Baby Shower in the Biergarten

Best. Baby. Shower. Ever. I highly recommend having a baby shower in a bar. (Notice the real-life, in-use baby bottles on the table):

Saladin and I had our baby shower this past Saturday.  My good friends Michelle, Jacki, and Lois organized everything for us (thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!). Unfortunately,  Lois lives in DC and was snowed in by midday Friday so she didn’t make it in the end.  We were worried that the weather would keep everyone away in NY but we actually got very little snow. 

We really didn't want to have the typical shower where only women are invited,  the mom-to-be sits in a white wicker chair and you make a big production about opening the gifts and then you put the ribbons and bows on a plate or something that the pregnant woman has to eventually wear on her head.

We had the shower in a local beer garden called Der Schwarze Kolner Biergarten ,owned by a Black man who was born in Britain and raised in Germany, from  what I hear.  I think the name translates into Black Owl.  It's only a few blocks away from our apartment.  Anyway, the folks there were great, so accommodating and cool about the fact that we took over more than half of their space.  

The shower was co-ed, casual, and just so much fun (for me anyway).  I saw lots of people I haven’t seen in a while and a couple of folks showed up unexpectedly, such a wonderful surprise.

Our buffet was very West Indian. A Jamaican caterer named Otis put it together.  People raved about the food. We had rasta pasta (well,that's fake West Indian), rice and peas, veggies, baked chicken, jerk chicken, mini Jamaican beef and veggie patties, and cupcakes (chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet). By the way, I am not Jamaican, in case you were wondering.  My family is from Guyana, South America.

Me, Michelle (co-hostess who I've known since college), Tiffany, and Cathy,who completely surprised me by showing up.  She had been living in Australia until last week. NOTE:  Check out my blog post from January 23.  There's a photo of me wearing the same dress just a couple of  weeks ago.  My belly is expanding exponentially:

Dana and Senaka, who came from Philly through heavy snow:

  Jacki (co-hostess) holding Dana's baby, Elie, and Dana's husband, Tal,  to right and Luann to the left:

 Saladin in motion:

 Saladin's aunt, Sarah:

 Nora (a talented novelist in Saladin's writing group), Michelle, and Jacki:

Justin, another writer friend who is moving to Korea in a week, and Saladin:

Justin, Saladin, Elliot (Sarah's husband) and Karim (my friend from church and choir):

Tal and Elie:

 David (co-worker), Bruce (my "boss"), Tom, and Tom's wife, Rachel (another colleague):

A view of the room:

 Eugene from Saladin's writing group:

Me and Jacki: (a fabulous friend I met through church about five years ago):

 Baby shower games.  They were hard!  We had to unscramble words in one and in another, name baby animals.  A baby swan is a cygnet, a baby kangaroo is a joey, and I still don't know what a baby beaver is called.

Jennifer, a former co-worker of mine, working on one of the baby shower games:

Luann. who I've known since high school:

Sarah and Elliot's son (and Saladin's cousin), Akiva, trying to talk me into giving him more toys:

Nancy and her daughter, Caroline:

Nicole, a co-worker:

 Sam (who kept making faces when I tried to take the photo) and his brother, Akiva, who is raising the roof :

Luann, Jacki, Senaka, me, Obitse, and Michelle:

Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died so there were a number of people I didn't get on camera. I think that everyone appreciated that it was  more a regular party than a frou-frou shower.  I was thrilled with the whole thing but more than anything else, I felt grateful that our kids will have all these wonderful people in their lives.