Me and mum have spent most of the week busting it out in the kitchen getting food prepared for the baby shower, we made all sorts for it such as:
Plus other store brought things like Spring Rolls, Samosas, Sausage Rolls, Cocktail Sausages, Chicken Bites, Chips n Dip, Biscuits.
I got my balloons filled with Helium on the friday afternoon with a chemical added into them to keep them up long enough for the baby shower the following day, I spent hours going around shops trying to find just plain pink and green balloons but no one had ANY at all, well they had bright pink but I didnt want a bright pink and they had dark green and I didnt want a dark green either..I couldnt even find matellic balloons....I eventually ended up getting a pack of mixed colours...but I was short one pink balloon....but compromised in the end. I had two chinese paper lanterns too that I put up for decorations.
On the moring of the baby shower mum woke me up asking for help in the kitchen as she flooded it - I woke up thinking well why mother have you got the washing machine going if you flooded the place (the sink in the laundry is usually the culprit here when something falls in it blocking the drain) but it was the kitchen sink she flooded, she had filled it ready to wash dishes and was multi tasking... thankfully we got it all cleaned up, the floor did need to be mopped so it gone done differently..! LOL!
I had never ending Braxton Hicks and Pelvic pain while making sammies and wraps it wasnt easy, I had also run the maternity hospital for the second time (had called the night before) about my pelvic pain but got no help from them again about it. I think we got everything almost done and set up by the time people started to turn up, just had to wait for the savoury foods to be heated through and cooked.
My sister seem to win every game I had going - I had a couple of other games planned but didnt get around to playing them, I had guests leave early and arrive late so couldnt get them all done to plan. But the ones I did have took a bit of brain power for my guests - I think the most fun game was probably the Guess the Baby game - I had printed off photos of my mum and dad, my sister and me, my nieces and nephews, both my granmothers, and simon and his sister all as babies and had numbered them and gave out a list of names and had people guess who was who. Looking back at the results people wrote down its pretty funny seeing who got some of them right and had never met or seen the photos before - and who got some around the wrong way. For example my parents around the wrong way, my nephews, my sister and me - then there were some who got them extreme to the point of Simon and my nephews....or his sister and my nieces. My nana made me laugh when she saw Simon and his sister's baby photo thinking it was her knitting with the blankets they had...I had to go to her nooooooo....she of course knew who were her children and which one was her. She did wonder where I got the photos from of her and I pulled out a stash of old photos of her as a baby and of my dad and aunt growing up...all which she has given over some stage of my life or we have gotten hold of somewhere. I would of loved to have photos of my granfathers and some of simon's parents but didnt have any sadly.
I gave prizes out to the runner ups since my sister kept winning ever game!!! I had gone to Soap Opera in Botany Downs Mall and they have a bathtub full of soap offcuts where you can fill a paper bag up with $20 worth of soap. I did that and had them trim some of them a bit and gift wrap them.
Gift opening was so much fun - my mate and co hostess Yaz sat next to me for it (she was my official photographer for the day) and wrote down every thing I got and who it was from. I think from my wish list we got some of the things I had put on but we were left with some of the most important items not given as gifts - for example a nappy bag which we were really holding out for, I had put a temporary stop on buying more baby stuff with Simon as we wanted to see what we would get from the baby shower. Of course this left us with a list of things we really needed....I ended up getting a nappy bag myself from KMart 50% off as it was the one in stock, so I have been able to at least get Amelia's bag packed ready for the hospital..!
We got some really gorgous things - socks, hats, bibs including some Holden ones (from Aunty Yaz who knows that mummy and daddy are Holden lovers in the Ford vs Holden debate), outfits, blankets, couple of record books, a Peter Rabbit Dinner Set (even with a wishlist given my neighbour just didnt know what to get me, so I had dropped her a couple of hints of much needed items...of course Peter Rabbit was left off the list when I wrote it, but I had told her that Simon loves Peter Rabbit...so thats how we got that gorgous set). All our gifts have been really well appreciated and we do love everyone who got us something. And I have to say thank you soooo much to Amelia's Nanna for the gorgous outfits she got from Marks and Spencer...! Your grandaughter is going to look gorgous for her first year of her life as she grows into them..! xxx As always I love how you wrap your gifts to family and friends...
Even with a number to cater for I did end up with heaps of food left over, esp the sweet food that is, Ive noticed hot foods - the savoury items do go fast at parties over other foods.
End of the day I had a great time and thanks to those who did turn up, I really appreciate your love and support towards both myself, Simon and our daughter. Im still waiting for my mate Yaz to send me all the photos she took. and once I get them I will post some collages. In the mean time here are a couple of my fave ones of Simon with my nieces Meggan and Emma....though he spent most of the day teasing Meg NON STOP, he is a pretty awesome Uncle, and I know he will just as good a father to our daughter when she is born.
