Victoria's Baby Shower

Victoria’s Baby Shower – December 14, 2014

What a celebration we were blessed to have for the coming arrival of our sweet baby Victoria (in January).

Sofia and I decided that the baby shower would be a big blowout and take the place of our Christmas and birthday celebrations for years to come!   Haha.  Really, we were both so excited to celebrate this little life.  And it was neat to do it when all the world was focusing on the coming of baby Jesus.  It made me even more excited for Jesus’ birthday celebration.

We handmade the invitations.  Little pink dresses with tulle tu-tus and some quilling adornments and ribbon.  So pretty.  (and time consuming!)  We cut, pinned, sewed, typed, glued and wrote on each one.  It took a couple of days to get them made, but it was worth it.  Everyone loved getting their invitations!  Sofi hand-delivered them all over town, which took her a few days.

We had some tulle, ribbon, and some donated baby girl shower decorations from my friend in the states.  We just put everything we had together and it all came out beautiful.  We hung some white Christmas icicle lights around the ceiling of the dining room.  (had to use my new staple gun for this project!)  Sofi wanted lots of balloons, so, as much as I HATE balloons, we blew up 100 (because that was how many we had in the bag) and they all started popping due to the heat.  I really HATE balloons, but this was for a good cause, my sweet baby Victoria.

We hired our friend Erika to cook the food.  She came and helped Sofi buy the items in the markets and stores.  Then she came early on Sunday to start cooking on the open fire on the back patio.  We prepared enough for 50 people and had lots of leftovers, that we were able to share.  The food was good and everyone had a great time.

Sofi looked so beautiful in her new dress.  This was probably the biggest celebration in her life, so I wanted her to feel special.  We found a really pretty dress and (after many trips to the stores) found some shoes that she could also wear after her pregnant-feet returned to normal.  We found some pretty earrings and even a couple of hair barrettes to complete the ensemble.  I found a tiny heart necklace in a piece of furniture and gave that to her and it was a special surprise gift from God for the shower.  Sofi had her hair straightened and wore a little bit of makeup.  She felt really beautiful. 

Many friends and some family came to the shower.  We had games that were funny.  She got to open her gifts and she was so thankful for each and every one of them.  We put Victoria’s crib in the center and hung the mosquito net (that we decorated with handmade organza flowers) over it.  The gifts all went into the crib.  It was very pretty.  I asked Sofi why they don’t record who gave which gift here.  She said this way no one knows what each person brought, so no one is embarrassed that they could only buy a bar of baby soap or just a washcloth or barrette, etc.  I thought that was very thoughtful.  No one expected any thank you notes.  Everyone just enjoyed seeing all the gifts.

Another sweet custom is that at the end of the shower, each person comes to the honoree and gives her a blessing.  Then Sofi gave each person a handwrapped party favor to remember Victoria by.  That was neat.

I had baked 6 dozen cupcakes in the toaster oven, 6 at a time.  We used the party cake mix and vanilla icing with sprinkles.  Each cupcake had a plastic baby favor on it.  We had to keep all the cupcakes in the fridge, because they would melt in about 10 minutes.  Timing was everything that day!  I had to wait until the food for the meal was out of the fridge before I could put the cupcakes in.  We were working everywhere in the house at once, but it was fun.

Yamilet was great helping out!  She steps in sometimes and goes way beyond what is asked of her.  She and I filled in for some friends who bailed on the responsibilities of the shower.  We got it done and loved doing it for Sofi.

Since our bi-lingual friend didn’t make it to the shower, I asked our friend James to help translate for me.  However, he doesn’t know many words for baby things, so he wasn’t much help.  I winged most of it with my mediocre Spanish and lots of body language.    It was very entertaining.  (I love the graciousness of these friends who encourage me to keep talking, even when I’m messing up.  The focus was on Sofi and celebrating Victoria, so I didn’t mind looking silly at times.  It adds to the festivities!)

We were very tired at the end of the night.  (baby showers last for hours!!!!)  We went to bed with the promise of cleaning house the next day.  I had told Yamilet to come to work in the afternoon on Monday, instead of first thing in the morning.  She was pleasantly surprised to see how much cleaning we had already done.  By the end of the day, we had everything back to normal.  (we had moved all the living room rocking chairs to the bedrooms and had set up 30 plastic chairs around the living room and dining room.  And had set up serving tables for the food and drinks in the sewing classroom.  Now we know that we can host a lot of people for an event!)

Of course, we kept the white icicle Christmas lights up to enjoy for Christmas.  They really did make everything look magical.  Our theme was pink and white and silver, just perfect for a beautiful princess.

I was so thankful to be a part of this celebration in Sofia’s life.  I’m so glad that God has brought us together as a family.  And I pray every night for baby Victoria to be healthy and happy.  What a wonderful blessing from God!!