Baby Shower

So, my baby shower finally came (I’ve been looking forward to it pretty much since peeing on the stick), and it was awesome! It was also bittersweet because my grandpa (my mom’s dad) died on Saturday, the day before the shower. We knew he wasn’t doing well so it wasn’t completely unexpected, but the timing was horrible, except for that I guess we were all distracted by baby things. We got through it, though, and still had lots of fun.

Sign at the driveway (at night, because we forgot to take a picture beforehand...)

The shower was held at my mother-in-law’s house – she has a gorgeous big house out in the country, and it was perfect for a party. The theme was fall, which is my very favorite holiday, so I LOVED all the autumn touches. Kassi and Dan carved these pumpkins for the front porch (actually, Dan carved them and made Kassi gut them, because he has a pumpkin gut phobia lol…)

The front porch, before sunset

The front porch, after sunset

Oh, and I should mention it was not only a coed shower, but it was an entire family event. I guess it was less like a baby shower and more like a baby celebration party, although they did make me open gifts in front of everyone still… I really wanted Dan there – he’s my best friend; why would I want to do something without him? Not to mention it’s just as much his baby as mine! So, we tried to make it a fun atmosphere for everyone.

Because I like to do things backwards, we served a full meal of soup (potato cheese and lentil), cornbread, and rolls, with pumpkin cookies and cupcakes for dessert and spiced apple cider and water for drinks. (What’s backwards is I didn’t actually serve a meal at my wedding… but it was in the morning, so it made sense at the time.)

The drink/dessert table

The yummy, yummy food - my dad made the soups and they were SO good!

Some of us ate outside on the porch…

It was the 'kid's table' (high schoolers), but then my dad, Daylene and I ruined it, lol

…and other people gathered in the living and dining rooms. We had pumpkins and cinnamon-scented pinecones everywhere, and the orange thing in the middle of the photo below is a pumpkin-shaped bowl of Cheese-Its. :)

Living room peeps - Dan's grandpa is looking reaalll happy in the middle there

Gift table, which got ridiculously crowded, because people are way too nice

Our one formal activity was bib decorating, because I like to put my guests to work for me. :) It actually worked out really well as entertainment, and I ended up with a lot of fun bibs, so it was win-win for everyone. (P.S.: If you’re thinking of doing this for your own shower or someone else’s, I’ll add that the colorful [and much cheaper] bibs from Walmart were much more popular than the fancy white [expensive] crafter’s bibs from Joanne’s.)

Here's my cousin Daylene making one of her many masterpieces!

All the bibs at the end of the night... check out the battling auntie bibs at the bottom, courtesy my silly sisters :)

The most surprising guests were my high school English teacher/yearbook sponsor (I was assistant editor one year and editor the next, so we spent a lot of quality time together!) and Dan’s mom #2 (of 3; technically his ex-stepmom but we still claim her!) and his brother (a freshman in college who is super excited for baby; he even wrote a personal note to him in the card. How cute is that from a teenage boy?)

Beforementioned English teacher and my gorgeous mommy - they happen to be good friends :)

We opened All the Presents Ever, and it was much less scary than my bridal shower because I didn’t have to do it by myself, and Dan made entertaining comments. :)

We're amused because the tiny shirt is so close to Dan's - aww, they can match :)

Even with our messed up Target registry (which… grr, that’s another blog topic altogether) we only got two repeat presents – and thankfully, both of the originals came in the mail, so no one knew their present was a repeat. (And those two people happened to leave before we opened presents so they wouldn’t have known, but we faked it anyway, heh.) Also, those repeat presents happened to be big ticket items, so when we took them back we were able to basically buy out the rest of the Target registry. Yay!

And here are the only two posed pictures I have of myself that night:

Daylene & me, before the shower

Dan & me - no one actually took a photo of us together the entire shower, so I insisted on one once we got home (which is why we look so exhausted...)

I’m pretty sure this was the best baby shower I’ll ever go to, because it was exactly what I wanted. Much thanks to my sister Kaeli for putting it all together, my mother-in-law Marcia for letting us crash her house, and the rest of my family for being such good sports and pulling together to make it an awesome day, despite the less-than-ideal circumstances. I love you all <3

… and now, baby Damien, we may be ready for you – but no rush! Stay in there until the end of November at least. :) But when you do show up, there are a lot of people who are really excited to meet you.

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