In December, I began emailing my mother in law and Erika’s mom to start the planning. I have always been a little OCD when it comes to plans and making sure it all works out. I figured the earlier I began, I could switch it up or change things as needed. She would send me stuff she was thinking about with the baby and I would make a mental note of themes or things that she said. She had no clue I was collecting information. At week 21 she found out she would be having a little girl! YAY!
I consulted with the mom’s and got their opinions then went to hard core planning. Anyone who knows Erika knows that she feels that she needs to know all. HEHE. So when she asked when her shower would be held I gave her the date 2 weeks after I was really going to throw it. She was satisfied for a while with that. Then her mom told me she began bugging her and believing it was this date or that date depending on stuff that I had said. So I stopped speaking about it, didn’t mention anything about it until the month before. Then I asked her if could go shopping with me for some maternity things and Easter presents for Ava and Emily. She was happy to have a girls day out. I also tried to play it out a little by using my morning sickness as an excuse and saying that I hadn’t done much to prepare and would probably need to buy a few items for her shower with her there. She said that would be fine and she was super excited for her shower. She was ready to get things for her baby girl then to know what she and her husband Kelly would need to purchase to finish getting ready.
The BIG day finally came. I left Ava with Kenny and off we went to Hagerstown. Kenny, my wonderful and sweet husband, helped set up tables and chairs and the Mom’s decorated and got the food out. It rained so bad that day and we had to run from store to store. I was so thankful we hadn’t wanted to go to the Prime Outlets because we would probably have been soaked. I kept a watch on the clock and after a few hours of shopping we were heading back home.
I texted Erika’s mom and Tasha and told them we were leaving Hagerstown and would be there in a while. We were a little late of course, the rain and people driving extremely slow. But we got there. Her face lit up and I was yelled at “I knew it, you are soo sneaky”. Well yes, yes I am. LOL
But she had a great time. Everyone loved the games, her newly married cousin Tina helped plan and coordinate the games, and thank goodness for it. I couldn’t have done it with my all day sickness that lasted forever. People won prizes and laughed with each other.
Erika got a ton of stuff, or I should say Brooklyn did. At the end of the day, all the food was gone, the rain was coming down hard, and Erika had a car full of baby gear to take home and put away. I am so happy for her and Kelly. They will be parents in just a few short weeks and their lives will change forever. I cannot wait to see Erika as a mom and see how protective my brother in law becomes over his little girl. It will never be just them two again unless a grandma babysits to give them a little break! LOL