajun dishes on the menu,
including jambalaya and bar-b-que shrimp.
They also recruited Falene to make
her famous gluten free sugar cookies, which should technically be illegal, they
are that good. I honestly have zero self control over myself when these are in
the room. To make matters worse, she cut them into hot air balloons and iced
them with deliciously adorable pastel icing.
I’ve eaten about 3 a day since the
party last Thursday. I finally finished off the last one with breakfast this
morning. In my defense, I’m trying to beef up our baby boy! Gotta get him up to
6 lbs 11 oz by October 13 and sugar cookies are surely the healthiest way to go
about that!
There were also salted confetti chocolate chip cookies made by Nary
and brownie bites as well, along with plenty of nibbles to graze on throughout
the night.
Jillian packed me plenty of leftovers so I could share the goodness
with Jonathan.
Gifts: We were truly showered with gifts. I couldn’t possibly
list everything we got, but once again, I was just so honored that our friends
were so thoughtful and considerate in getting presents for us. Baby boy wasn’t
the only one to get presents. I received plenty of items to help me with
recovery and breast-feeding. My friend Kristal even threw in a Snickers Bar for
quick energy before/during/after labor.
They know me so well! And one of the
biggest hits of the party was a combined gift from Julia, Falene and Erin who
got Jonathan a ‘Diaper Dude’.
It’s a diaper bag designed specifically for men.
Such a great idea for when Jon is on baby-sitting duty. It’s a black
pin-striped messenger bag and on the inside it contains a checklist of all the
things a dad needs to remember to pack before an outing. We all had a good
laugh over the fact that ‘Baby’ was included on the list.
Of course, most of
the gifts were for baby boy and ranged from adorable clothing to activity
mats; teething toys to books.
I was
mighty excited to see this folding changing table set up in Jillian’s house.
I
mentioned to her that we found this item at ikea and thought it would be great
to keep downstairs so that we weren’t traipsing up and down the stairs every
time baby needed a diaper change. She and a few other friends went in together
to make sure I got this item off my wish list and they also stocked it full of
little knick knacks like muslin squares and baby slippers and stroller toys and
baby books and so many things other ingenious things that my pregnant brain could never
possibly recount in a million years.
I already have it set up in our sitting area
downstairs. And the best part is that it folds flat so it’s easy to put in our
downstairs closet or in a corner somewhere if we want it out of the way. When
you live in Scotland, storage solutions like this are a must!
Well, I think
that’s enough bragging on my awesome friends for the day. Time to get crackin' on those thank you notes! Until then THANK YOU to all of my friends who attended and/or sent gifts. You are all blessings in our lives and I thank God for you all the time.
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