Shower us with Love

I've always thought of traditional baby showers to be so centered at gift-giving. By default, everyone always assuems that baby showers are to welcome the new member to the family.. but by convention, isn't the goal collect things for the baby? -- particularly to help parents get items they may not be able to afford -- Not that I'm complaining. I've learned fairly quickly that we probably should have just gotten a dog. [Just kidding..] I think Mike and I live fairly modestly. Take it from someone who married a guy who swears that NEVER in his lifetime will he ever buy me a COACH purse. And hey, my mother has trained me well to hunt for bargains and go for the SALE racks first. So it's not surprising that we're not the type to turn away second hand clothes or too proud to shop for pre-owned baby gear... let alone turn down a baby shower. So when Mama Mary [ a term I'm amicably bidding my new mother-in-law from this point on because continuously calling my second mom "Mike's Mom" just doesn't seem very fitting ] and Aunt Aggie [ who actually hates being called Aunt ] told us they were throwing us one, we were ecstatic.

Everything screamed Winnie the Pooh, from the streamers to the napkins to the cake. The cake was especially yummy because the baker hand-designed it to match the shower invitations since they couldn't just scan the picture due to some lame copyright issues. Then there was the chocolate fountain... Ever since the wedding, I've had at least 2 other people tell me that they loved the idea so much from the reception that they got their own fondue machine -- which, in its now increasing popularity seems to be getting a lot cheaper and a lot more accessible. Who can resist dipping into a fountain-flowing chocolate anyway?

Mike and I had a blast at the shower, mostly me anyway, since his attention was a little divided between the shower games and watching the Michigan-Ohio State game. I didn't mind so much, as long as he was there oohing and aahing along with me when it came to opening the gifts, which unsurprisingly was the highlight of the afternoon [right next to the very popular mini-chocolate fountain]. I have to admit I was a bit on the timid side, considering I didn't know 90% of the people who were nice enough to come and shower us with baby presents.. but it was really sweet nonetheless being welcomed to the family the way they did. Little Mikey got a lot of clothes.. I can't wait until I can start dressing him up in little tuxes (he's supposed to be in one of my bestfriend's wedding next year) and little Cleveland Brown jerseys. He also got tons of the little necessities -- pacifiers, toys, bottles -- and plenty of decorative stuff for his nursery. Best part of it all was getting to meet Mike's relatives from his mom's side that I hadn't met before. None of them were able to make it to our wedding in California, and it worked out even better for Mike since he hadn't seen the majority of them in a long time either.

After the shower, we met up with some of Mike's friends for a little 'catch up' dinner at Dave & Busters, and harnessed my only worsening bowling skills shortly thereafter. I ended up playing the default designated driver, but I don't mind so much that he helped himself with a couple of beers. Hanging out with his old friends are very few and far inbetween anyway.. and after next week's Thanksgiving weekend trip, we probably won't be seeing much of Ohio for a while at least until after the baby's born.