Bow Tie Baby Shower

I've attended and planned plenty of baby showers in my days and I am kind of obsessed with the whole concept of a baby shower. Especially for a first baby, it's just so exciting to think about the massive CHANGE a baby will bring for the soon-to-be mommy. I think back about the end of my pregnancy with Truman and smile because life was on the cusp of changing in the most enormous way, and in the best way imaginable. Something about preparing a friend to become a mom makes my heart happy. Also, I love craft projects so showers are right up my alley.

My friend Kim is the last of my St. Louis friends group to have a baby. She is the one who runs Dino Bebe USA, so obviously she is a hip fashionista more than I will ever be. When she and her husband found out they were having a boy, us St. Louis veteran moms knew we had to throw her a shower for this dapper little dude sure to be the best dressed in the midwest;) The theme of 'bow ties' came to mind after we all searched on Pinterest a bit and the party fell into place after that.

Hannah hosted the shower at her house and she pulled out all of the stops with her sewing machine (makes me want to finally take the plunge!), she taught me how to make the most amazing royal icing cookies (and I'm going to try and teach my Milwaukee friends soon), and everyone else chipped in with food, and decor. I was in charge of a low-key 'game' and making a little album to hold cards that guests filled out, placing their guess for baby's birthday and giving Kim well-wishes. It all turned out SO cute that I just have to share this baby shower with you.

Decorating the cookies using the technique on Annie's Eats:


The most adorable baby boy onesies in the history of ever. Hannah sewed these. Yes, I'm being serious. And no, she doesn't have an Etsy shop but she should!!



My measly, travel-friendly contributions:)


The table set ups were my favorite. Love these spring colors and how it all came together.


Oh, HI Cecelia! And food. And more of the tables.


If there was any doubt, Kim is the most adorable pregnant lady ever. Seriously. It's too much.




Well, she is pretty cute, too---for a baby;)


Guests!


Hostesses!


It was seriously so much fun and I was in shock with weather in the 70s. Cecelia and I almost melted. Poor baby in her sweater dress;)

Other pictures from our St. Louis portion of the trip, heavily revolving around Cecelia and Hannah's two adorable girls. Girls everywhere in STL!!










Cecelia's hand on her hip here is cracking me up.


What a trip. I love babies! I love baby showers! I love crafts! And now that this event is over I can really get going on Cecelia's first birthday projects. Love.

Baby showers #1 and #2

Proof that our weekend was absolutely fabulous: tons of pictures, not a lot of words:)

Baby shower #1: a Friday morning brunch in Jefferson City, held by my Mom's friends back home. I got up early on Friday after we arrived to St. Louis very late on Thursday and drove to JC. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this one but it was so much fun. And who doesn't love egg casserole, fruit salad, and yummy treats like these?


Love all the wrapping papers!


Memaw made the trip up for BOTH showers, so of course we had to grab a 'three generations' shot.


The big hit of this shower? The quilt my mom sewed for the baby! I am absolutely obsessed with it. This is the back:


And this is the front. I helped her select a pattern online and she did the rest. Perfect colors, wonderfully modern, and made with love:) In fact, I am told my very own father helped to meticulously cut these strips of fabric but don't tell anyone.



I drove back to St. Louis Friday night, and on Saturday my girlfriends threw me their shower. It was so 'Julia' it was practically dripping with my style. Loose leaf tea, lemonade, coffee, and all desserts.....I was in heaven of course. Just look at those handmade tablecloths Hannah sewed!




And don't even get me started on the plethora of sweets. How did they know I could live off a sugar block for the rest of my life?




All of the bright colors were gorge, and mimic my nursery for sure.


Adorable!


And these little banners made by Maggie will definitely go up on our door once baby boy arrives. Too cute!


Yours truly with an insane amount of loot. Again, the pretty papers make me happy.


After a few games, lots of chatting, and opening enough gifts to make me teary I forced everyone to take a group photo. Surprisingly, nobody even batted an eye because I'm sure they expected this request from me:) When I count it up, these guests span five different states and at least 6 or 7 different cities. I love these girls!


The hostess with the mostess (and the cutest 7 week old ever).


And remember at Hannah's shower how we did a belly shot like this? Well now we have an extra pregnant lady (Hi, Kristen!) and the weeks are a bit different. It goes from being a mommy of a 7 weeker, to 32 weeks, to 23 weeks, to 16 weeks. Who's next, ladies?


All four of my shower hosts.


And my family (mom, me, Memaw, Aunt Beth, and my cousin Amy). We are pretty short and don't look anything alike, right?


And later that night at dinner with Keri and Allison!


So driving back with all of our loot was highly entertaining.


And unpacking it, although it was already consolidated into very few bags, made me feel overwhelmed by everyone's generosity.




I mean, just look at all of the 'odds and ends', for instance.


And because we've started a family tradition by placing Henry in all of the baby's gifts (ie the crib, the car seat, etc) we had to try it out with our new Bumbo. I think he hated it a lot.

So yeah, there are no words for how loved we feel right now. I'm slowly organizing the nursery and am getting started on my thank you cards but I'm still letting the whole weekend sink into my thick skull. We are extremely blessed, for sure. And the next time we cross into Missouri territory we'll have a brand new baby with us. How crazy is that?

babies and leaves

I flew to STL on Friday for Hannah's baby shower. Maybe I haven't mentioned this enough but Hannah is my bestie. We roomed together in college since our freshman year, mere baby 18 year olds, and lived together until I got hitched and moved up to the Great Artic. Needless to say, we've been through an obscene amount of life changes together, we've shared in our good moments and in our yucky ones. We've laughed our butts off until our faces hurt, we've sobbed the ugly cries, and we've shared parts of our engagements together. But sharing in our first pregnancies together has probably been one of the most fun times we've had, even though most of our discussions take place with lengthy emails. (And note, I say 'one of the most fun times' because really....can we ever top our famous college shenanigans? I think not).

So of course, when Hannah announced she was with child I immediately started to envision the baby shower I'd throw her. I mean, I threw her a bridal shower and bachelorette party but a baby shower? It's so different! Enlisting the help of some mighty fine ladies down in MO, we went to work planning the big day for Halloween....or when Hannah is 35 weeks along. And can I just say that the shower was a success and SO much fun?

Here is the lady of the hour, pregnant glow and all:


And of course, I had to figure out a way to do arts and crafts ahead of time and pack them in my carry on bag for the plane. These paper pennants made the trip just fine! And now I totally want to do something like this for our nursery:




Every baby shower needs a diaper cake, right?


And how about a newborn baby, just one month old, attending the shower to give us pregnant ladies a taste of baby life?


See what I mean? Out of 13 guests, four of us were knocked up. Maggie is 12 weeks, I'm 21 weeks (and holy hell, my belly is huge in this picture...I must have been sticking it out to compete with Hannah's!), Amanda is 33 weeks, and Hannah is 35 weeks. Aren't we cute?


Hannah got a creative photography gift from me, for the nursery. Three frames with pictures of baby block letters and tiny animal figurines in each one. They spell out 'Baby' 'baby's name' 'baby's last name' and I think she really liked them! I mean, she did sort of ask me to take 3 photos for the baby's room and we brainstormed together, so it's not like it was a total surprise. But what a fun project!


Hannah and I with our moms....about to be Grandmas for the first time! Needless to say, they are way more excited for this stage in our lives versus the one where we moved off to college. Yeah, that was a little less fun for them:)



And after the shower, Lindsey (who had the shower at her house as the newest newlywed with lots of fun kitchen supplies to use!) asked me to take some pics of fall colors for their back room. She's going with reds and oranges in there and wanted a few prints to hang on the wall. She didn't have to ask me twice...since I have been a slacker and haven't taken any pics of fall leaves up here, I needed my autumn fix anyway.









So all in all, a great weekend. Next time we are back in STL it will be driving through to my parent's house in mid-Missouri for Christmas. Hannah will be a mommy and I will be 7 months pregnant. SO WEIRD!! Where is the time going?