My very first Baby Shower

Before my own baby shower I had never been to a baby shower. In Finland this American tradition has been raising its head only during the past year or two.

I was really happy to get to know that my mother-in-law was planning to throw one for me. I would get to experience the baby shower at its origins in the true American style.

Side note: I personally prefer to call "mom", when ever suitable. As mother-in-law has distancing clang to my ears and I consider her as my American mom. Same goes to the rest of the family...my father-in-law is my American dad, sister-in-law I refer to as sis and brother-in-law as bro. They have welcomed me with open arms and hearts...to me they are my family here and not just "in-laws".

The tradition in US goes back to Victorian times but apparently has been in fashion nation wide since 1950's. Some things have changed between now and then. It used to be only for women and nowadays mixed showers are organized as well, including the men to the joyful celebration.

I know from the family video clips that my American family were hosting mixed baby shower already in the 1970's, total trend setters and ahead of time :)

I like the mixed baby shower concept, as it can be tough at times for the father-to-be to feel to be part of the pregnancy...since the baby is in the bump and not visible. This way the father-to-be gets to share the joy and take actively part to the preparation of the baby's arrival.

So, how was the baby shower? It was lot of fun and I really enjoyed the event.
After having spent few days in the hospital by myself that week and having gotten the order for couch/bed rest, it felt nice to be among people and just have fun. We had the extended family in town for the cousin's event and some friends of ours joining.

Mom had prepared everything tip-top, as always. She has inherited from Nana the skill of organizing parties and hosting them perfectly. The buffet style menu was nice mixture of Nordic and American style with, among many others, variety of dip vegetables, meatballs, lots of cheese and smoked salmon.

After everyone had filled their belly with food and drinks, time to laugh...we had the game "who knows the Mom-to-be / Dad-to-be best" and with our gang goofy answers were not spared :) It was easy, engaging and fun way to share some additional info with friends and family. Not to forget the laughter we got from the very creative answers.

The presents were mixture of items from our baby shower list and those, which our family & friends wanted us to have. As per the custom they were placed on the present table and opened by me & my husband at the end of the baby shower, one by one. This way sharing the joy of giving and receiving with everyone. Nice way to also show appreciation to all, who participated.

One of my friends, who lives in NYC and is fantastic & happy mother of a baby boy, bit over one years now. She has given me great tips and advices on the journey becoming a mother in US. So, I knew to create a baby shower register in Amazon.

Why Amazon? It is not limited to certain store's products and you can easily find variety of things, including enough simple items for low costs but also the ones, which are necessities but where it would be great help to the parents-to-be to get support in purchasing those.

Having gone through the experience as mother-to-be, I can only say that baby shower should not be seen only as "just another excuse to materialize everything" but it is good to keep in mind that it is one of the best way to take off some of the burden from the parents-to-be and help them to get some of the items needed/wanted for the new family member. Also nice way to give family and friends the chance to be part of the new comer's life in very concrete ways. To me the presents from baby shower make even more difference in daily life than e.g. wedding gifts. Because everything we received, which we are truly thankful for, is for a very important purpose and going to be part of the daily life after little Sisu is there.

I also like it that one is nowadays able to put the list together. There is lot of stuff....which you don't need and getting the hang of that is best done through a friend, who can advice (like in my case, my friend walking me through her baby shower list) or browsing the baby shower lists from others. Most of all using common sense, which can be tough sometimes when one is pregnant :)

Our baby shower was in the building my American parents live, where the facilities are great! We had the party room for this purpose and all guests were pampered with variety of drinks from the bar, one room further. After the official part of the baby shower was done, we moved outside to the pool. My role stayed in lying down in the cabana's shadows & socializing. While rest of the crew could enjoy the pool side fun and drinks from the pool bar.

It was a lovely day! Nice to spend time with family and friends. Thankful for their participation in preparing for our little Sisu's arrival.

As stated earlier, a very much needed injection of joy after few days in hospital and having, apart from my husband's & American parents visits, mostly just the doctors / nurses to talk to. I am so thankful to have such loving family around me, who all participated in making it happen. My sis and bro (this is how I like to call my sister-in-law & brother-in-law) were actively helping with the preparation. Also my bro is known for his photographic skills, thus he was the designated photograph. Dad was...as always taking care that everyone had drinks and fun :)