Baby Showers – Poole Party of 5

Welcome, Baby B.

My good friend, M, is approaching the due date of her third daughter. All her ducks are in a row and now she is waiting for baby’s arrival, just a few weeks away. Since she has all the material things she needs, one might think that a shower is superfluous, but I disagree. The birth of any baby changes things forever for a family. They go from a “family-of-four” to a “family-of-five” and things will never, ever be the same. As I mentioned in a previous post (Nervous), this “time in waiting” is unlike any other before or after. A tension exists between the appreciation of what has been and the excitement of what will be. The beauty of the family that is, with that which is unknown.

When approaching the birth of my third baby, all I wanted was time to be with women close to me and a moment to celebrate my baby. Life can be such chaos that I found carving out a space to be present with baby the hardest thing of all. Friends hosted a luncheon for me and it was so lovely. It was exactly what I wanted. I wanted to be able to do the same thing for M. Although she may not need more onesies, she probably does need her friends and family more than ever and a space to enjoy her baby.

We met at The Pink Door and had a fabulous evening. Mother Nature cooperated and delivered a gorgeous sunset. The food was artfully done and delicious to boot. I tried for all things feminine with lots of flowers and included a faux flower for each lady to wear however she chose. Everyone looked festive and feminine. M, you are so special. I hope you know how much you and Baby B are loved!

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Inspiration comes in all forms… in this post you will see what actually inspired moving the sewing machine out of its box. Today we celebrated one of my dearest friends and the upcoming arrival of her first baby. K has applauded all of her friends’ babies in the last few years and today we got to return the favor by honoring her. K is a planner and appreciates both parties and details, so it was clear we needed to raise the bar. Teaching myself to sew in a month seemed like a good idea at the time… Debatable, but fun! Keep in mind I am 5 months postpartum and possibly a little cuckoo.

I was in charge of decorations and focused my energy on creating custom onesies and burp cloths for the new babe. We displayed these with hand-decorated clothespins and lots and lots of polka dots… my favorite! As the party neared, I thought about sewing place mats and a runner for the table and quickly became overwhelmed, so came up with a pretty creative solution (if I do say so myself) and used wrapping paper to create our table top decorations. It worked beautifully in a pinch – lots of pop, plus I can use the paper again. It was a lovely day and I believe K felt celebrated and special – total success!

So the moral of the story is that K and baby have been my inspiration (muses?) and I thank them for all the fun that I have been having over the last weeks! And now, anyone for some place mats?