5 on friday: If I had a baby shower

Still excited about yesterday's post, I decided to share a few baby shower ideas of my own! I'm pretty sure I mentioned in a previous post that hubby and I are opting not to do a second shower. Traditionally, etiquette dictates that a mother-to-be only gets one. Modern etiquette experts have now declared that a second shower is acceptable for babies of the opposite sex, and siblings born more than a few (I forgot the number) years apart. While we are having a baby of the opposite sex, we still decided not to.

I have been pinning baby shower ideas since my first pregnancy, then kept pinning because my bestie was pregnant and I knew that I would be helping to plan hers. Then I kept pinning with the hopes that one of my cousins would get pregnant so we could throw her a baby shower (none of my cousins are currently pregnant as far as I know). Now, I'm pinning because party themes are becoming more and more unique and coming together so lovely. Plus, now that i'm having a little girl of my own- I might just be storing these in my back pocket for future use (for her should she decide to have children).

Follow From Mrs.'s board Baby Shower likes on Pinterest.

I think my favorite theme is the "mama-to-bee". Despite my dislike for bugs, I think it's adorable. It's a neutral tone which make it great for parents who opt to find out the gender of their little one in the delivery room rather than the ultrasound room (or in my case- on the front porch). There's so much you can do with this theme to make it your own- the food, decor, and party favor options are endless!

Speaking of food- food presentation is a pretty big deal now. Cakes and  cupcakes are becoming a work of art with an edible bonus. I love how these items incorporates the theme and leaves guests wowed! I've always loved a good desert table. My love affair started with the candy buffet that we had at our wedding and it hasn't ended since. Desert tables also make really great decor centerpieces.

Decor is always a focal point of any party theme. It kind of ties it altogether. The theme starts with the invitation and ends with the parting favors, and the decor rounds out the middle. You can choose to have one show stopping piece of sprinkle it throughout the room.

I am personally not a fan of baby shower games, especially if you are in a a room full of people you don't know very well. I've attended baby showers with my mom for her co-workers daughter-in-law (confused?!) which meant I only knew 3 people in the room. That wasn't that fun. Some games are designed to embarrass the contestant a little too much- who gets a kick out of that?! Anyway, one of the games we played at my bestie's shower (2 years ago) was a game I've dubbed "waiting for labor". We froze itty bitty babies in ice cubes and gave one to each guest. As the ice melts the baby is 'freed' the first person whose baby is completely free yells "my water broke!" and they win a prize. I like it because there's not too much involved in terms of unscrambling words, quickly trying o change a diaper while blindfolded, or eating unknown baby food. It promotes casual conversation and even grandma (who may or may not be able to participate in the fast paced games) can participate! I originally got this idea from my brother's best friend's baby shower and will be using it at any shower I host from here on out.

Maybe I can use these ides to host a sip and see for baby girl once she's here. Since we no longer live near our family and friends, it would be a good way for them to meet the baby!

A celebration for baby girl!

One Friday afternoon, my co-workers "surprised" me with a small shower for our baby girl. I say "surprised" because I knew the date- I just didn't know what to expect. I work in an office with 9 women and absolutely no testosterone except by the way of our work-study students and we are all about our celebrations. We usually have "food fests" for some holidays where everyone bring in a dish to share and we sit around for a bit a pig out. Since I've started working there, we've had the pleasure of celebrating a Master's degree graduation and another baby shower. We will also be celebrating a wedding early this fall (or really late summer, whatever). Plus we have our annual Christmas luncheon at a local restaurant. So we are no strangers to celebrations. It's not quite like at my old job where we used to do it once a month (to celebrate those born that month) but it's still a way to bring some fun into the office.

The ladies took their inspiration from one of our "announcement" pictures and it was sooooo adorable! I certainly didn't expect this and was pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my "big girl" camera (cause I really didn't expect this) so all of these are from my phone.

It was a superhero theme with a female twist! My son LOVES superhero's and there are times when he insists that we call him by his superhero name and he even has his own super powers. I don't know why I didn't think of my little girl as a superhero as well. I know girls likes superheros too but it just never occurred to me that she might like them too. It was an awesome theme- I loved it!

Each of my co-workers wrote out wishes or super powers for our little girl. The link provided is a recap of all the super powers they gave her. I really hope she ends up with many of these...

Then of course there were games. We played 'name that baby' because well... our little girl still doesn't have a name yet. Everyone wrote their  name suggestions and I had to guess which person suggested it. That was harder than I thought! And there were lots of similar names too, many of which are derived from our grandparent's names (which they requested to know before hand). And we ended up with some really cute suggestions! And as you can see I only got 3 correct... shameful, LOL!

A few other things that happened- my shower got 'Baumed'. While I know that makes no sense and means absolutely nothing to you all (nor do I need to explain the story cause you wouldn't care) but I thought I'd write that down for prosperity. He gave his name suggestions of Evelyn and Catherine (maybe it was Caroline) after his grandmother's (awwww!). I wish I would have gotten a picture because that would've made the best photo bomb reference ever!

- My husband did get a chance to come by which I was very very happy about. This guy is quite the charmer and had everyone cracking up with his Batman 'through the movies' impersonations. He does a pretty funny Christian Bale as Batman. He was super sick but came anyway (he said the short walk across campus nearly did him in) and for that I'm grateful (and still in love).

-We had lunch at one of the local restaurants that I had never been to. When they made the reservations they indicated that they had gluten free breads and pastas available but when we got there they only had gluten free penne (two of us are gluten free). One of the girls who made the reservations felt awful. I kept telling her not to worry about it (because we both still ate) but she really felt bad. I keep reminding her that she isn't the kitchen manager at that place and it wasn't her fault!

-We were gifted a few lovely items including a new stroller. I really wasn't expecting that! We are so grateful that they thought enough of us to purchase such a large gift. I was floored. And did I mention grateful?!

- I didn't want to cut my cake. If I had my way it would still be intact, LOL! It was so cute but there was something disturbing about cutting into a pregnant belly!


Here a small picture video recap. When I say small, I mean small. I didn't want it to be overwhelmingly long because who wants to sit through that?!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Yes, my weekend has finally come to a close :( Which is pretty good considering is hump day!

Friday

Half-day Friday's at work never get old :)

However Friday morning induced a little panic... we are officially in the single digit weekly countdown (9 weeks and 6 days to go...)

We had lunch at one of hubby's friends house. Then lunch turned into dinner and the entire afternoon was accompanied by laughs. His daughter is getting married this weekend. I'm not going but I love weddings anyway! His wife showed me all of the do-it-yourself projects they are doing and it took me back to my wedding.

Lastly, my hubby is the sweetest man ever! Look what he surprised me with:

Okay, well sort of. He didn't actually bring it home- which I am relieved about because I want to get some more home projects (read: nursery) out of the way before this. There is also a portion of my maternity leave where I will be required to pay into some of my benefits and that added in with the expense of a new baby- I want to wait before we add more bills into the household. The last time he bought a car he waited until I gave the go ahead so he figured he would do the same again this time (thank goodness he did). The dealership was even going to give him a bow to put on it...awwwwww!

Dear Sweetheart,

You are the best husband ever and you are going to be a great dad! I love you and thank you for thinking of "us".

Love,

Sweatpea


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Saturday

My cousin's baby shower was on Saturday. We had lots of fun and I even won a prize!

I normally wouldn't step foot in a Starbucks- but since someone else is paying... tall vanilla bean frappacino please!

I just checked the website to make sure I had my sizes right (and I didn't) and saw they now have coconut creme frappacino... I'm changing my order :)

She and I took pictures of our bellies but I think she might kill me if I posted a picture of her pregnant. Speaking of which- my other cousin had the first summer baby 2 weeks ago! (I can't remember if I told you or not).

After my cousin's shower we were supposed to be state hopping between 3 states but a last minute change of plans by hubby's best friends left us state hopping only two states.

We still had fun though. I love visiting his friends- they are always good for laughs. We stayed one night at one friends house and another night at a different friends house.

This brings us to...
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Monday

We headed home to my Aunt's 4th of July cookout. It was originally scheduled for Sunday but it rained so she pushed it back one day. This was perfect for us because we actually got to make it :) I love hanging out with family. My dad's family was always huge (in numbers) and there is something comforting about this to me. My grandma's sister is like 90 something and she was the oldest of 17 (nope she wasn't there- she's not doing well in her old age) but to have my grandma's sisters and brothers there with some of their descendants is always entertaining.

Did I ever tell you about how much I LOVE Rita's coconut ice? Yum!

That night we stayed at my parent's house. Our block usually has a huge fourth of July celebration until the wee hours of the morning and we just weren't up for it this year. So we had a sleep over at my parent's. They love it when all of the children are under their roof...day or night.

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Tuesday

This is my extended weekend. I did it for memorial day and if I weren't going to be on maternity leave I would do it again for Labor day. It was the smartest thing I could ever think of... extending my already long weekend by another day. *Life's simple pleasures*

Hubby was very patient with me all.day.long. We went wherever I said I wanted to go. This included home depot. We finalized the paint for baby's room and picked up the primer. We also decided that we are going to do a chair rail in the room. I knew you could do almost anything yourself but the amount of "stuff' available to you in these hardware superstores is amazing! I've never really been past the paint aisle. When we got to the lumber section I was floored and inspired! When I own my own home... I'm going to be a stapling gun wielding do-it-yourself fixer upper. Actually, I'll just supervise what hubby does, but it's all the same... isn't it? This is what we picked out...

I know you can't get the full gist of it from this picture, but maybe you can get an idea from my pintrest board. We also went to IKEA- picked up a few things and turned one of the living room walls from

to

We needed a change of scenery and this was a quick and easy way to do it.

Now that the weekend is over- it's back to the grind at least for another day and a half!