Showering the Expectant Mother

Another baby shower last night at the Duck and Cherry.
Linnea is expecting her first child in about a month's time. She was happy and thrilled with the evening's event So, mission accomplished.

I breathed in the fresh, crisp spring air as I walked Hector, the Wheaten Terrier, this morning. There were birds singing all around. They are also preparing for the arrival of little ones. They are gathering twigs, leaves and more and building nests for the upcoming additions to their family.

One of the baby shower games we played yesterday was a questionnaire about Linnea and her protruding stomach's daily life nowadays. With multiple choice answers we guessed the status of her cravings, morning sickness, preparatory purchases, if it is harder to turn around in bed or tie her shoelaces, etc.

One question was: When does the baby move and kick the most?
a) the baby is an early riser
b) in the evening, doesn't want to go to bed
c) when mamma eats

There are many great ideas out there on how to plan a great baby shower. Here are some of the things I like to do:

Invite friends and close family of the expectant mother.
Have pretty invitations and a Facebook event, so that it's easy to keep track of attendees.
Decorate a beautiful table with pink/blue, teddy bears, colorful treats, and pretty napkins.
Start with a few games. In addition to the questionnaire I like games like these:

• a memory tray with about 14 baby items (let the guests see all items, then cover them up and have the guests write down what they remember)
• measure the mother's stomach (how large is she around her belly? Everyone cuts a piece of string, guessing the size)
• baby items in socks (number 8 different socks and fill them with baby items, have the guests feel the socks and guess what's inside)
• "Dirty diapers" (fill tiny baby diapers with a spoon of baby food, a piece of chocolate with nuts, peanut butter etc. After a few seconds in the microwave it looks like the diapers are used. Pass them around and have the guests smell and look at them to guess what is really there)

After games, Linnea opened presents. The string wrapped around the parcels were tied together and the ladies sitting in the circle in the room held this long band of string in their hands. At the end of the gift opening ceremony the person sitting where the end piece was, was predicted to have the next baby. Very unlikely last night, as one of the grandmother's ended up with the end piece of the string.

Singing nursery rhymes and children's songs is also fun a thing to do - and the, EAT. Let the guests pick and choose from a table laid with cakes, finger foods, vegetables, 7-layer dips, cookies . . . anything goes.

An evening like this is wonderful in producing gifts sorely needed by the expecting parents, who are usually young students and starting out in life. The guests are happy; some remembering what it was like to have little ones running around their skirts, others excited that one day they will be sitting there receiving presents for a child of their own. The efforts are well worth it, considering the joy of the expecting mother, basking in lots of sweet attention from everyone in the room.