So it has come that point in my pregnancy for baby showers. I didn't even think there would be one but I find myself going to three! One with family, one at work (Nov 10th) and one thrown by my LA Friends (Nov 12th). I am very lucky to have such generous friends and family. 
The first shower was thrown by hubby's family, in Fresno, this past weekend.It was great fun to be part of everyone's excitement for our little girl. My mother-in-law, who is in all respects missed her calling in life as an event planner hosted the party with hubby's two aunts. She not only did the food which she is known for, and the decorations which she is known for but she took it up a notch and handmade baby girl dresses and used them as centerpieces. 
To say the word stunned wouldn't even cover my surprise!
The shower took place at hubby's Aunt and Uncle's house which is located on a pond in Clovis. It's where most of hubby's family events take place, like my brother and sister-in-law's wedding and hubby and I's wedding reception. Four tables were set up for the ladies in my family, each with a beautiful handmade dress and headband as the centerpiece.
Of course, there were all the trimmings, like white tablecloths, pink plates, pink flowered napkins with pink silverware and accents like pink roses. There was a gift table set up that my MIL decorated with a Pottery Barn canopy I had wanted for baby girl's room. No detail was left untouched. It was perfect! 
MIL's specialty is food. It's not unknown that she is a good cook. Inside the house, there was a smorgasbord of food for the luncheon. 
About 35-40 guests showed up including my two best girlfriends, hubby and our friend, Toby. They were the only two males at the party. Well, there were other guys but they stayed in the man cave area and out of site but Toby and hubby were made honorary girlfriends.
After grubbin' on good eats (I threw a little caution to the wind on the diabetic front) we played some games. The game everyone enjoyed was the purse game, where ladies got various points for having different things in their purse. The thing I will always remember is hubby's grandma asking if she could get points for her knife!! Suffice to say, it was interesting to see what these ladies carry around in their purses. The winner of the game, Aunt Gerri, with 140 points must have the biggest purse!
After the games, hubby and I opened presents. It was really fun, like Christmas. Everything was pink, it was very exciting. Baby girl is lucky as everyone was so very generous with gifts. It was neat to see what other mom's thought was necessary for bringing up a child.
Showers and gifts have been a really big or shall we say, hot topic for the ladies on my pregnancy forum. Shower discussion has been going on for months, ranging from the proper etiquette (like it's a major no-no for a pregnant mom to host their own shower) to registering (it was interesting to find out that people do not register in the United Kingdom) to who is paying for the shower to finally, reviews of the showers themselves.
But the biggest form of contention on the pregnancy forum was presents. I was completely flabbergasted to hear so many mothers write long diatribes about how they got nothing off of their registry. Apparently I wasn't the only one, as other mothers would retort that it is impolite to tell people what gifts to buy them. I tend to agree. People argue days over this on the forum. Its really crazy what some women expect. There is a bout 300-400 on my forum all giving birth in December and the ages range from teens to one mom who is 50 and a first time mom.
Registering is fun but one can never expect to get things you register for in my opinion. I still get antsy when people ask me what I want for my birthday or for Christmas cuz I wasn't brought up on getting alot of stuff and a gift was always something so special. Some of these mom's on this forum were so livid that no one bought stuff off their registry and complained about what they received. It seemed very ungrateful of them.
One lady this week complained she received 75 onesies all in the same sized and none came with gift receipts to take them back. While I agree that 75 oneies is a little disappointing, you can't help what people want to give a person. Some mom's complained that they were low on cash or couldn't afford things for their baby and used this as a reason as to why people should buy registry items. Um, I think these lades have bigger problems if they can't afford a onesie. Um, kids are generally expensive. You are bringing a child into the world and you expect other people to pay for them? I kind of get the feeling that some of these younger moms on the forum do indeed expect this. I was raised that life isn't a free ride and that you work for what you want.
I found the whole shower discussion on the forum interesting because everyone got so into in and people would get really mad about gifts. Some lady wrote two pages about how her family bought her the wrong stroller. Um, take it back. A gift is a gift to me, one should be grateful someone else took the time to think of them. I received a lot of gifts that were not on my registry but I enjoyed every one of them. I enjoyed the cute clothes people took the time to find or the baby wipe warmer that one mom thought was so awesome because they never had one when she was a mom. Or the homemade blanket someone made with love. A shower is about celebrating the birth of a baby with loved ones not a mandatory gift giving session. Some of these ladies have gone coocoo for coco puffs. One thing is for sure, I am teaching my girl some manners and etiquette.
The first shower was thrown by hubby's family, in Fresno, this past weekend.It was great fun to be part of everyone's excitement for our little girl. My mother-in-law, who is in all respects missed her calling in life as an event planner hosted the party with hubby's two aunts. She not only did the food which she is known for, and the decorations which she is known for but she took it up a notch and handmade baby girl dresses and used them as centerpieces. 
To say the word stunned wouldn't even cover my surprise! The shower took place at hubby's Aunt and Uncle's house which is located on a pond in Clovis. It's where most of hubby's family events take place, like my brother and sister-in-law's wedding and hubby and I's wedding reception. Four tables were set up for the ladies in my family, each with a beautiful handmade dress and headband as the centerpiece.
Of course, there were all the trimmings, like white tablecloths, pink plates, pink flowered napkins with pink silverware and accents like pink roses. There was a gift table set up that my MIL decorated with a Pottery Barn canopy I had wanted for baby girl's room. No detail was left untouched. It was perfect! 
MIL's specialty is food. It's not unknown that she is a good cook. Inside the house, there was a smorgasbord of food for the luncheon. 
About 35-40 guests showed up including my two best girlfriends, hubby and our friend, Toby. They were the only two males at the party. Well, there were other guys but they stayed in the man cave area and out of site but Toby and hubby were made honorary girlfriends.
After grubbin' on good eats (I threw a little caution to the wind on the diabetic front) we played some games. The game everyone enjoyed was the purse game, where ladies got various points for having different things in their purse. The thing I will always remember is hubby's grandma asking if she could get points for her knife!! Suffice to say, it was interesting to see what these ladies carry around in their purses. The winner of the game, Aunt Gerri, with 140 points must have the biggest purse!
After the games, hubby and I opened presents. It was really fun, like Christmas. Everything was pink, it was very exciting. Baby girl is lucky as everyone was so very generous with gifts. It was neat to see what other mom's thought was necessary for bringing up a child.
Showers and gifts have been a really big or shall we say, hot topic for the ladies on my pregnancy forum. Shower discussion has been going on for months, ranging from the proper etiquette (like it's a major no-no for a pregnant mom to host their own shower) to registering (it was interesting to find out that people do not register in the United Kingdom) to who is paying for the shower to finally, reviews of the showers themselves.
But the biggest form of contention on the pregnancy forum was presents. I was completely flabbergasted to hear so many mothers write long diatribes about how they got nothing off of their registry. Apparently I wasn't the only one, as other mothers would retort that it is impolite to tell people what gifts to buy them. I tend to agree. People argue days over this on the forum. Its really crazy what some women expect. There is a bout 300-400 on my forum all giving birth in December and the ages range from teens to one mom who is 50 and a first time mom.
Registering is fun but one can never expect to get things you register for in my opinion. I still get antsy when people ask me what I want for my birthday or for Christmas cuz I wasn't brought up on getting alot of stuff and a gift was always something so special. Some of these mom's on this forum were so livid that no one bought stuff off their registry and complained about what they received. It seemed very ungrateful of them.
One lady this week complained she received 75 onesies all in the same sized and none came with gift receipts to take them back. While I agree that 75 oneies is a little disappointing, you can't help what people want to give a person. Some mom's complained that they were low on cash or couldn't afford things for their baby and used this as a reason as to why people should buy registry items. Um, I think these lades have bigger problems if they can't afford a onesie. Um, kids are generally expensive. You are bringing a child into the world and you expect other people to pay for them? I kind of get the feeling that some of these younger moms on the forum do indeed expect this. I was raised that life isn't a free ride and that you work for what you want.
I found the whole shower discussion on the forum interesting because everyone got so into in and people would get really mad about gifts. Some lady wrote two pages about how her family bought her the wrong stroller. Um, take it back. A gift is a gift to me, one should be grateful someone else took the time to think of them. I received a lot of gifts that were not on my registry but I enjoyed every one of them. I enjoyed the cute clothes people took the time to find or the baby wipe warmer that one mom thought was so awesome because they never had one when she was a mom. Or the homemade blanket someone made with love. A shower is about celebrating the birth of a baby with loved ones not a mandatory gift giving session. Some of these ladies have gone coocoo for coco puffs. One thing is for sure, I am teaching my girl some manners and etiquette.
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