Baby, Baby, Baby!

Some of the ladies at the shower: on sofa left to right: niece-in-law Rachel, my mom (they're looking at pictures),
niece Katie, sister-in-law Heidi, sister Yvonne, and Osayo's great-aunt Maria Sophia visiting from Ecuador.

It was a gorgeous day for a baby shower!  The horrendous humidity we've been suffered under most of the summer in union with high temperatures, unrelenting scorching sun and no breezes abated this morning.  I could finally turn off my central air conditioning - and Goddess I have never been more thankful that I have it than this summer!  But now the windows are wide open, there is a brisk breeze, the temperature is about 82 degrees F, and the dew point has dropped from 73 to 54!  Wonderful! 

My niece-in-law, Osayo, married to my nephew Ken, the oldest son of my sister Deborah, is due in about six weeks.  She looks fabulous, darlings!  (Photo - Osayo looking splendid in acquamarine blue.  The cake - one of two - is shaped like a baby booty.  I'm not the best photographer, it's kind of dark.  I was too lazy to try and "fix" the photo with one of those programs I have that I do not understand, exactly, how to operate, I just uploaded it through the whiz thingy I use that transfers pictures from the little card to the computer.  All the stuff piled along the wall is gifts for the baby, not including gift cards and cash.  I contributed my share; I spent a pleasant hour yesterday shopping online and picked out some of the cutest little baby outfits I ever did see.  I just love shopping for little girl things and now I'm going to have another great-niece to spoil :)  The young lady on the left is Jackie, one of Osayo's nieces.  You can see out the dining room window what a gorgeous day it is!)

It's just amazing how much technology has advanced in regard to giving moms all kinds of information on the unborn baby, including its gender (a girl, so I did not get to do my Shaman Jan act with the pencil suspended from a string to predict the sex of the baby), approximate conception date, approximate delivery date, and even how much the baby weighs before it is born! 

This is sister Deb's first grandchild and she and the great-grandmas-to-be went all out.  What a haul of gifts - I swear the girl won't have to buy a stitch of clothing until she hits puberty :)

Ah, baby showers.  Bridal showers, too.  Women-bonding rituals.  I imagine they originated back in the times when hunter-gatherer culture first began and the women were left to tend, mend, cook, sew, reap, harvest, trap animals and fish, oh - and tame dogs and horses for later use by the male hunters - and keep the family legends straight.  We heard some good ones today, let me tell you - NOT!  They are for family ears only :)