Top Five

On Friday I flew to Providence, RI to co-host a baby shower for one of my bestest friends, Allie. She has been one of my biggest supporters in this adoption and I am so thrilled that we will both (hopefully in my case) become mothers in 2010. A few posts ago I mentioned a craft project I did for her shower and since craft projects are very rare in the Buster household I have to document it. I got the idea from a co-worker. I went to Michaels craft store and picked out some of the cute wooden animals.

I bought magnet tape and put it on the back.

Then I put them in little bags and tied them off with ribbon. Voila! A cute favor.

It was very easy and was a good project for an inexperienced crafter. I was pleased with them. You can also buy the wooden animals unpainted and paint them yourself. I thought that would be a fun project for a kid.

The shower went very well and it was wonderful to see so many people come together to support my friend. It was a co-ed baby shower, which added some good comic relief. I was highly amused listening to the guys "ooh" and ahh" over some of the gifts. They were coached well. Here are some photos from the shower.

The three hostesses and Allie in the grey and black. She looks amazing!

All events are improved by sushi. We ordered this from Whole Foods and it was delish!

The cakes were truly divine. One was an apricot cheesecake and the other was like a tiramisu.

They got some great gifts, including these Bob Marley onesies!

While we were in the planning stages for my friend's shower, I read a blog entry from another friend who is pregnant. At her shower they made her a labor necklace. The necklace can be used as a focal point during labor and symbolizes the women in her life that are supporting her as she makes this transition into a new stage of life. I had heard of something similar on one of my favorite adoption blogs, dandies in the sunshine. I did a little more reading on the subject and decided this would be an empowering experience for my friend. I asked each woman to bring two beads to the shower. Then at the shower each woman placed their beads in a bowl and told Allie a wish they had for her. The wishes included a smooth transition to motherhood, a peaceful labor, many joyous moments, etc. I know Allie was really moved by it and I hope she can harness all that positive energy into the final stages of her pregnancy. The necklace really turned out nicely. Her mother brought several beads and we used those to finish it. Beautiful.

After the shower we were cleaning up and I checked my phone and briefly logged on to Facebook. I saw the very exciting news that the Schmidts, who had been sitting at the top of the unofficial list for either gender, received their referral for a boy!! I am pretty sure I made some sort of squealing noise! Congrats to the Schmidts!! This means that the Busters have finally cracked through to the top 5 for a boy on the unofficial list!! We are #7 for a girl!

In other exciting news, Team Buster is up to $1,110 donated, which means 110 pairs of shoes. Thanks to all for your continued support!