Allison's Baby Shower

a few years ago, a young college graduate from virginia applied for a position at my company. we ended up hiring her and long story short, she was/is awesome! okay, i can't make the story short... allison quickly became a friend and i consider her family. i looked forward to her weekly visits just to have dinner or hang out and watch tv with us. she had a really good work/life balance and she enjoyed a good night at home in some sweatpants, watching grey's anatomy. (my kind of girl). she was kind and loving with my kids (and they love miss allie right back), and she loved our duke dog (she was our go-to doggie sitter when we left town). she threw me a sweet baby sprinkle when i was pregnant with gianna. needless to say, she was a big part of my life. at work and at home. a few years ago, she met her husband, jason and after they married, she moved to bluffton, which brought her closer to me. but, after jason accepted a new position in charleston last summer, they had to make the move to be closer to that job. she came to me for comfort and advice and just to talk when she was going through that. as most of you know, i did the same thing. followed my love to another state, leaving everything that was comfortable for me. but allison had left virginia to come here by herself, so i knew she could do it. and in doing so, i know that she and jason are becoming closer to each other. you really have no other choice when you move somewhere where you know no one. so, as sad as i was to say goodbye, it isn't that far to charleston and in fact, she visits quite a bit (she came down for our yard sale in march).

well, my dear friend is expecting a baby girl in september and our other friend kelly wanted to have a baby shower for her and all of her local hilton head/bluffton friends. she asked if i would help and of course, i was happy to. she deserves to be showered with love and gifts for her baby girl and kelly and i had a blast doing it.

luckily, kelly hosted at her house (which is in my neighborhood and also is the same model as our house!), so i didn't even have to clean! haha

we hung some baby booties and some momma snuggly socks on a clothesline for decoration.

 

in each invitation, we told the guests that if they brought a pack of diapers, they would be entered in the diaper raffle to win a prize.

we had a onesie decorating station so that allison could pick her favorite for another prize.

luckily, kelly's front room is not furnished yet, and so we had a wonderful open space for presents and our onesie decorating and the diapers too. perfect!

allison doesn't always like attention on herself, so we knew that a lot of games that focused on her would not make her feel comfortable, so we tried to have games that could be played throughout the party and that were not bringing all the attention to her. everyone was invited to guess the number of candies in the baby bottle and of course, win a prize! (it was really hard for us not to crack into all those candies while we were setting up, but then we would have to re-count, so we resisted!)

 

 

 

the hostesses and the mama: kelly, allison, me

look at all those gifts! baby suddeth is so blessed!

some of the guests were hard at work decorating their onesies...

and some were really secretive about their designs

allison was surrounded by all the gifts...this might take a while!

 

 

look how beautiful the mama-to-be is!

i wish this picture came out brighter, but you can kind of see this diaper tricycle that our friend, leticia, made for allison. yes, she made it!!!

of course, baby girl needs a bible

all the onesies were decorated and ready to be judged

there was a story behind this blanket, and i don't know the whole story, but apparently, allison really wanted it because it is so super soft and cuddly and her husband ended up getting it for her and sent it with her mom to the shower.

 

as i mentioned before, allison is from virginia, so her mom and sister-in-law made sure that she had the books "good night virginia" and "hello virginia".

this is not all of the people who attended the shower, this is just the group of girls that have/currently worked at hilton head health. what a testament to what a great friend allison is. 1 year after she left the company, all of these employees, past and present, still adore her and want to celebrate her.

and, even if the guests didn't walk away with a prize, they at least got to take a cupcake to go!

i'm so blessed with allison's friendship and i'm so excited to finally meet her baby girl in september!