As Christopher Robin would say "hip hip hooray!"  The day has finally arrived when I can start sharing a little background of all my recent comings and goings.  I didn't want to spoil any surprises at the birthday party or baby showers, so I can now show a little of the behind the scenes action.  Let's start with the baby shower, shall we?  And the obvious starting point has to be the "theme".  There was a time (uh-oh, I'm starting to show my age!) when a baby shower was just...a baby shower.  Invitations were mailed out, people arrived, you served cake and mints and coffee and party nuts, played a few games, oohed and aahed over the sweet little baby gifts, and went home.  That was before the advent of the internet and Pinterest, my friends.  Nowadays?  There are so many amazing and creative suggestions a keystroke away that it can become an EVENT rather quickly!

It's no surprise to any of you that read my blog regularly that I am a reader.  Always have been.  Always will be, so I wanted the baby shower to start my new grandchild off on a literary note.  My library is filled with all the books my children loved when they were little, and I wanted to make sure that a bookcase brimming with lovely children's books awaited this precious new child when he or she enters our world in a few short weeks.

 So I was very fortunate to find a great designer, Jen Leonardini, who designed the invitations, bookplates and assorted paper goods for the party.  You can find her on Etsy at Top That Designs (link here).  Here are a few of her lovely designs we used for the shower, using beloved characters from Dr. Seuss, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Hungry Hungry Caterpillar, Peter Rabbit and last, but certainly not least, Max from Where the Wild Things Are.

Invitation

Request to use a baby book as the gift card

Bookplate

And in true If You Give a Mouse a Cookie fashion, if you ask for books...you will need a bookcase to house them!  I had so much fun painting and decorating the bookshelf I bought thirty years ago for my son's nursery.  It had gone through several transformations over the years (anyone remember the "country pinks and blues" of the 80's?) but it is now a soft green to complement the gray walls of the nursery, and decorated with Pooh and Tigger decals to match the nursery decor.  

Bookcase "before", holding extra tea pots and cookbooks in my solarium

And bookcase à la Winnie the Pooh! (sorry about the poor photo resolution, the light in my dining room makes taking pictures more than a little challenging)

Wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
Whatever I do, he wants to do,
"Where are you going today?" says Pooh ...
"Well, that's very odd 'cos I was too.
Let's go together," says Pooh, says he.
"Let's go together," says Pooh.
"What's twice eleven?" I said to Pooh,
("Twice what?" said Pooh to Me.)
"I think it ought to be twenty two."
"Just what I think myself," said Pooh.
"It wasn't an easy sum to do,
But that's what it is," said Pooh, said he.
"That's what it is," said Pooh. 

"Let's frighten the dragons," I said to Pooh.
"That's right," said Pooh to Me.
"I'm not afraid," I said to Pooh,
And I held his paw and I shouted "Shoo!
Silly old dragons!" ... and off they flew.
"I wasn't afraid," said Pooh, said he,
"I'm never afraid with you." 

So wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
"What would I do?" I said to Pooh,
"If it wasn't for you," and Pooh said ... "True,
It isn't much fun for One, but Two
Can stick together," says Pooh, says he.
"That's how it is," says Pooh.