The Baby Shower

Andino’s family threw a baby shower for me on Saturday. His Mom has been talking about it for months and his Aunts helped out with the cooking and planning. This is the first granddaughter for his parents (third for mine!) and their first grandchild in over 15 years. Unfortunately I didn’t get many photos because I was feeling quite overwhelmed with the whole experience, but I did snap these after most of the guests had left:

Andino’s Mom on the left and his Aunt on the right – the party planners!

 

Andino’s sister is on the right, which makes the other two girls my nieces. Weird because we are the same age! The girl in the orange shirt is one of my best friends and will be our support person during the delivery.

My best friend who I also call my sister. She’s from back home but lives in the prairies now with her boyfriend (hopefully soon to be husband!)

p.s. I am only 5’4″ I’m but the tallest person in all these photos!

The cake that was beautiful, but didn’t get eaten because there were cachitos & chilenitos which are chilean desserts that are DELICIOSO

 

cachitos & chilenitos – pastries filled with caramel!

 

I didn’t expect to be so overwhelmed by the baby shower. I’ve been to plenty of baby showers over the years and they are all basically the same – women get together, eat, chat a bit and the guest of honour opens gifts. No big deal. Well, it is a lot different when you are the guest of honour. I don’t know if I felt so nervous because of everything we’ve been through to get to this point or if it is because it is nerve-wracking to have 30+ people watch you open gifts for an hour. I was sweating and nervous-smiling and very self-concious the whole time. I am definitely a shy person when it comes to social situations like this. I can give public presentations no problem, but put me in a room with a lot of people and expect me to be outgoing & friendly to everyone and I seize up. I remember when I was in Mozambique I went to a meeting with representatives from various government offices and NGOs and I was put on the spot to stand up and speak (in Portuguese) about the project I was working on. I got nervous, but it was nothing compared to my nerves on Saturday. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my best friends and husband are all very outgoing, friendly people who excel in social situations. I always rely on them to be the chatty ones while I sit back and smile/watch. The night before my shower I woke up at 3:30 am and couldn’t fall back asleep. I was thinking about the shower but I didn’t realize I was so anxious until the next night (after my shower) when I also woke up at 3:30 am and had to get up to read my book because I still hadn’t fallen back asleep by 5:00 am. I couldn’t turn my mind off and stop wondering if I had been friendly enough, if I thanked people enough, if people had a good time, if they could tell how anxious I was and if so did my anxiety ruin it? I can honestly say that today (Monday) is the first day I feel back to normal again.

I was touched that so many people showed up to celebrate us. Andino and I have been very open about our challenges on our path to parenthood, so everyone in that room knew what a big day it was for me. What a long time it was coming. Every single gift I opened was so thoughtful and beautiful I was overcome by emotion. Andino’s family in Chile sent gifts too, and his favourite Aunt sent us the favours. A couple of my friends weren’t able to make it to the shower so we are planning to get together this weekend for lunch. My Mom said that I was probably overwhelmed because I realized that so many people were thinking about us not just on that day, but in the days leading up to it when they were picking out the gifts for baby girl, writing the cards and making food to bring.  I’m sure I was anxious for a variety of reasons but overall it was a very special day.

One thing is for sure, this baby girl has people all over North & South America who love her already!