A Perfect Viva Baby Shower

I was completely and utterly surprised when I opened an evite from Amber last month. She is always on top of the latest cool thing to have a party for...Pampered Chef, wall stencils, and well, other things...so I thought she had found some great new invention that I would have to check out. WRONG! It was an invitation for a baby shower in honor of ME, given by my best girlfriends-the Vivas-Amber, Carolyn, Marisa, Leslie and everyone's significant others!

Throughout my pregnancy I had tried to play it cool and act like the fact that I wouldn't have a good ole traditional American baby shower didn't bother me. But the closer I got to my due date, and the more my belly expanded, the sadder I got knowing I would miss out on this right of passage for every new mom-to-be. I tried to act like it was ok that I wouldn't play all the silly games, devour some cake and punch, and basically be the center of attention.

About a week before the shower, a package arrived from Marisa containing napkins, decorations, a CD with a great mix of music, and some little gifts. Little did I know all that was going on behind the scenes. James and Edgar were busy preparing the best chat-Skype vs. Google (Google won hands down). Edgar had been receiving emailed instructions throughout the week from everyone, and he had been busy getting everything ready on this side of the world.

So, this is how it went down (as my nephew Brody would say)...Our Google chat rings, we answer, and there is everyone on the screen with huge smiles on their faces. We started with snack time. Everyone at Amber's house had some great nibbles while Edgar handed me a plate of goodies he had prepared. We then went on to the party phase. We started with the tummy measure game. Amber was the winner, hitting my waist size spot on. I am going to overlook those who guessed my waist to be over five feet around ;) The camera does add 10 pounds! We did a word scramble/unscramble, and we drew a picture of the baby on paper plates while holding them on top of our heads. We then went on to the cake phase. While everyone pigged out on cake-Amber had gotten them a delicious chocolate on chocolate because that's my favorite-James held a baby-daddy-boot-camp for Edgar. He gave him the in's and out's on diaper changing, feeding, and how to get the baby into and out of those baby carrier contraptions. They finished with the diaper race, which I'm proud to say, Edgar won! After cake was gift time! Now this was a very clever idea...since it would be pretty impractical to ship gifts all the way over here, they had emailed Edgar pictures of the gifts they had purchased for us. He printed them out and put them in envelopes for me to open. I really felt like I was opening real gifts! We'll actually receive them when we move back. After gifts, it was entertainment time! Leslie, Carolyn, and Marisa did a hilarious rendition of our new favorite song, "Cheese Enchilada" by Big Smith. If you've never heard it, look it up! Amber and Cade then sang us a few original songs that we can sing to our Little Baby when he is taking a bath.

The end of the shower was upon us and they had saved the best for last. Edgar presented me with a package of Huggies and it was explained by Carolyn that each diaper contained some piece of advice or inspiration that I would discover throughout the use of the diapers. Everyone involved in the shower had emailed Edgar these little nuggets (no pun intended) of love and he had printed them out, cut them into individual pieces and placed one each in a diaper. I don't know why, but this just made me cry so hard. I knew that everyone had worked very hard to put this together, unbeknownst to me, and this just showed the thought that went into each and everything. All combined, they had sent enough tidbits for over 50 diapers!

I tried to express how genuinely happy I was to have been the recipient of such a thoughtful experience, but I was all choked up and couldn't even speak. I just buried my head in Edgar's shoulder and had a good cry (and trust me, when I get started these days, it's hard to stop). And then everyone else did to. I think all I could squeak out was "Thank you so much". I can't tell you how much this meant to me. I really felt like I got to experience the same thing every one else does. It didn't matter that I was in a different country or time zone, I felt like I was right there.

So...just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I get an evite from my sister a few weeks ago, and it seems I get to do it all over again with my family!!! How in the world did I get so lucky in life? I have the best friends, family and husband I could ever ask for. It's not easy being so far away from everyone you love (except for Edgar, of course) during a time as special as this. It just means so much to me that people have taken the time and made the effort to make me feel extra special. I appreciate it all and can't wait to report on virtual shower #2 in the very near future!