My first ever baby shower

A week ago I got to experience my first ever baby shower, it also happened to be my own! When I was still living in Finland the whole concept of baby showers did not exist, the same goes for Australia.

Here in Saudi Arabia I am blessed with friends and neighbours that come from loads of different places.  One such lovely friend is Heather, she's originally from Australia but quite a few years ago she crossed "the Ditch" and moved to the US, since the past year or so she lives here in Saudi Arabia. Heather loves throwing a party and what better reason than the arrival of a new baby! When she called me up and offered to throw me a baby shower it seemed that she already had the whole thing pretty much half planned (with thanks to her partner in crime Jenny). All I was asked to do was to pick a date and time and show up at her house accordingly!

Hostess Heather (left) and her assistant/elf Jenny
Värdinnan Heather (till vänster) och hennes assistent Jenny

The party was just great and I was so touched by the fact that Heather and Jenny had gone through all the hard work to arrange it all. I was also completely blown away by the kindness and generosity of everyone. It is hard to imagine that I have known all of these people for only a year, many of them even shorter than that, because in that time this community of expat wives have become a great network of support. I have had countless of offers for ANY type of assistance, I also had one friend offer to be there for the birth in case my husband can't take the heat!!! I feel so blessed to have all these people in my life, it definitely makes living away from your friends and family a whole lot easier!

Heather had even written a poem for the occasion. Something that she said is "nothing much" and "won't make the internet". I told her I'll make sure it makes the WWW by posting it on my blog:

A sweet little baby is soon on it's way.
For Adnan and Susie.
Excitement is building, the nursery is set.
Is it really that long in Australia they met.

So now here in Saudi we sit and we wait.
The news we are sure it will travel.
A new little playmate to play in the sand.
All over the compound called Zamil.

Enjoy every moment, we know that you will.
A baby is such a sweet joy.
But please let us know, soon we hope... we can't wait

                  *
                  *

The mystery of whether a girl or a boy!!!


- Heather Emerson

Since the baby is half Indian Jenny added some cocoa to the icing :)
Lite kakao i glasyren för en halvindisk baby

Reading it now a week later still brings tears to my eyes and I really had to make an effort to hold the tears back many times on the day.

I would like to express a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has there on the day (and also to those that could not be there). My husband and I are extremely grateful for all the gifts that we received and for all the kind words along the way. We have so many reasons to feel truly blessed, alhamdulillah.

A nappy cake, "for emergencies"
En tårta av blöjor, "för nödfall"

 För en vecka sen fick jag för första gången uppleva en "baby shower", en fest för vår baby som är på väg. Det var första gången jag varit med om en fest av dethär slaget eftersom detta koncept inte riktigt existerar i varken Finland eller Australien.


Allt fixades av min vän Heather som älskar allt som har med arrangemang av fester att göra, men i synnerhet en som har med en baby att göra. Med i planeringen hade hon Jenny och allt jag blev ombedd att göra var att välja datumet och klockslaget och infinna mej hemma hos Heather enligt det.


Det var en underbar fest och jag blev väldigt rörd av all omtanke och arbete som hade lagts ner på att fixa festen. Dessutom kan jag inte med ord tacka alla för deras generositet, inte bara när det gäller gåvor utan också för alla erbjudanden om hjälp som vi har fått. En vän har tom. erbjudit sig att komma med på förlossningen om det visar sej att min man inte klarar trycket! Det är svårt att fatta att jag känt dessa människor i ett år, de flesta av dom ännu kortare tid än så.


Heather hade tom skrivit en dikt åt oss, även om hon försökte underskatta det hela genom att kalla den för "ingenting".  Själv blev jag nästan rörd till tårar vid flera tillfällen under festen och både jag och min man känner oss oerhört välsignade för allt som vi har fått ta del av.