Showered! (Part II)

So Beans threw me the best baby shower EVAH. And not just because she got all of my friends and family to willingly participate in a onesie decorating sweatshop.

Paint, minions, paint!

I have this awful history of important life events coinciding exactly with Beans’ busiest time of the year. I’m too lazy to look it up, but I’m pretty sure that my bridal shower was just about a year ago. And, even though she has a terrible tendency to work 12 hour days in July, Beans gamely volunteered to throw another shower for me, Kristian and wee little Gummy Bear. Our friends Jen(nie) and Pepper were kind enough to co-host.

And they seriously outdid themselves.

Decorations that were both adorable and practical. Beans Pepper is the best. (Beans is also the best, but the decorations are all Pepper. Who is the best. All of my friends are the best. I am a very lucky lady).

I was too busy keeping my feet up and accepting any and all offers of food and beverages to take any pictures, but I can tell you with absolutely no hesitation that everything was just lovely. We were able to use Beans’ grandmother’s house, which is big and beautiful and has an amazing view of the family farm. Mother Nature was kind enough to furnish us with perfect weather, so we spent most of the party out on the lawn soaking in the pastoral view and appreciating the faint breeze and occasional mist from the irrigation system.

Oh, and painting onesies and t-shirts. Soooo many onesies and t-shirts.

I I Who knew that I know so many artists!

I think my favorite design was my sister’s creation, which featured a lovingly painted garlic bulb and fancy cursive script reading “I stink!” A close second would be my Dad’s GF, who painted a turtle with a caption underneath that says in Japanese “I am a turtle.”

(She’s a Japanese instructor at a local university).

There wasn’t a bad shirt in the bunch. Which is kindof a shame, really, because these lovingly crafted garments are all going to end up covered in spit-up and various other baby fluids on a regular basis.

Jane encouraged all of the shy painters to get in touch with their inner second grader. Quite an effective mental technique.

 You know it’s a good shower when you have such a good time hanging out with everybody that you forget that they all brought you presents. Because, hey, presents!

So many presents!

We were definitely showered with generosity. So many lovely, thoughtful presents. So many teeny, tiny little socks. My grandmother made Gummy Bear not one, but two quilts.

(One to be used and loved. One to be hung up in the nursery and appreciated sans bodily fluids).

I won’t go into the details (because, yawwwwwwwwn) but let’s just say that our house is going to get professionally cleaned at some point before I go into labor thanks to a generous and thoughtful gift of a gift certificate to a local cleaning service courtesy of my sisters.

Oh, and my Grandmother brought a baby blanket and capelet that were crocheted by beloved Great-Grandmother many, many years ago. It took me a second to realize just what “this was made for you by Nana” on the tag on the gift bag really meant. And then there were tears. So many tears. Nana and I had the same birthday and she was quite the lady. I still look up to her as a bit of a role model. She was totally sharp and with it almost up to the very end. I sincerely hope that I’m still doing crossword puzzles when I’m in my 90s.

Nana died when I was in college and Grandma found a stash of pre-made baby paraphernalia tucked away at Nana’s condo. She’s been holding onto it for all of the great-grand-kids ever since. We’re talking 8 or 9 years. I almost can’t believe that Nana though ahead to crochet for all of us.

(Although I can definitely believe that Grandma has been lovingly storing things for us. Because that’s the sort of thing that she does).

And now Gummy Bear will have things that were made for her great-great-grandmother. And that pretty much blows my mind.

There was also a family heirloom in the form of the sweetest little spoon from my other Grandmother. And a whole bunch of classic baby/children’s books. And didn’t I just say I wasn’t going to talk anymore about presents?

Oh, hey, cake!

YUM.

I was having such a great time, I didn’t want the afternoon to end. But the out of town guests all had to get back home. And, truth be told, I was feeling pretty zonked. Let’s just say I went home and promptly passed out on the couch for about an hour.

The whole drive home, all I could think about was how much I wanted to tell someone how great I was feeling and how special the shower made me feel. But all the people I would have told had just been there! Although I did joke with Beans later that I should have called her up and said, “Let me tell you about this awesome shower that you just threw me.”

I settled for going home and forcing Kristian to pretend to appreciate each and every tiny sock. He is excited about having the house cleaned. And he will learn to love the Baby Bjorn.

Another group of family friends is throwing us another shower in a few weeks. It certainly doesn’t suck to be me.

More photos (courtesy of Beans) here.