My Pre-Niece-in-Law's Baby Shower

Approximately 7 months ago, BSILF personally announced to BF and me that she and her hubby will have a baby this month. Ever since we received the news, I have been living vicariously through BSILF and all her detailed accounts and e-mails regarding Baby Girl's pre-developmental milestones.

Today, we threw Baby Girl R. a pre-birthday party! I had the honor of participating in the planning of the baby shower with BSILF's relatives. Everything went so perfectly. I arrived at noon to help set-up...and to get acquainted with the biggest surprises of the baby shower. When I first met w/ BSILF's relatives to plan, her Cousin-in-Law shared with me that BSILF's mom and mother-in-law would be flying all the way over from New York as a surprise! I was beyond excited for everyone!

When I arrived to Cousin-in-Law's house, I was re-introduced to Mother and Mother-in-Law. I was also introduced to MIL's sister, whom I hugged and briefly commented, "So you're the mystery guest!" (Since I was in charge of the RSVPs, I knew that there was one more relative coming from NY as a surprise but I didn't know who.) We chatted a bit and helped set up for about an hour. CIL's daughter and I decorated the patio tables by tying pink ribbons and pinning them to the brown table cloths (it was really a great color combination). About 40 minutes before start-time, the three ladies went into the bedroom to hide. Knowing BSILF, we anticipated her either arriving early or on time at the latest. Although there were a few logistical kinks (i.e., Costco messed the cake up so CIL's husband ended up having to go pick it up), everyone was back in time before BSILF arrived.

(Picture taken before pretty pink ribbons were attached.)

CHK brought BSILF and as soon as she was comfortably settled down in the plush sofa, CIL said, "We have a surprised, but we don't want you to get too excited [lest BSILF go into labor]. I'll go get it."

BSILF's reaction was Hallmark classic. Since I was the designated videocamera-woman, I got to see it all. First, her mother walked out and BSILF was absolutely stunned! She didn't even realize that MIL was right behind so I got continuous footage of a second genuinely pleasant surprised reaction. And then one more for Aunty-in-Law! It was really so wonderful to witness all of it.

As more guests arrived, we began with cheese & crackers and M & Ms for appetizers and then quickly rolled into our delicious lunch of chicken, salmon, mac & cheese, and Caesar salad. We all sat outside and enjoyed each other's company. As lunch winded down, we started our first game of guessing flavors of baby food in unlabelled jars. There were 12 of them...and I only got 2! (Who knew there was butternut squash? I sure didn't.)
We moved inside to have delicious carrot cake, and then we played a game of "Who knows Mommy Best?" BSILF really put the pressure on me since I often declare to her that she is one of my best friends. Sadly, I proved not to be!

The few things I knew about BSILF:

• Full name
• baby's due date
• night person (vs. day)
• half-credit for favorite dessert (I would have bet all my money that it's anything with pumpkin, but I wrote pumpkin pie...but it was really brownies with pumpkin pie being a very close runner-up)
• Birth location
  

A few things that I didn't know about BSILF:

• First band/singer infatuation -- I had absolutely no clue so I blindly (and jokingly) guessed Queen. She did NOT like that answer. LOL (I am still laughing about the way she responded to my answer!)
• Favorite toy as a child -- no clue either so I put bubbles. She quickly reprimanded, "Apparently you think that I am one of your speech students!" LOLOL (Turned out to be Matchbox cars.)
• Married for 14 years -- I put 15 years b/c I quickly did the math but failed to take into consideration that her wedding date was earlier than her birthday for that year. I always knew that Math wasn't my forget, but that also tested my overall problem-solving skills.
  

So, sadly, I only scored 5 out of 12! (I was so bummed that I had to bring her husband down with me when he later took the test. Including both mothers, he scored the highest out of everyone with a 9 out of 12! But I had to be a brat and point out that his score was only a 75% which equates to a "C" for average.)

Our last activity was to decorate a onesie. Honestly, I had been thinking about this and trying to plot out a cool design ever since we planned this activity back in March! (Only b/c I am soooo uncreative and unartistic but didn't want to make something ugly for our cutie-pie baby girl.) Still, I arrived with no design in mind. BSILF quietly said, "why don't you draw a turtle?" (or something like, "I was sure you'd draw a turtle.") I almost drew a turtle's shell on the back...so that when Baby Girl wore it, she would look like a turtle (this inspiration came from BF. I often tell him that I want a tattoo of a turtle or sea turtle and he teases that I should get my back tatted w/ a turtle's shell. Scary and ugly!). Since I didn't like that idea for myself, I didn't think that would look so cute on Baby Girl. So I ended up just drawing a turtle.

Clumsy me smeared one of the "scute" outlines so I ended up filling up the entire shell at the suggestion of my supportive GFs. :) I was quite proud of it since I am soOOOOOoOOOOoooo not artistic. (Dude, my middle school kids often laugh at my drawings.)

(When I showed artistic BF the pictures above and below, he totally clowned on me,

"Did one of your elementary school students draw that?" -- knowing that I don't work with such young ones!)
Shortly after, BSILF opened up all the adorable gifts for baby girl. OMG, Baby Girl is going to be dressed to the nines in the most adorable outfits!
In retrospect, BF and I unintentionally got gifts from their registry to the theme of "cleanliness." We got this cool bath tub with a self-cleaning system and thermometer, a catch-all-mess floor mat, and booties to keep Baby Girl's feet clean. ;)

After the last guest left, I felt the need to leave, but BSILF said, "no, stay! Just b/c everyone left doesn't mean you have to leave!" So I stayed and got extra BSILF time in. :)

I ended up leaving around 8:30 PM! I was exhausted, but so happy to have spent the day with friends and "family"! :)

I am EAGERLY counting down the days until Baby Girl arrives!!!