Meredith and Ryan's Baby Shower

For the past few weeks, I have been planning and prepping to throw a shower for my dear friends who are due in October with their first baby, a boy. When I found out that Meredith and Ryan were pregnant, I was ecstatic for them! The way they interact with Aiden and Maddie, I just know they are going to be wonderful parents to their sweet baby.

I knew immediately that I wanted to throw a Children's book themed shower for them, which happened to fit perfectly into their nursery scheme which is classic Winnie-the-Pooh. We decided to have all the guests bring a children's book with them as their card and go in on a bigger group gift. Everyone did a great job picking out books and I think Mer and Ryan have a really great start to their library. They also loved the video camera we got for them!

I made all the decorations and food match the book theme and it turned out great! I made burp cloths out of Winnie-the-Pooh and yellow polka dot fabric and used it to secure the diaper cake that I made also. For the menu, I made: green deviled eggs, ham and cheese sandwiches (Green Eggs and Ham), a blueberry salad (Blueberries for Sal), cheese plate (The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales), vegetable platter (The Vegetable Alphabet), fruit platter (James and the Giant Peach), honey BBQ chicken nuggets (Chicken Little), chocolate chip cookies with milk shooters (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie), rainbow goldfish (The Rainbow Fish), and vanilla bean cupcakes with buttercream frosting in the shape of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Here are some pictures:

At one point in the shower, I stopped and looked at everyone who was there and thought about how far we had come and what we've been through together as a group. There have been so many highs that we have celebrated and a few lows that we've leaned on one another for support through. New people have come into the group, and old one's have left, but belonging to this little community is such a privilege. I thought about when we first moved here and how we would go out and party like rock stars as a group, and now we get together and we're swapping babies, telling stories, and leaving parties early to tuck our sweet littles into bed. We don't get together nearly as often as we used to, but the progression has been so nice. And, as we start our 5th year here, it's wonderful to see how much we've grown together as a group. I'm so lucky to have these people to laugh with, learn from, and lean on. And, as Meredith and Ryan start a new chapter in their lives, I feel so lucky to be a part of that with them. Congratulations again, guys! I can't wait to meet the newest addition to our little group, and to your family!