The closer we get to our due date the more and more prepared I feel we are at home. Changing table has arrived from IKEA and we got a changing pad recently from Keekaroo as well. Plus after the baby shower so many of the items on our registry got purchased that the only thing left for me to do is mentally prepare for an unmedicated birth. I told Ben not to let me chicken out when the time comes and ask to go to a hospital just cause I want pain meds.
When we took our birthing class the instructor recommended we put together a few items to bring with us to the birthing center (which could also be brought to a stale hospital environment in case of an emergency transfer) so I decided to start working on an inspiration board today. I found some phrases on Pinterest but also drew from my own personal mantras and created some super simple affirmation cards on Canva.
If you want to see all 12 of them you can do so here. I’m no graphic designer but they are simple so you can use them as a template if you click the pen in the bottom left hand corner and change the phrases to fit your own birthing experience!
My boss asked during one of our meetings if I had planned on having a baby shower. I told her no, in Sweden it is not customary, and I’d never even attended one before. So Megan took it upon herself to encourage me to start my baby registry and host a shower for us! I’m so thankful she was willing to plan and host our baby shower with the help of some of my radest colleagues.
Not only were the cookies the CUTEST things ever, I loved the color and Tove’s name on them, but they were also delicious. I got to take home 4 of them and I ate them within 2 days… oops, I would do it again. Megan had 3 different games prepared for us as well, the first was a plastic baby you had to hold in your hand, not pocket, and whoever had the most at the end of the shower won.
The second game was to guess what baby item was in the paper bag. Not to brag but I won cause I got all the items correct- MOM TO BE POINTS! The third was different kinds of chocolate bars melted in diapers and we had to guess what type it was. I did poorly with guessing, needed my chocoholic dad to be there I guess.
After the games the ‘shower’ began and Ben and I got to open presents from all our friends who came. You can see Ben proudly looking and counting his babies at the start of opening presents.
So appreciative of all the useful gifts we received, we felt so loved during opening them. I will say Brit had the Spice Girls onesie custom made for me and Ben already knew about it but actually managed to keep it a secret for MONTHS.
My sweet colleagues had also helped blow up balloons at work and then set up the backdrop for photos! I handed the camera to Sabah and got photos with all our attendees 💕 sweet sweet memories.
Megan, the hostess with the mostest! Not only is she a mom of four kids, but she also runs two businesses. #GirlPower
Me and Michael! He was actually one of the interviewers when I applied for my current position. Now 1.5 years later, I’m his boss 😛 but only technically because I don’t believe he would let anyone be boss over him truly.
Sabah and I, another beloved colleague. Not only is she an immigrant like meeeee but she’s just a badass in the cannabis community as well. Love having her in my corner for support. Plus she’s pretty damn good at buying presents that fit me to a T!
Dream team from work… or as our group text says, Hoe$
Sierra, my assistant manager at work, and I. She’s been a favorite of mine for a while now. Not only is she such a pleasure to work with but I just adore the crap out of her as well. Like I would love to just go on a hike with our pups and drink margs after one of these days! I’m excited for her to get to run the show while I’m away on maternity leave.
Ben, Sierra, I, and Quez
Hannah and her son Avery.
Mady and I
Sweet Kyla. Another mom to help field my millions of questions!
Ben, me, Brit & Tobin. Our first OKC friend couple!
Forever my best friend! Was happy Ito was willing to drive up from Dallas to spend the night before with me and also attend the shower. Plus now my colleagues know I didn’t just make up having a best friend from Canada 😅
The only blood relative we had at the shower was my brother, Rob. Him and his girlfriend, Helena, drove up from Dallas; I felt so bad that they got caught in traffic coming up, making it a 4 hour drive for ~1 hr of the baby shower only to then drive back down. I really wanted Rob to come in person though because Ben and I met through him. My brother invited Ben to celebrate July 4th with Ito and I and here we are 5 years later about to have a baby!! We also asked my brother after the baby shower to be the god father, and he happily said yes 🥰
Happy parents to be.. the second one is when Ben realized our daughter’s due date was a month away.. lol jk JOKESSSSssss
So happy and grateful for those who decided to come celebrate with us! Had a great time and wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
I cannot get over how creative and unique these children’s books are! I was casually scrolling through instagram when I came across The Little Homie and decided to check out more of their books on their website. I immediately wanted to purchase all of them. Thinking about adding one or two to our registry… or maybe I just treat ourselves to reading from the four book pack!
I liked Who Run The World? mostly cause GIRL POWER (of course I want my daughter to be a fearless female) plus my curiosity is wondering who all is in this ABC book. Also how fun of a spin on the traditional ABC book isn’t this?
I immediately thought of my Pappa when I saw the ABC⚡️DC version of the traditional ABC book. He’s a fan of ACDC and rock music but then when I was looking at the page views Tina Turner popped up; Dad’s favorite fearless female singer. So now I feel like I have to have this book for him to read to his first grandchild. 🤗
1 2 3 with the Notorious B.I.G. is a BRILLIANT take on numbers. I could totally see Ben reading this to our daughter in between rapping his favorite songs to her 😂 . As a matter of fact I feel like this book would make me start replacing lullabies with other nighttime tunes. She’s already been listening to hella different genres in the womb through me. Ben didn’t seem too impressed when I told him we’d listened to Young Jeezy Thug Motivation, Lil Wayne The Carter III, and Kanye West Graduation albums in the car to and from work recently.
Honestly I think I would want the entire collection of the Raised On Hip-Hop series. It would be too hard for me to pick just one out of the three they have. The pages above are en excerpt from Vol. 1. I’m starting to think I want these books for myself, and not for my child… oop.
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If you’re expecting or attending a baby shower soon, I feel like these are GREAT gifts to give or buy for yourself. I mean if I’m enjoying the book I have to read over and over again to my child then maybe it won’t feel like a chore.
At first I didn’t want to do a baby registry at all. Mostly because it feels SO WEIRD to me to be like “hey I need these expensive things, now purchase them for me. K thx!” However when I needed to put together a list of items to buy before she gets here it became pretty evident to me that a baby registry was a two birds one stone kinda thing. I get to keep track of what all is left, AND those who want to celebrate this beautiful new life with us also get to join in on the giving!
I decided to use Babylist because it let me add items from all over the web, instead of just picking from a set list of items some registries sell. Babylist also gives you options for adding cash funds or favors! We chose to go with the parental leave fund, since I will be taking 2 months off from work, but will be unpaid. There’s also a diaper fund option which is legit. There were great options such as a meal train, offers to do chores, and some other ones buuuuuut since we’re in Oklahoma and don’t have many people around up here I didn’t think those were feasible.
Feel free to take a peek. I’m sure there’s a lot of things that seem like they are missing, but we aren’t doing a nursery until we’ve moved later this summer/fall so decor and whatnot is on our back burners. I STRUGGLED with choosing the travel set, mostly because of car seat safety but also the colors of the babybjörn and the changing pad.. probably over thinking it.
Pinksaint 