Thursday, June 07, 2012

Surprise Baby Shower!

This past Sunday, my mother and Aunt Tess surprised me with a baby shower!

I had spent the morning shopping with Michael's mother, sister, and our niece while the gentlemen of the family golfed.

When golfing was done, the guys called and asked if we wanted to meet up for lunch -- which is a usual occurrence on golfing / shopping days.  They suggested the Udder Choice, a place that Michael likes, for they serve simple sandwiches and old fashioned ice cream.

But when we walked in the door, this is what we found!!


I walked in to see a big crowd of family and friends!!  But Dad's joyful face was the one I saw first!  He had parked himself right by the door.  Haha!


Mom looked so thrilled to see me.  She is such a creative party-planner!  And look at the T-shirt that Dad wore!  It's the same one he wore to our wedding rehearsal, only it was "revised" to reflect my new status of "mother-to-be" instead of "bride-to-be!"


Mom pinned a beautiful corsage on me that had baby bottles, pacifiers, and diaper pins on it -- with each being either blue or pink!


All the gentleman sat in the main room and had lunch, while we women enjoyed the festivities in a different room.



The beautiful cake!!

The favors that Mom made!  Since our nursery will have a light green and lambs theme, Mom made the favors match!  Inside each are a pack of Post-It Notes.

The little onesies on the tray were another favor, filled with goodies, like peanut brittle!  See the stork?  It's last appearance was on my mother's baby shower table back in 1979!

Would you believe that this paper table cloth was used at my mother's shower back in 1979?  Yep, she's held onto it all these years...and it's in mint condition!  Don't believe me?  Soon you'll see a picture that proves it.  How special!





Guests were encouraged to give me mommy advice.  I loved reading people's responses!

Since I guess I'm just about ready to pop (but hopefully not too soon), Mom had snacks available that were all in the "pop" theme!

This was a fun game!  My guests had to guess my belly's circumference by tearing off an appropriate amount of toilet tissue.  Then each guest wrapped their guess around my belly.  The person with the closest circumference won a prize!

This is fun!  Guests had to predict my child's birth date.  The person who guesses the closest will get a prize!

Mom and Tess thought of every possible decoration!

Mom had photos from her pregnancy with me, her baby shower, and my birth!  Look closely in the upper right photograph and you'll recognize the same paper table cloth that was used at her shower and was then used at mine!  Can you believe she held onto it that long and kept it in pristine condition?!  Only my Mom can do that!  About 99% of my childhood toys are likewise preserved, so our child is sure to have quite a plethora to choose from!


Does my face look slightly fuller to you?  Or is it just an illusion due to my shorter hair cut?  An old wives' tale says that if a woman's face changes during pregnancy, she's having a girl.  Mom used to think I was having a boy, but after this day, she started to think it's a girl!  We'll see!

My favorite activity during the shower was the Clothesline Challenge!  All the parents-to-be in the room (which included our friends Jenna and Dan) were challenged to quickly hang all of my old baby clothes on the clothes line in the least amount of time possible!  But you had to do so while always holding the baby (and supporting his/her head), answering the telephone when it rang, and pausing to stop and put food in the dog's bowl when you heard the barking sound.  It was hilarious!  Here's Michael doing the challenge!

Although he didn't come in first place, I appreciated how Michael had a tight, safe grip on that baby!


Dan's wife Jenna is due just 4 weeks after us!  He came in first place, which made Jenna and I conclude that he ought to always do the laundry!

I hope the baby's circulation isn't cut off!

Dan's timing was the best!  Mine was the worst!  And I have no photos of Jenna doing the activity.  :-(  If you have a photo of her doing it that you would please share with me, please email me at MichaelAndLisaGoddard@gmail.com!

One of my top favorite gifts came from my dear friend Betsy!  What an appropriate gift for the child of a math teacher!

This was Betsy's card to me.  Isn't it so creative and fun?  I love the message!  I can't imagine how long it took her to collect all those obscure candies!

Betsy's gift to us was AMAZING. This is the message that was written on the outside of the box.

Inside the box was a clothesline of 50 FEET of precious baby clothes pinned to it, each growing in size from beginning to end!  It was incredible.  You'll see pictures of the clothesline below, in just a few photographs!




My precious 95-year-old Grandmother!

Aww...I love this photo.  Michael looks so happy to see me!  I love receiving his HUGS!



This beautiful afgan was hand-crocheted by my Aunt Maryann!

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Every step of the way, Michael supported the baby's head!  I love Mom's expression in this photograph!




Here's Betsy's gift:  the 50 feet clothesline, full of baby clothes, all organized by size, from smallest to largest!

It was never-ending!  Thank you, Betsy, for your generous heart!

Oops!  I regress!  Here's another photo of when I first walked in!

I love how my precious niece Addison wanted to hold my hand.  She even came up and gave me a kiss while I was unwrapping gifts!  I just love her!

Here's me doing the Clothesline Challenge!



More of Betsy's clothesline!  The last few pieces are beautiful nursing covers that are hand-sewn by her!  I love the black and white one; it's all made of numbers!  The pink one contains handbags!






Thank you, Mom and Tess, for planning such a wonderful and memorable baby shower for me!  And sorry, readers, for all the duplicate photos!!  Haha!