Every Thursday afternoon I host a playgroup for a group of mom friends.  It has been great through these long winter months to have this group of mothers and their little ones come over for play, snacks, tea, gossip and complete chaos. Quite amazingly, all six of these moms who I invite for Thursday, are all pregnant with their second baby. Crazy right? Now I’m the only one left spiking my coffee during playdates.

One friend, Heather is due any day now and after her there should be a new baby born every month through August. Needless to say my house is going to be WAY too small for this playgroup come next winter.

I wanted to throw some kind of baby shower to celebrate these awesome moms, and celebrate their first borns who will soon be welcoming a younger sibling into the family. When you are pregnant for the first time there is so much excitement, attention and gifts lavished upon you. But, often with your second baby (and I can only imagine every child thereafter), all of the excitement and attention tends to die down. Often, there’s no baby shower at all. And that’s okay, but I believe it is important to remember that a second-time mom is still going through everything they did the first time around, except this time they are WAY more tired from chasing around the first child.

In lieu of one of our regular Thursday playdates, I decided to organize a small baby shower to celebrate these second time mamas. Thursdays are always total chaos at my house, but I wanted the moms to feel a little pampered (if that’s at all possible). So, I arranged for the wonderful Erin Petrie of The Westboro Beauty Room to come to my house and give manicures to all of the moms. Erin is a talented esthetician who runs a lovely business out of her home in Westboro. She does great work and you can bring your kids along because she has a kids play room connected to her spa set-up. I bring my kids when I use her services and they play right next door, and love it. So check her out!

Erin got herself set up in a corner of my living room and Rowan quickly took advantage of the fact the guests had not yet arrived to the baby shower. She asked for one foot painted purple, the other pink. That’s how she rolls.

For the baby shower, I put together a little snack spread of scones, fruit, veggies, cookies and s’more cups…some of which not-so-mysteriously kept disappearing.

Seriously, keeping my kids away from the food table was the toughest part of preparing this baby shower. I also pushed our furniture out to the sides of the room to try and make some more space for all of the kids!

I had my own Pinterest moment and tried to do some crafting for the party. These crowns basically lasted for one or two photos and then it was into the recycling for them. Typical.

Amanda and her daughter Harper were the first to arrive, so Amanda got to be the first mom in Erin’s beauty chair.

I bought a bunch of plain white newborn onesies and some fabric pens so the kids could decorate one for their new brother/sister. It was a cute activity – super easy and it gave the moms something to take home from the baby shower.

It was so lovely to do something special for this group of moms. I don’t have any family here in Ottawa, so mom friends like these six women and the many other moms I have met through fitness and kids programs, have truly become my “village”. That village is about to get that much bigger with six new babies on the way. I can’t wait to meet (and cuddle) them all.