Baby Shower Wrap-Up

I stole all of these pictures from Stephanie's blog. I would have just linked her blog and saved myself a whole lot of effort, but she's a jerk and keeps it private. Which means that 90% of our family members never read it because they can't figure out how to log in.

Anyway, Megan came over the day of the shower to keep Norah entertained, and man was she good. I felt like I owed her money at the end of the day because she was such a good babysitter. Norah still asks every day when Megan will be there. They played, watched a movie (The Little Mermaid-oh the horror!), played some more, and ate 3 lunches. Megan needs to move here. Whatever she tells Norah to do, Norah does it. I think Norah ate more that morning and early afternoon than she has in 3 months.

The shower was at Bubby's house and she was in charge of the decorations. I don't have any great pictures (ahem), but there were lovely flowers, and cute die-cut decorations hanging from the chandeliers.

The guest(s) of honor in all their glory.

Kristin and I were in charge of the food and drinks. There was a lovely non-alcoholic punch (that would have been even more delicious with vodka) and white wine spritzers. The spritzers were actually Bubby's idea and we figured just a way for her to be cheap (it's just wine diluted with carbonated water). But we added a raspberry at the bottom of the glass for color and they were the hit of the party.

There were several cheese platters (not pictured, the cheddar with fancy crackers).

Chicken salad and mint cucumber tea sandwiches.

Spinach and tortellini pasta salad (thanks Aileen for the recipe-it was the biggest hit!)

Tomato and basil bruschetta.

Not pictured was spinach and artichoke dip with crudites and a giant, fancy fruit salad.

Stephanie was in charge of the desserts. I got diabetes just looking at them. She has always been a good baker, but holy schmoly she outdid herself. The bottom plate was jam filled macaroons, the second plate was mint frosted brownies (these were my favorite and I had probably 17-it was a rich chocolate brownie, with a mint frosting, and then a top layer of melted chocolate), the third plate was vanilla cupcakes, and the top plate was a cake especially for Amy.

Everything made from scratch and TO DIE FOR. I just got diabetes again thinking about it!

See those ducks? Yeah, those would be white chocolate molded ducks that Steph made. I was so full after dessert that I couldn't eat another bite, so I stole a duck and set it aside for later. The next thing I knew, Norah was eating my duck! I couldn't believe it. Good thing she's cute, because I REALLY wanted one of those ducks.

In case you are wondering, Toolie is not going to be the baby's actual name, it is just his in utero nickname. I would explain the origin of that nickname, but it is beyond inappropriate and this is a family blog people (Mare-I will tell you later, I promise).

Steph also made the favors, which were chocolates in a cute little package.

The gang.

Toolie is already a linebacker.

Norah's outfit looks a little inappropriate here, but it was really just a cute sundress.

We didn't play any stupid games, but just let everyone chat and mingle and then watch Amy open her gifts. Her friends (and in-laws) are beyond awesome and she got quite the stash of amazing and thoughtful gifts. Megan and Norah made her a special card.

In the weeks leading up to the shower I had Amy's friends send me a picture of themselves with her, as well as a letter to the baby about who his mom is. I compiled all of the photos and messages and had it printed in a bound book (Blurb.com rules my world, by the way). It turned out even better than expected and, as I knew she would, Amy loved it.

The guests also filled out cards with words of advice for the soon-to-be mom and Steph and Bubby made her this book to hold the cards as well as the 9 billion pictures that were taken of the party. My favorite words of advice included: "Pump and dump is your friend." Truer words have never been spoken.

The whole thing reminded me a lot of Norah's second birthday party-it was just a big pile of love. It doesn't get much better than that.