I haven’t had a chance to get a pedicure or paint my toe nails, so for the first time in a very long time, I have “naked toes.”   Morgan sees them this morning and asks “what’s wrong with your toes Mommy?”  My response was I didn’t have nail polish on them and asked “what do you think?”.  His reply “yuck. I like your toes with sauce.”

I used to dread attending baby showers.   To me, it was one long, boring endeavor with the first half playing silly games I didn’t have a chance of winning and the second half watching the mom-to-be opening what seemed to be an endless pile of cutesy baby gifts.  I’d leave the shower exhausted, bored, hungry and thankful to have escaped. 

Now, I get excited when I hear a good friend, a relative, a co-worker or even an acquaintance is expecting a baby.  I start thinking, what would make the perfect gift?   Can I give something that will be both useful and stand-out as a cool present?  Who is throwing the baby shower and what can I do to help?  And I even anticipate attending the shower, playing the games, and watching the mom-to-be open all the useful and adorable gifts. 

What changed?  Did baby shower’s change with the times or did I?  Most likely it was me, when baby fever hit and at the same time I was asked to co-host a shower for one of my many sister-in-laws.  Focusing on party planning was fun, but the biggest change was with my attitude – I found I really could celebrate a new baby and truly appreciate the joy a baby brings to everyone.

I’ve co-hosted several baby showers now and realize the baby shower party has changed over time too.  Oh, you still have the silly games and usually have a good 45 minutes of gift opening, but the games and gift giving rituals seemed to have evolved a bit.  I’m noticing fewer “let’s embarrass the mom-to-be and the guest type games” (when did identifying mystery diaper contents ever seem like a good idea?) and a larger variety of fun, useful and heartfelt gifts for baby.  I’ve taken note of new trends (baby showers hosted at the spa, ah!).

So, am I the only one out there that had a drastic change of heart?  Do many people still dread baby showers?

Thanks for visiting by blog!  My current passion, besides my husband Michael and my two year old son Morgan, is baby showers.  Now, you may think that is odd, but I have a lot of family and friends who have been and are busy making babies.  The purpose of a baby shower is to celebrate and welcome a new baby and to help the expectant parents.   To me, it is a joyous occasion and I get to be creative and shop too!   

I like to think of myself as a bit creative.  At least I can pretend to be artistic.  I am fair with my camera, I love to scrapbook, crochet, draw and paint.  When I co-hosted my sister-in-law’s baby shower last year, I tried out a new craft and made a baby shower diaper cake as a party centerpiece and a pretty, practical gift.  I really had fun too and I received a ton of great feedback (oohs, ahhs and cool!)   As an added bonus, the diapers I used to make the cake were very much appreciated and used after my neice was born.

Since then, I have made several baby shower diaper cakes and have started to more fully research baby showers, how to host the parties, be a good guest and give great presents.  I am still in the process of learning and thought this would be a good place to start sharing.