One of the moms in our playgroup announced that she was expecting her third child roughly six/seven months ago, and right away all of us moms were thinking baby shower! Granted we knew we had to wait a few months but we had great time thinking about various ideas and sharing our own baby shower stories. Though she struggled with the idea of finding out the sex of the baby she ultimately decided that the anticipation was just too much and she did, it’s a boy! This will be her third boy in 3 years so we needed to really contemplate what we were going to do for a baby shower. We wanted to do something different, she already had a big baby shower with her first baby and she has everything she needs for a baby, so what to do? We knew she had never had a pink baby shower (but I am still holding out for baby number 4..shhhhh…she might not like hearing this right now). So we decided that instead of a baby shower we would have more of a celebration of motherhood.
So over the course of six weeks seven moms communicated via text messages, facebook messages, and emails planning this celebration of motherhood. We wanted it to be a surprise for her so the topic was moot when we had gatherings/play dates.
Weeks later and the day had finally arrived with only one minor hiccup. Instead of having the shower at my home she requested that we have it at hers since her hubby was out-of-town she needed to be with her boys (they would be sleeping). If there is nothing else that I have learned being the mother of three children it is flexibility that is the key. So we went with the flow. I packed my laundry baskets with decorations and food and headed for her home while other moms were doing the same.
The theme was pink lemonade.
Motherhood is like a glass of pink lemonade on a hot summer’s day. It is beautiful, refreshing, and no two sips are exactly alike, some are bitter while others are sweet, and it is the most relaxing when shared with friends.
Everyone brought a dish to share. The idea was to bring dishes that were pink and yellow to go along with the color theme. Lilly made her amazing pink cupcakes and cake balls (along with beautiful glass serving dishes and cupcake holder, love it!) and she found wraps that looked pink, they were delicious. Tammy brought fresh veggies and veggie dip dyed pink (too cute). Mary got really creative and had fresh fruit in a watermelon; I am not doing it justice, checkout the picture. Alison made a warm savory artichoke dip. Jill brought Skinny Girl Margareta, Hello! Now it’s a party (though we really didn’t drink too much because we all knew we would be getting up with little ones during the night or early in the morning). I brought lemon bars and Sugar cookie sandwiches.
In terms of entertainment Lilly but together a fun trivia/quiz page for all of us to fill out. She did a wonderful job coming up with unique questions. My favorite was the questions that dealt with moms in media/entertainment industry that also have three boys just like the expecting mom. Additional questions included, how many words can you form from the word MOTHER (you’d be surprised, give it a try).
We also played a game; it was like table topics but for moms, Moms’ Topics. Each mom who attended the shower submitted ten questions to be asked during the evening. Lilly was kind enough to print them off and glue them to card stock, pink of course (thank you Lilly). The questions included:
Besides the lack of sleep what do you detest most about having a new-born?
What are your best kept secrets for surviving those first six weeks with a newborn?
What do you fear most about bringing home a newborn?
What modern convenience could you not live without and is essential to your daily routine as a mother?
Were you the first of your friends to have bay?
What do you love most about being a mom?
What’s the most embarrassing thing your child has said in front of your mom/mother-in-law?
And many more
Then it was onto the bead ceremony (yes you read correctly). I was not familiar with this at first but it ended up being a very beautiful and meaningful blessing way ceremony. The blessing way ceremony consisted of each of the moms selecting a bead from Meant to Bead (local bead store) based upon the meaning/color behind the bead. We all brought our bead to string on the bracelet in addition to a meaningful poem or message. We went around in a circle, and each mom presented their bead and read their blessing or message and then stringed it on the bracelet. We then asked our expecting mom to take it with her to the birth and we set up a phone tree to contact each other when labor begins and we will each recite our prayer/blessing for her and light candle for her while she labors.
Last but not least it was onto the gifts. We decided to base our gift selections on items that got us through the first year of motherhood. Things that got us through were, a few minutes to ourselves to read a book or magazine (or maybe just look at the pictures), a special fragrant body gel that would be used once a week when we were lucky to get a shower, music that helped to relieve stress, cozy sock slippers that comforted mama during those cold 3am feeding in the winter, etc. The gifts she received were, stain remover, awesome diaper cake, inspirational books/reflective reading, lotions,baby lotions, aroma therapy, gift card for a pedicure, etc.
It was such a wonderful and meaningful evening for all of us moms. We enjoyed planning the shower together, meeting at Meant to Bead, and gathering in joy of our friend and her soon-to be new bundle of joy, Jude.
Congratulations Allie and Jordan
Mom on the go in Holy Toledo 