Baby Showers

The kiddo is here, as you may have already read, but I never told you about my wonderful baby showers!  They were pretty amazing.  Scott and I are surrounded by fun, quality people that showed us some serious lurv through a few different baby showers.  Also, as a side note, I enjoyed getting my hair and toes done in preparation for each one.

The first shower was with a group of friends of mine from NC State.  Everybody lived with somebody at the shower at some point during our college careers.  We met at Sweet Tomatoes and had a great time.  Some of these ladies traveled GREAT distances to join this party.  I felt very, very special for all the effort made!

Shower #1,  March 19, 2011

(L to R) Brandi, Carla, Lisa, BA, Robbye, Amanda, Tiffanee,  and Rachel

Cute baby stuff was acquired.

We headed over to NC State to reminisce.

No NC State reunion is complete without a Goodberry's trip!

Shower #2, April 8, 2011

Momma Bain, as I affectionately call her, or Michele to everyone else, threw an AMAZING shower at her house with all my work people.  The food was to. die. for.  The decorations were so cute and appropriately giraffe oriented (the theme of the nursery).  And she didn't make us play games.  It was awesome. :) (Thanks to Naomi, Michele's daughter, for all the effort she put into this party, too!) Once again, I felt the lurv.  Big time.  Several people came to the shower (in the evening) AFTER work.  That may not be a big deal to you, but we work 12 hours shifts.  Doing ANYTHING social after work is note worthy.  I so appreciated everybody coming to the party.  Prior to all these baby showers, I thought if/when I went to a baby shower, it wasn't that big of a deal.  But I felt like these people were coming to my WEDDING and I was sooooo grateful for their time, the thoughtful gifts, and the sacrifice lots of people made to spend an evening with me!

Momma (Michele) Bain and I

Shower #3, April 9, 2011

This shower was hosted and attended by a combination of people.  We had a sprinkling of my Wake Tech nursing classmates, lots of family, and some long time friends from NC State and USC (South Carolina, not Southern Cal, just for the record).  Juli, one of the key masterminds behind this shower, happens to be an EXPERT at throwing baby showers.  She has thrown some ridiculous number of showers in the past 5 years.  (20+?)  Like I said, expert.   The food at this shower was also amazing.  Particularly of note were the cupcakes, hand-crafted by the talented Melissa.

It's hard to see the red velvet cupcakes in this picture, but they have cute little animals on them.  They were delicious.  Trust me.

Nikki and Aunt Libby.  Nikki was in charge of writing down who gave us what.  Her commentary in that note-taking was hilarious to read later.

More cute stuff!

Awesome Ergo Carrier from Uncle John and Aunt Darla.

Notice the giraffe-themed bumper hanging from the curtain rods behind us.  They got us our bedding for the crib and it was displayed nicely around the room.

Everybody got to make their own onesies.  This is Jason's handiwork. 

I'm not sure who made this one, nor am I am quite sure what that equation means.  Something about feeding the kid every 1-3 hours? I guess I should ask my math teacher-husband. :)

Jason, the balloon bearer.

Shower #4, May 18, 2011

This shower was thrown for Scott and his coworker Brian by the math department at Scott's school.  We played the super-gross "Guess which candy bar is melted in the diaper" game.  Ewwww.  Definitely an appropriate game for a shower thrown for two guys!  We also played the game where you had a necklace (baby-themed) and if you said the word "baby", somebody else could take your necklace from you.  Needless to say, I lost my necklace pretty quick-like.  I did NOT win. :)  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this shower.  The math department knows how to throw a party, though!  We had a great time with fun people and got incredible gifts.  

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This time:  As I said before, we felt very loved and celebrated throughout all these showers!  

Last time:  When I had my daughter, Chloe, various people offered to throw me a shower.  I couldn't quite figure out how to have a baby shower for me, for Chloe, without it being this whole bittersweet event.  The presents would need to go to the adoptive family, which I didn't select until 6 weeks before she was born.  I didn't want to have to have a fake smile on my face, trying to look excited while feeling overwhelmed and unsure.  I greatly appreciated the offer, though.  As it turned out, there was a shower thrown for the adoptive family after Chloe was born.  That, to me, was perfect.  My mom and sister-in-law went.  They took lots of pictures for me. 

        

Melissa and Alvin, the proud parents.

Raegan, my niece (3 months old), and Chloe (3 weeks)

My mom, Chloe, and Melissa

I was invited to go, but I wanted it to be an exclusively happy event.  I was afraid if I went, a) I might cry the whole time, or b) people would feel awkward by me being there.  I've read blogs of other birthmothers that did have baby showers.  It worked for them.  It didn't work for me.  As I've gone through this experience, I've learned that it is an extremely individualized process.  What works for one birthmother or adoptive family might not work for another.  And that's perfectly okay.