Baby Hertzog! (And his mama...)

On Saturday, my mom and I threw a shower up in Bellingham for my big sister, Lani. She's expecting a baby boy (my first nephew!!!!) due September 22nd. It was a joy to plan an event just for her. I hope she felt spoiled as a momma-to-be should! Lani loves Lavender-flavored ice cream so I started with that as a base and built the rest of the shower around it. We chose blue and yellow as the colors and our food themes incorporated lots of fresh herbs (lavender of course, among others) and lemons. Doesn't Lani look great!? Can you believe she's 33 weeks pregnant?

I prepared a sit down meal for the guests which was quite fun for me. The menu included:

Lavender Lemonade (pictured below), Sugar Free Lavender Lemonade, Plain Lemonade & Water

Chilled Yellow Pepper Soup with Chives and a homemade wheat roll with Herbed Lavender Butter (pictured above)

Lemon Oregano Chicken served with a Mixed Green Salad with Pistachio Encrusted Goat Cheese

Homemade Lavender Ice Cream (both regular and reduced sugar) along with Coconut Macaroons (regular and sugar free)

Poor Lani was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and I really wanted her to be able to eat everything at her own shower so I did my best to create sugar free options to go with their sugar-filled counterparts. Big kudos to Lani! She's been the perfect patient and has worked incredibly hard to keep her blood sugar in good control for that sweet baby boy.

Fifteen women in all were present to spoil Lani. Each shared some special motherly wisdom that hopefully will come in handy in the weeks to come.

I think the shower came together beautifully thanks to the huge help of my mom, who did tons to help in the weeks preceding and the weekend of. And big thanks go to Grandpa Wilson for watching Isla during the shower AND doing ALL the dishes! Wow! What a treat! Even my brother Ben helped by lending his muscles to rearrange furniture downstairs so we could host the shower inside since it was RAINING outside. What was I thinking, planning an outdoor shower in August? Silly me. I thought it'd be sunny!

Lani, I love you much and I hope you know how special you are! Can't wait to meet that baby!