Shower Time

Due to the impending holiday season (Xmas shopping starts before Halloween now, according to stores, it seems), travel and the timing of our due date, my wife thought it best to have her shower the other weekend. Instead of having a suggested "co-ed" shower with the men around, we decided an even more fun (funner?) idea might be to have a Boy's BBQ at a separate location. So while the women gathered to do the girlie thing, the guys came around (after dutifully dropping of the S.O.'s first, natch) for some beer, BBQ and camaraderie.

Both events had a great turnout -- over 20 attendees at each plus some kids. The men had a bounty of appetizers to choose from, as well as three different kinds of burgers to nosh on (beef, turkey and elk!). The women enjoyed a really nice cake that was decorated perfectly for the event with all sorts of baby related pieces on top of the frosting. For both meals there was a lot of homemade food and a ton of effort put in by all sorts of people, all of which we cannot thank enough. The hosts of the parties took great pains to make it all memorable and we are really appreciative.

The guys' gathering had a pool going on a big calendar where they could pay $5 to choose a date of when the baby will arrive. My father-in-law came up with the idea; I suggested it to my wife when she was creating the calendar, but she shot it down. When I got to the host house the decision was changed to make it "more interesting," and how could I say no? Half of the winnings would go to the person who chose correctly and the other half to the baby's college fund. A lot of the guys got involved, making it a great conversation piece. There was also a guessing game to figure out how many peanut M&M's were in a baby bottle, as well as little cards where the guys could write messages to the baby-to-be. I believe the women had similar games going, but didn't take the plunge to "enrich" the due-date pool.

After eating it was trivia time, with a list of questions the wife and her sister came up with, all involving the baby and its inception. We haven't told anyone the name yet (and it's still not 100% agreed upon anyway) but we have given out the middle name, so that was one question. Most of the men got it wrong, not to mention a lot of the women (including family, haha). Other questions included how I was told of the pregnancy (the "positive" pee stick being tossed in my lap) and how many cousins our kid will have (four). My father-in-law, with the help of insider information, I'm sure, was the winner of a Starbucks gift card for getting nine answers correct, out of about 14.

When my wife got home, she arrived with two other cars full of gifts. Apparently it took about two hours, with an intermission to catch her breath, to open all the gifts. There were a few duplicates (and a triplicate) of gifts but it was all sorts of stuff we needed. The nice comfy nursery we had created was literally filled with bags and boxes in minutes. If there was a baby in the room it surely would have been lost or tossed out with the recycling (or returned if there was a gift receipt, har har). The generosity of our friends and family was pretty overwhelming and beyond our wildest expectations. You'd think people were REALLY waiting for this to happen!

Again, we both had such a great time at our respective "showers" that we simply cannot thank everyone enough. I highly recommend doing the double party, as it gives everyone a chance to be involved in the pregnancy/birth that little bit more. Thank you!