Babyshower

August 2, 2020

Two weeks ago, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, my family and girlfriends organized us the sweetest baby shower. I had dreamed about celebrating our baby girl, but never would I have imagined that the day would be filled with so many absolutely beautiful moments, people, and emotions.

I sobbed the entire evening after that with a heart more grateful than ever. Our baby has been hoped and prayed for a while and actually knowing that these people came together to cherish her soon arrival, was still pretty surreal for me. I and our daughter are so blessed to have these gorgeous, smart, powerful, kind women in our lives and I am excited for her to have them as amazing examples to learn from.

My breath-taking women squad (and Nico:))

Since I was blown away by the thoughtfulness of the day I figured I would share some of the highlights. Hopefully, someone organizing their good friend´s baby party will get some extra ideas. Or just smile along with me through these feels:)

Organization

Since babyshower is more of an American tradition, I wasn´t quite sure how we should go about it. In Estonia friends are often invited to a gathering after the baby is already born (katsikud). In America, similar to a bachelor/ bachelorette party before a wedding, baby shower is mostly done ahead of the arrival of the new family-member. Some organize it themselves and some get to enjoy it being organized for them. All options are wonderful and serve the same purpose. So as there are many ways to do it, I think the best way is just what works the best for that specific couple / family.

I sniffed out that at the beginning the girls were planning to do a surprise party. Eventually, I asked them to tell us the time and place of it so that I can show up in something other than the usual pregnancy “black leggings- messy bun”- look. You know the deal- look good, feel good:)

Preparations

We showed up at the appointed time, amazed and teary-eyed.

Arrival, hugs and champaign cheers

The most beautiful setting and happy soon-to-be-parents

Food

I greatly appreciated that a lot of the food was done by the girls themselves.

My bestie Dagmar carved the cutest little fruit-carriages

A lot of healthy, fresh veggies, fruits, berries, quiches, tacos, cupcakes, cake pops, pastries, and other snacks

Activities

1.Quiz

The girls had prepared questions about pregnancy and newborns. They had sent them before to Nick and I answered them on spot to see how similar our answers were. Neither of us was too knowledgable with the general topics, but the game was full of laughter and also educational. Win-win!

For example- did you know how many diapers on average a baby goes through in a year? Or how many bones they are born with?

It was cool to hear what Nick had answered to questions like- what will my first post-labor meal be; which part of me grew faster- belly or booty and what will be the most useful item in the hospital bag?

Laughing at each other´s silly answers

2. Braiding workshop

The girls gave me a gift box with a card and a comb. The note said that having a girl (with potentially very curly hair from Nick) will require developing some new skills and the comb was the hint for it. I was already excited…

Soon a girl arrived who did a little braining-workshop. We learned different ways of braiding and practiced on each other.

3. Babyfood blind-tasting

I guess this is one of the most common baby shower games for a reason. It gives a little sneak peek (or sneak taste) into the future and is very fun. There were six different baby foods that I tasted and had to guess the ingredients. Some of them were pretty good (mostly sweet ones) and some surprisingly disgusting (for example pasta bolognese).

Me cracking my brains trying to identify another veggie seemed to be good entertainment:D

The many emotions of liquid meal tastings

Babyshower´s four-legged special guests Bruno and Ellie and their beautiful mommas. Left one is my momma too:)

4. Baby picture identification

The girls had gathered their baby photos and I had to guess who was who. Truth be told- it was WAY harder than I thought. I guessed only a few correct (one was my sister because I had seen the picture before:D). When the names were revealed later it was much easier to see the resemblances.

“Hmm, who is this one?” “Wait, let me take another look.” “Dang, this is hard!”

5. Guessing game

All the girls filled papers with their guesses about the birth date, the height and weight, name suggestion and whether they think the baby will be more like Mini-Me or Mini-Nick. They added a suggestion and what they wish Baby Connor will get from either of us.

It was so sweet reading their answers. A lot of the advise and reminders were around making our relationship always a priority and taking time for ourselves and each other. When our glasses are full and we are happy, the baby will be too. Some of the things that they wished our baby will get from me were blue eyes, long legs, dimples, determination, discipline, spark, positivity; from Nick his dark curls and skin, charisma and swag, athletisism, humor, confidence, creativity.

Definitely keeping these papers for the tougher days to re-read and smile:)

They also put together vouchers, where everyone had written a service that they will provide and we are able to use. How intentional and cute! Wow.

Capturing memories

Last, but not least some picture-time. Since life-events like this don´t happen every day, freezing those memories in photos is the best way to relive them.