A Helpmeet for Him: Baby Shower: Little Women

“...the love, respect, and confidence of my children was the sweetest reward I could receive for my efforts to be the woman I would have them copy.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

As I was walking into the hallway from our bedroom on Saturday morning, Portia swept in, placing a hand on either side of my belly and said, with the lisp of a three-year-old, "Good morning, Celia! Today is your baby shower!"

My sister-in-law, Kayla picked the theme Little Women. Fitting, with the amount of little ladies we've added to our family. She based the meal off of their Christmas feast: oranges, oatmeal stuffed apples, bread, and sausage. Above our schoolroom fireplace she framed silhouettes she had cut of our girls' profiles, and then decorated around with winter berry vibes and plaid ribbon.

Both sides of my family joined together to celebrate Celia Florence with me in an intimate, at-home gathering. Technically, she's still supposed to have a month inside, but I've been having contractions already, so if the past is any indication of the future, I think my body is putting in the work up front so we can meet her long before Valentine's Day.

I'm almost bursting with words about the isolation and caution and emotion I felt this weekend, thinking about how no one will visit Celia in the hospital, every new face she meets will be masked, and six years ago there were one hundred women in a room celebrating Charlotte with expectation. Logically, I can't formulate the sentences into paragraphs, but the heaviness of it still needs to be expressed. They say it takes a village, but for the past couple of years there has been no village.

If you're wondering what a 4th daughter gets, on top of diapers and wipes, here's the round up!