You’d think for your second baby there is less excitement but I’ve actually found that there is more. Its because (and i’m sorry I’m a broken record) with your second you know the extreme happiness you really get from a child and you want more of it. With the first I remember thinking this better be worth it and for this second little one, I simpleknow it is. Everything is more doable, with less unknowns. I still don’t love being pregnant, but I’m thinking about the family and everytime I get pouty about being pregnant I just think … I‘m merely weeks away from our family being complete.And that, folks is VERY exciting.
But sure, in a way there is less attention and focus on the second baby (which will probably turn out to be a pattern their entire life which KILLS ME and every single mom out there with more than one kid).
We decided to have a little ‘Sprinkle’ which is a second baby shower. GET IT? Sprinkle.Now this isn’t something you have to have yourself or a party you need to throw for someone, its more just an option if you need an excuse to socialize and celebrate. I typically don’t need an excuse but I will ALWAYS take one. I was chatting about it on my weekly call with Target and they perked up and offered to throw it, which I realize isn’t typical, but saying ‘no’ seemed very silly and saying ‘yes’ sounded VERY FUN. Besides my mother-in laws friends threw the first one, my friends threw the second one, so it was really nice to have people just be able to show up this time. Speaking of friends …
I’ve been very anti-social this time around, hanging out mainly with my friends who have kids during the day on the weekends. I really went off the grid. I lost all motivation to go out on the weeknights or make big weekend plans because I can’t really hang late night, I get tired early, I get annoyed really easily and I have to wake up early with Charlie. Small dinner parties, casual bbq’s, daytime flea market or spa-time with girls is the most social time I can muster. Which is kinda fine for me, but I’m excited for the old Emily to be back in a few months and to grab girls night dinner on a random Tuesday again.
Back to the Sprinkle – I needed a night with friends and this was a VERY good excuse to hang out with them and their kids, do some fun family-friendly crafts, drink some delicious drinks (both with and without the good stuff) and eat tiny burgers.
Caravents, Target and I came up with a general art direction – soft watercolors and nature-oriented activities in the light pink and green ‘Sprinkle’ theme (inspired by my/her nursery design).
We threw together this mood board real quick for color and feel, although we decided not to do the flower crowns because well, there were guys at the party so we decided it might be a bit much for them.
We ended up doing other activities, but its the same general feel. Let’s get into it:
A DIY baby watercolor station. We did this with Charlie (except it was puff paints and patches) and he did end up wearing a lot of the best ones (and we hoarded and mostly made fun of the REALLY bad ones). The colors were chosen to work together so that it was hard to mess up and they used acrylic paints, then mixed with water to help it spread.
They were strung up for people to show off their skills (while they dried :))
Instead of the flower crown I suggested terrariums which I had done at a friend’s baby shower. The symbolism is sweet and again, they are kinda hard to mess up. We did air plants because its less mess (no dirt) with rocks and moss.
This was the biggest hit here, probably because people got to keep them.
This was moments before little Charlie decided to ‘dribble’ 2 of those glass ‘balls’. It was a very exciting crash that terrified him but added some drama to the party (lesson learned there ;))
That’s Charlie’s best friend (which happens to be my best friend’s daughter) and she has elbow patches on her chambray dress. It kills me.
Check this out – magic ink that doesn’t take paint so you can write secret messages and then paint over them.
This was VERY popular with the kids because magic is endlessly fun no matter what you say.
A lot of people just watercolored on paper, which turned out so beautiful and guess what – I get to keep all of those and frame the ones I love for her room. So pretty, so inexpensive and so special.
Lastly the polaroid guest book is something that I will hoard forever and ever. I’m a big sentamentalist (I don’t know if that is an actual word, but someone who can make anything into a sentimental occasion and documents practically anything as if its the most special thing that has ever happened). I have boxes of journals from growing up that I read and reread constantly. I even saved EVERY SINGLE paper that I wrote in high school and college. But strangely I don’t think we had a guest book at our wedding and its not something I thought I would miss, but had we done this I would TREASURE it.
It’s pretty self explanatory – it’s a scrap book with photos and a quick message to us; well wishes, warnings, etc 🙂
I love how Ginny and Brady hashtagged #dreamteam on there. They know what is about to happen – they were here two years ago when I had Charlie. They carried the company for a while as I was slipping away every two hours, nursing and cuddling that first baby. I didn’t really get my mojo back til around 5 months last time which you can read about that here. But I think that we are way more set up for success this time since I’ve been through it and I know how my post-baby brain works (or doesn’t).
Normally I’m not one that cares so much about food at parties, but when pregnant I CARE. RoomForty did the catering and it was delicious. Mini burgers, fried Chicken sandwhiches, sweet potato fries, nachos and an Ice cream bar. All requests of mine because its basically all I care about – meat, carbs, things you can dip in ketchup and ice cream. I don’t know HOW I didn’t gain 70 pounds in this pregnancy.
For the drinks they made a delicious whisky or gin concoction for my friends and a delicious hibiscus ginger soda situation for me … and Charlie.
Despite the large effort that went into it, we wanted it to feel small so it was just 40 of our closest friends that dropped in over the three hours.
Celebrating baby #2 with baby #1 did feel very special. We are in the throes of getting him prepped for what is happening – which I can write a whole post on if you guys are interested. Our doula gave us a 2 hour class on the little tips and tricks we can do to make help promote love and curb jealousy and some of them were so simple and yet SO SMART. It’s already working.
The Fig House was of course the perfect venue – colorful, happy and big enough for the kids to run around and play (without fear of streets).
It was our last harrah before this little girl comes, and it was certainly celebratory.
Not very often does the nations favorite retailer throw you an intimate party – so thank you, VERY MUCH Target. It gave me a huge distraction from work which has been such a huge focus lately, prepping for the big wind down soon.
We sprinkled at 36 weeks which was cutting it close, but it was certainly something to look forward to. Also using ‘sprinkled’ as a verb is very fun and hilarious.
If you want to check out a bunch of my new registry picks and see my new diaper bag, go HERE. If you want to see other photos from the event check out the StyleMePretty post.
***Photography by the always lovely Tessa Nuestadt andKatie Edwards for Caravents.
P.S. It was literally 95 degrees that night which meant that I had to do a total outfit swap minutes before the party as I didn’t predict that it would be 95 in late September AT NIGHT. These uncomfortable and yet REALLY FLATTERINGskinny pants didn’t get to come out to play. Thanks, Danielle for doing my hair and makeup, sorry that my face and hair were ruined immediately by sweat 🙂
Black/white striped shirt|Pink Asymetrical Crop Sweatshirt| White Maternity Shorts| Wedges
See my first baby shower here, my second one here and the DIY’s from the second one here.And here’s a Texan Outback themed shower that I helped throw for my friend.
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