TWO Baby Showers . . . Showered with Double the Love!

Well, I warned you that it would take me a while to catch up on blog entries, but I'm getting to them slowly but surely :-)  It's literally been the busiest month of my entire five year career, and I've been working almost 80 hour weeks for several weeks!  Add that to all the "baby" stuff we've had to do over the past few months, and I'm sure you'll understand exactly why it's taken me this long to get to the blog :-)  I'm getting there, so that's all that matters!


So, about 5 weeks ago, when I was 32 weeks pregnant, our families threw us two wonderful baby showers!  The first was on the evening of Saturday, May 21st and was hosted by Vikas's family.  Several family members traveled into town just to join us for the shower.  It was great to have them there with us for such a special day! The shower had a blue and brown theme, which was super cute!  The flower seed favors that said "A Baby Boy is Blooming" were particularly sweet :-)


In addition to a few fun baby shower games, we did the traditional Hindu religious ceremony to bless us with a healthy baby.  The ceremony was performed primarily between our sister-in-law (Vikas's brother's wife), Neha, and me, but also involved two younger members of Vikas's family.  Significantly, I wore the sari that my mother-in-law gave to me and covered my head with during our wedding ceremony.  I had never worn it before and may never get the chance again.  It's usually reserved for special occasions--this certainly qualified :-)  The bulk of the ceremony involved Neha and I trading a silk cloth filled with items symbolizing good fortune, such as a coconut, certain silver coins and betel nuts, back and forth between the palavs of our saris.  Basically, the ceremony symbolizes filling the "lap" of the pregnant woman with abundance and luck.  After that, Vikas's "little brother" and I exchange light "slaps" across the face!  I'm not sure exactly what this part of the ceremony is about, but it sure was fun!  From what I understand, the beautiful bracelet that was then put on my right wrist by Vikas's "little sister" is supposed to protect me and LP from evil spirits. Throughout the whole ceremony, the family and friends in the background sang traditional festive songs.


Our culture and religion is full of rich and meaningful traditions, and I have to say, I absolutely love that.  Now that I'm pregnant, it is more important to me than ever to learn all of these traditions so that I can pass them on to our children.  I better get on that soon :-)  The shower was great, and we very much appreciate all the generous gifts that we received, and, of course, all of the hard work that everyone put into the shower!Here are some pictures from our first shower:

I'm a lucky girl to have TWO incredible moms!  Hopefully, I'll  follow in their footsteps
and be just as good a Mom to LP as they have been to Vikas and me!

Then, the next day, my mom and sister hosted a beautiful shower for us at PF Chang's!   As you might imagine, this shower had a "little peanut" theme . . . completely fitting for our little peanut!  From adorable elephant invitations and favor labels to beautiful centerpieces filled with peanuts and bamboo (to tie in the Asian vibe from PFs), everything was so well planned and organized, and we absolutely loved it!  We're so grateful to my mom, my dad (who spent hours putting the centerpieces together and wrapping the beautiful vase favors), and my sister for all of their generosity and the time and effort that they put into making the shower everything I could dream of. And, of course, I'm so glad that many of my family and friends were able to make it to the shower to help us celebrate the upcoming arrival of our peanut!  A special thank you to my sister and oldest niece, Anjeli, and my good girlfriend, Natalee, and her little boy, Kingstyn, for making the trip from the Carolinas to Michigan to be there for our big day! That means more to us than you could ever imagine. 


In addition to having most of my favorite people there, the day was full of good food and fun!  We had all of our PF Chang's favorites--lettuce wraps, spring rolls, our favorite chicken and veggie dishes, and, best of all, the to-die-for banana spring rolls and coconut-pineapple ice cream!!!!  So yummy!!!  We also played some fun games--guessing how big my belly is (boy does that make a preggo feel good  . . . lol), guessing the number of peanuts in the jar, and, of course, words of advice from guests to the mom-to be.  It was absolutely perfect . . . some of my favorite food ever, great company, games and prizes! Again, we feel blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing and supportive people, and we're so grateful for all of the incredible gifts that we received.  We're definitely ready for LP to arrive (well, at least as far as baby gear goes)!  Here are a few pics from our second shower:

3 preggos!

Missing my mom :-(