I had never hosted a baby shower before and I had a lot of fun planning this one... fun that was accentuated by the opportunity to pay the Fords back a hundred things, large and small, that they have done for us over the years. It's really hard to build and maintain friendships across stages of life, and that the Fords not only stayed our friends during a time when we had kids and they did not, but that we strengthened our friendship in that same time, is particularly special. And honestly, it took a lot more work on their part than ours, planning outings around nap schedules and feedings that really didn't affect them beyond the fact that they affected us.
Jenny and Paul had picked a Dr. Seuss theme for the nursery, so it was very fun to do the shower along the same lines.
One of the best parts for me was looking for ways to decorate for the shower with items that I could then gift to Jenny. The only table decoration that wasn't completely reuseable was the banner... and I really think I meant to order the tablecloth and just clicked wrong. The books were mostly used bookstore finds and then I bought some vinyl bags at the Target dollar spot, cut them apart, and then framed them to create future wall art for the nursery.
I also got the joy of using my newly inherited punch bowl and snack sets. My mother-in-law had passed these to me and I knew it would make Jenny happy to have a "greener" way to enjoy the food at her shower, as well as add a bit of elegance. I thought the trays were really neat... they had a large section and two smaller sections. I could tell one of the smaller sections was for the cup, but the other one confused me. I finally decided it was for dips. Looking on-line, though, I found out that the real purpose for that mysterious section was as an ash tray! So much for eco-friendly and tasteful! Well, not that anyone at the shower used it that way; I just thought it was a funny sign of the times, as it were. I also thought it was neat that Jenny's dad recognized the set as being one his mother had when he was a boy.
I was very excited to make a blanket for Jenny's baby, but was aggravated with myself because I got time-crunched with the backing and the stretchy-ness of the material gave me trouble. The net result is a blanket that looks lovely... until you lay it on the floor and see the un-squareness of it. But as I told Jenny, it just means it was made with more love than skill.
Obviously all of this was the ladies' shower. So, what were the guys doing that whole time?
Because nothing says, "Congratulations on the impending arrival of your baby girl" like target practice with shotguns.Congrats, Fords!
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