Because we move around a lot, I haven't had the opportunity to attend many of my friends' baby showers. I miss my friends, and I wish I could be a part of their daily lives, meet their kiddos, go out on weekends, etc. So I was really excited to have the opportunity to help plan our office baby shower for my friend, Chandra, who is due with her first baby in June.

Lisa (blue shirt, front left), Jen (flowered shirt, middle front), Lauren (back top left) and I put our heads together and decided that a surprise shower would be a fun way to celebrate Chandra's new baby. We plotted and planned and figured we had it all figured out. It ended up being the absolute most crazy week in the office, so the noon shower was a little bit stressful. The night before the shower, I told Jon that I thought Chandra was still in the dark about it. He said, "Yeah, like YOU can pull off a surprise!"

So Tuesday, I left the office at 10 to pick up some last minute supplies, the cake, etc., and I high tailed it back to the restaurant to set up. Chandra had a lunch meeting with our director as the ploy to get her downstairs to the shower. I hoped that all would go smoothly, that everyone would be on time or early, etc. And I was skeptical about how Joe would get her to go downstairs without being obvious.

Apparently their conversation went something like this:

J: So, where do you want to go?
C: Let's go to the H.G. -- but we have to get there early, because the close when they run out of food.
J: So 11:30 (shower start time) or 11:45.
C: Um.... we have to get there EARLY.
J: So... 11:35?

She was clearly frustrated that he was not understanding the meaning of the word "early!"

So they started downstairs, and he told her, "We need to stop in B first - there's someone in there I want you to meet." When we were told this, we all just knew she'd tell him to go ahead and she'd wait outside! Apparently she did, but he convinced her to come in. And when she did, she saw all of us. The look on her face was priceless -- she clearly had no clue. I didn't care about anything else except that it would be a surprise. And it was! :)

It was a fun way to celebrate new life!

Oh, and I wanted to share the little diaper cake I made for her. I was pleased with how it turned out. I was also surprised at how challenging they are to make. Those little diapers don't really want to stay together!