What To Expect When You’re Expecting was the first book I bought when I found out that I was pregnant with Awesome-A. I had the kindle edition and read it in its entirety during a flight from South Carolina to Hawaii. Reading this book lessened my anxiety about pregnancy and becoming a mother. The What to Expect series has been a staple on my bookshelf ever since. As an ABA therapist/Behavior Specialist I have referenced these books a lot when explaining developmental age to those who worked closely with children and adults with developmental disabilities and Autism.
Well this past Tuesday thanks to the great Delaware USO I got to meet Heidi Murkoff the wonderful author of these awesome books. Heidi Murkoff partnered with the USO and hosted a baby shower for ladies with military affiliation. The USO and Heidi Murkoff present Special Delivery is an event that was first launched in 2013 and I am among 3000+ ladies who can say that I’ve been given a baby shower hosted by Heidi Murkoff. For a military wives who are far away from family this gives them a chance to be celebrated when they would otherwise not have a baby shower. It also allows mothers and mothers-to-be to build their community and support systems. I meet some great ladies today, a couple senators and the CEO of the USO along with his wife. It was an awesome experience.
When we got to the beautifully decorated venue my neighbor who is also with child and I registered, got our raffle tickets and loaded gift bags. The baby shower began with a welcome and introductions. Then it was on to the games. The first game we played was making a guess of how many toilet paper squares it took to go around our own baby bellies. The last game was my favorite. On each table were containers of Play-doh and each table had to make items out of the Play-doh that were related to motherhood, babies and birth. I didn’t walk around to see what other tables made, but my table’s creations were too awesome to not be the absolute best.
Lunch came after the games. The event was catered and the food was decent. I hurt a few complaints about the chicken being bland, but I have “hot sauce in my bag swag”. Some of the event goers were also concerned that there was soft cheese in the salad at an event where the majority of the women were pregnant. I have my own opinions about that that I’ll share in a later post. Overall for me lunch gets 3 out of 5 stars and gets an additional star because I didn’t have to cook it and it was free ninety nine. So hats off to you USO!!!
I didn’t win during the raffle but three ladies who were at my table won including my next-door neighbor who won a Graco travel system. One of my good friends who was sitting at another table also won. After the raffle and a Q & A session with Heidi Murkoff we got to get our new editions from the “What to Expect” series signed by Heidi (We’ve hung out and she’s hosted a baby shower for me so I think we can be on a first name basis now). She was such a joy and was so down to Earth. I’m not sure what I was expecting her to be like, but she was like that baby holding, belly rubbing, truth tellin’ auntie whose advice you always seek and potato salad you never pass up.
The event was great and well put together. I came home with some goodies, new friends and some pretty cool memories I’ll get to share with my children and grandchildren someday. If you’re affiliated with the military and a new mom or pregnant this is one event I advise you to attend.
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