Aunt Stephie's Girl Party

We went to MD this past weekend. We did A LOT! One of the events on Saturday was Stephanie's baby shower. I had been telling Vivian for weeks that when we went to Maryland, she and I were going to go to a "girl party" while Wes and Gavin hung out with Grandma and Paxton hung out with GG. Vivi was ecstatic from the get-go. She talked about it frequently and was very excited any time I brought it up.

A couple of days before we went, I made the mistake of calling the party a baby shower. This threw Vivian into a fit about not wanting to wash her hair at the party. It took a lot of explaining for her to believe that there was not going to be a tub or any water at the party.

We left Harrisonburg very early Saturday morning, I dropped off Wes and Gavin at Grandma's house (post about their festivities to come), dropped off Paxton at GG's house, and headed over to the shower. Of course I got lost on the way there and was late, which sucked because I was one of the hosts! Everything was already set up and most of the guests had already arrived by the time I got there (about 30 minutes late), but all was good in the world when I saw Steph glowing in her beautifully beautiful pregnantness.

The shower was nicely decorated in grey, white, navy, and green (which are the colors of baby's nursery), with a candy bar, a milk and cookies bar, and framed artwork and little trinkets for Steph to put in her nursery after the party. Oh yeah, and she got a shit-ton of gifts.

Vivian was an angel. She didn't whine, cry, sass, or talk back once during the entire 4-hour party. And that's not all. Not only did she not misbehave, but she was actually on her absolute best behavior the entire time, being comfortable in a room full of strangers about 5 minutes after we arrived (for the first 20 minutes or so, she only knew me and Stephanie, then she still only knew the two of us, Brandy and April), greeting guests with Steph as they arrived at the front door, helping Steph by bringing her gifts to open, sitting quietly when asked, eating healthy food without being bugged about it, being comfortable with me walking around without her or even leaving the room, talking to people when they spoke to her (i.e. not being shy at all), and generally just charming the pants off everyone at the party. She was incredible. And mature. And not a brat. Did I mention that she did all of this with no nap? Well, she did. I was so proud of her.

Here are a few shots of Vivian being the present helper:

She took this job VERY seriously.

Of course, I made Steph take a photo with every single one of her guests. Here are a few of my favorite shots:

It was an excellent party for an incredible mama-to-be!

And here are a few photos of Vivian I stole from another hostess at the party: