We had a party for our baby last weekend. Kind of a baby shower but not really. More of an open house with beer, wine, hors d’ oeuvres, and some origami crane folding, sans baby. The attendees were mostly the same Minneapolis friends who came to our housewarming party last October, so I guess you could call it a baby warming.
The party was hosted by Elizabeth and Trish who, while brunching with us a couple months earlier, convinced us that having this party would provide our friends the opportunity to celebrate the two of us and this new baby who is about to grace our presence. As reluctant as we were at first, we could hardly refuse an offer to let other people plan the party, send out the invitations, make the food, and bring the wine. All we had to do was supply the house.
A thousand cranes, or Senbazuru, are supposed to bring good luck, but we’ll have to settle with whatever forty-some-odd brings us. Our small sea of 
brightly colored paper cranes covers the dining room table. The cats are overjoyed to say the least. We look at the cranes nightly and wonder when we’ll have the energy to string them together and hang them in the baby’s room. That is the plan anyway. And it will be nice when our dining room table becomes an eating surface again.
The party food was particularly exciting for A. Not only was it fabulous, but we lunched on it for days after, and we still have leftover cupcakes with their yummy toasted coconut mop tops tucked away in the freezer in case of an emergency (or early labor).
I think my favorite part was when we all threw the big ball of yarn around the room and tied a little piece of it around our wrists linking us together until the baby is born. It was totally corny, and A told everyone that we wouldn’t friend-break-up with them if they decided to take it off, but I’m still wearing mine.
Mike and I are still wearing ours as well! Hope you two (and the one on the way) are keeping warm!
So cute and fun!!!!!!
If you played that yarn-throwing game it’s totally a baby shower.