Last weekend was my much-anticipated baby shower. Much-anticipated because I love those gatherings where all one's various worlds collide for a brief time. Work people mingling with family mingling with a whole gaggle of different friend groups. And I don't want to brag, but I know some awesome women, not the least of which is my mother who flew in from Montana for the weekend simply to attend the event. What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon?
My mom and I started out by getting a pedicure and manicure (me) and a massage (her). I forget how much I enjoy pedicures. I've always had super sensitive feet - being unnaturally ticklish and having toes too close together that don't do well with being separated. But the woman who did it Saturday was awesome and I left with happy feet, an all-too-rare occurrence these days.
By the time we got to my mother-in-law's house where the shower was hosted, things were already well underway. Several people had come early - namely the two friends who did the bulk of the planning and arranging, as well as some family members who are always inclined to help out. It felt really odd for me to not participate in the preparations. But it did give me the opportunity to greet people as they arrived. Plenty of people attended who haven't seen me at all since I got pregnant, or who hadn't seen me since I started showing, so there was lots of, "Wow! look how pregnant you are!" and other related exclamations. On any other day, that probably would have bothered me or made me paranoid. But not at the shower. I was so happy to see people and to have them all together, nothing could bother me.
Well, maybe except for the heat, made all the worse by 1) my enormous belly resting on my thighs; 2) opening gifts under the eyes of 25+ women (fun, but awkward just the same); and 3) my general inability to fit any of the gifts on my lap in order to facilitate opening them. The 3 inches remaining is wholly insufficient for gift-opening purposes (or much of anything else, for that matter).
There was only one game, per my request. As M and I have neither decided on a name for the Weeble, nor will we be sharing the final choice with anyone until after she's born, I thought it would be a good idea to have people submit their best guesses. That way, M and I get some fresh ideas (although a few options, such as "Fenway Park," are most definitely not in the running - no offense to the fine friend who clearly submitted that name as a serious suggestion). And if anyone guessed the name she ends up with, they'll get a prize of some kind. Nobody guessed any of our top picks as of now, but a few people hit on B-listers. One never knows.
Aside from getting to see all the people who were kind enough to gather for my baby shower, my favorite thing about the day was the customized puffy-paint onesies. For those of you planning a shower for a friend, I highly recommend this activity. Not only can it produce some extremely hilarious and/or inappropriate onesies (and yes, we certainly got at least a few of those), but it's so fun to see what types of slogans your friends and family members would like to see emblazoned on your kid's front.
All in all, we got a lot of great baby goodies, too. As I mentioned before, I know a lot of awesome women, all of whom are among the most generous people I've ever met. There are hardly any gaps that need to be filled at this point. Between the friends who have given me their wonderful hand-me-downs and the friends and family who showered us with new gear, we're more than set for Weeble to arrive.
I have a bunch of great pictures I'll post up here at some point in the near future. In the meantime, all I can do is thank everyone who came and made it such a great day, especially the women who made it happen at all. I don't know how I got so lucky as to have the friends I do.
Update: Here are some of the pictures from the day. Left to right for each row: me on display; my mother and me; my dear friend Becky and me.
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