baby #2

A couple weekends ago, a couple of my dearest friends threw me the most beautiful baby shower for our second baby. After all the baby shower love we had received when we were expecting Mio, I really didn’t expect any sort of shower or celebration this time around, and I’d even read that it’s bad form to have a baby shower for subsequent babies beyond your first child. But my best friend Debbie insisted that she wanted to plan an intimate get-together on a small scale to celebrate the arrival of baby #2, especially since she wasn’t able to plan one for Mio’s birth (since we were in California at the time). She enlisted the help of one of my other closest friends, Hanna, and together they threw me a truly lovely storybook-themed baby shower! Everything was so beautiful and had so much detail and thought put into it, but at the same time the pace and tone of the shower was really cozy and relaxed, which I loved. Here are some snapshots from the celebration!

Loved the beautiful flowers and storybook display — Beautiful flowers and storybooks as decorations for the shower.

Hanna, who I became close friends with while we were both studying graphic design in college, designed the lovely invitations and the printed decorations/labels for the shower.

Baby shower invitation — Â The front of the folded invitation: I love the detail in it, like “Misono’s Recipes” and “Mio’s Schoolbox” incorporated into the books and boxes of the design.

The inside of the baby shower invitation... Gorgeous! — The inside of the baby shower invitation… Gorgeous!

A lovely bookmark to accompany the invitation.

There was no shortage of delicious food! Both Debbie and Hanna are amazing in the kitchen, and the refreshments and desserts they prepared were both beautiful and mouthwatering…

Very Hungry Caterpillar's Fruit and Cheese — All the food was labeled/named with children’s book references — it was so cute!

Strega Nona's Chicken Alfredo Pasta and Cloudy with a Chance of BBQ Meatballs! — Strega Nona’s Chicken Alfredo Pasta and Cloudy with a Chance of BBQ Meatballs!

Charlie and the Chocolate Green Tea Cupcakes

If You Give a Mouse a Chocolate Chip Cookie with Miso Buttercream Frosting

The dessert table. — The dessert table with the chocolate cupcakes with green tea frosting, and chocolate chip cookies.

Complete with custom designed tags by Hanna! — Debbie is amazing at making homemade jam and preserves. She prepared these jars of orange cranberry preserves with grand marnier for the guests to take home as favors. Hanna designed the tags to match the invitation and the rest of the decor of the shower!

Supplies for onesie and bib crafts! My friends know me so well. This is just the kind of activity I love to do!

Baby shower crafts! — Working on handmade onesies and bibs for the baby.

Elisa's adorable strawberry bib — Elisa’s adorable strawberry bib

Pat and I at my baby shower — With Pat. So glad she could make time to come to the shower, even as a busy mama of two! I have much to learn from her as I prepare for our own second baby.

Hanna, Debbie, and I with our bibs! — Hanna, Debbie, and I with our completed bibs. Loved Hanna’s sushi bib and Debbie’s giraffe bib! So creative. 🙂

After the crafting fun, it was time to open gifts! Dan and I really didn’t need anything this time around, since we already have most of our baby gear and all the baby clothes from Mio (especially since we’re having another girl — the perks of having children of the same gender!), and knowing this, my girlfriends gifted us books for the baby. Such a great idea, since you can never have enough books! I love that we now have so many more books to add to the girls’ library.

Reading everyone's cards — Reading everyone’s thoughtful cards and opening presents.

So many thoughtful gifts! — Thank you everyone for the thoughtful gifts! The ladies also all chipped in to buy me a beautiful baby mobile that I had been looking at on Etsy.

The ladies at the baby shower. — A group picture together. Thank you everyone for coming!

With the beautiful garland that Debbie made! — The beautiful tassel garland that Debbie made! It’s definitely going in the baby’s nursery.

Thank you Debbie and Hanna for a truly lovely baby shower! — Can’t thank these girls enough for all that they do for me!

Thank you Debbie and Hanna for planning and hosting such a beautiful baby shower! I’ll remember it always. Our second baby is so lucky that she got to have such a lovely celebration of her own to welcome her into the world. I’m so blessed to have friends like you in my life, along with all the ladies that attended the shower. (Special thanks to Dan, too, for staying home and watching Mio so that I could have a relaxing time at the party!)

We’re thrilled to announce that we’re expecting our second child, due to arrive in January! Our little family of three is growing into a family of four in the new year.

Mio expresses our feelings exactly about this upcoming big change in our lives…

A lot of times, we're full of excitement and anticipation... — A lot of times, we’re full of excitement and anticipation…

...but there are moments of fear and uncertainty. — …but we are not without those moments of fear and uncertainty.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?! Can we handle this?!" — “What have we gotten ourselves into?! Can we handle this?!”

But yes, for the most part... we're just super excited. — But yes, for the most part… we’re just super excited.

And while Mio may not exactly understand yet how her life is about to drastically change... — And while Mio may not exactly understand yet how her life is about to drastically change…

We can be sure she's going to be an awesome big sister! — …we can be sure she’s going to be an awesome big sister!

It’s been hard keeping it a secret, and while we were trying to keep it to ourselves just a little longer, it’s proved impossible by the fact that my belly’s been getting noticeable a lot earlier this time around (I swear I already look like I’m 5 months along), it’s been difficult to explain my seemingly constant state of nausea and the frequent dashes to the bathroom, and the fact that my mother in her unbridled excitement spilled the news to half the people she talked to at my brother’s wedding this past weekend (“Please be understanding if my oldest daughter pukes during the ceremony… she’s PREGNANT!” Thanks, mom.) Baby #2 certainly hasn’t made it easy for me so far, as I believe my morning sickness is actually worse this time around (while I was nauseous all 9 months while pregnant with Mio, I mostly suffered from gagging and dry heaving, and only actually threw up a handful of times — this time I’ve been losing my dinner almost every night), and being pregnant while taking care of a toddler seems to triple the first trimester exhaustion… but we’re very thankful for this opportunity to be creating a nurturing yet another human life.

We’re very touched and grateful for the support and enthusiasm of everyone as we’ve announced this happy news. I know I say this often, but I feel like I can never stress enough how lucky we are to have all of your in our lives — it’s thanks to you that our family’s lives are so enriched.

A Storybook-Themed Baby Shower â™¥

Our Family’s Growing…