Flashback! Jessie's Baby Shower

Going to April's bridal shower yesterday reminded me of another shower for a special lady I know. In late April, about a week after I returned from Europe, Rachel and I threw a baby shower for my BFF, Jessie. We went for an afternoon tea theme, sophisticated and super-girly. It was a bit of a challenge because Jess was not only pregnant, but is also diabetic. So no alcohol, no caffeine, very little sugar; those things were obvious, but there were some other things I never would have dreamed of. Non-pasteurized cheeses, agave nectar, way more herbal teas than you'd think, even cold cuts and cured meat! The cake was a real puzzle. Turns out there's just no good way to substitute sugar for a pregnant diabetic. Artificial sweeteners are no good, and agave could hurt the baby. Palm sugar, coconut sugar, and their ilk are still sugar. What's a girl to do?

A little careful label-reading and a Google search or two sorted it all out. There's plenty of safe teas and pasteurized cheeses. We decided to forgo the charcuterie for plentyof veggies and fruit. Then there were the scones with clotted cream, lemon curd, strawberry jam, or marmalade. Those were not low sugar. Neither was the cake. Turns out just a little sugar is ok for special occasions :)

I love a chance to get out my dishes!

The tea station

A little champers for the un-pregnant!

Post-grazing

Cake!

We had a couple activities besides eating. Jake and Rachel made up a cute little "Guess the Baby Daddy" game. In case this sounds distasteful to you, understand that the choices were between the baby's actual father, Indiana Jones, Cookie Monster, and various other fictional characters. We each got a dossier of a potential daddy, and had to describe him, make him sound like the best choice, but not reveal his identity. Jessie had to pick the one that sounded like the most desirable candidate. She, of course, correctly identified Drew, and picked him, but for the sake of fun, we had her choose a runner up. I'm happy to say, she chose my candidate, Nathan Drake: video game hero and inspiration for the baby's middle name. Go me.

My favorite thing (besides eating) was decorating onesies. I bought a bunch of different onesies and some fabric paint, and had everyone personalize their own. I was so happy with the results!

Before

During. There's me!

After! My favorite one is Alyssa's at the top right. I did the two in the top left. I was going to write "Ahoy Motherf*#ker, but I decided maybe that was in bad taste.

Mommy-to-be

I did a really bad job at taking pictures, so thank goodness for Liz, who took some of these (the good ones!). 

We Skyped with Jessie's mom while she opened her presents, which was fun. It was a little buggy with my semi-dysfunctional laptop, but I was glad she got to be there for part of the festivities anyway. My mom was actually there in person, coincidentally. I was really happy with how it turned out. I'm ready to throw another one. Who's next?