Baby Shower

This past Saturday my mom and sisters hosted a really lovely baby shower for me and baby boy. It was somewhat complicated planning process since we are all spread across the country but Mandy's move to the East Coast made a perfect occasion to all come together to celebrate.

We held the shower at a local hotel and we were super glad we booked this room since about an hour before the shower the skies opened up and it was a torrential downpour for a good bit of time - literally a shower. Had we planned a picnic (which we considered), it would have been a disaster. Huge blessing. Since my mom and sisters and I had gotten all dressed-up, my dad and Dan did all of the loading and unloading of food and decorations (our heroes!!) and used Mandy's car for transportation. They got drenched.

Fortunately, everything arrived dry and ready to be set-up.

Since the shower was from 2-4 pm, we decided to keep the food simple and did a themed "pregnancy cravings" menu with some of mine and baby's favorites. We got Chipotle chips and salsa and guacamole, homemade fruit kabobs, and we ordered mini pies from my friend's pie business. It was a delicious feast.

Everyone filled-out little baby predictions cards as they arrived and Jessy planned a few fun games. We played the game where everyone gets a clothespin and you aren't allowed to say the word "baby," if you do, the other person gets your pin. The person at the end with the most pins wins!

I was so blessed to have so many people from my various circles come to celebrate. There were friends from our old church and friends from our new church too! My mom's cousin who lives in the city came all the way out and Dan's cousins also made the journey, as well as well as my two local friends from graduate school.

Jessy and my mom put up a clothes line of baby items at the beginning of the party and slowly took one item down at a time. It was a test to see who was most observant to even notice the clothes line let alone know what items were on it. The person with the most correct won.

After mingling and eating we opened presents!

This was awkward for me since I really hate being the center of attention but it was great fun to open all the gifts and see all the cute baby outfits people got. We were overwhelmed with the generosity of people and have nearly everything we need for the baby!!

After gifts people guessed how big my bump was by cutting off pieces of ribbon and then sizing it up around my belly. It was a fun and funny game and every single person overestimated my belly size except for two people got it exactly right!!

All the winners of the games got to take home one of Mandy's handmade wreathes.

I'm so grateful to my mom and sisters for hosting such a lovely afternoon and spoiling the baby and me all weekend.
 

And, of course, grateful to Dan's family for loving on us as well. We missed them but felt their presence.