Elrika's Baby Shower

A week ago Thelwyn, Martelize (of course) and I went to the baby shower of Elrika. She has been Thelwyn's friend since they were two years old. Her mother, Elsa, two other friends and I had an "exhange" play group back then. Each of us would get a turn to look after all the children once a fortnight. That meant 3 child free mornings every in return for the "service"! Real life savers for us moms: it meant (inter alia) one could go shopping without towing the toddlers and babies along! I would recommend such an arrangement for any stay at home moms! Elsa, Brenda and I have remained very good friends ever since.

Martelize was as good as gold in the car to Midrand and at the party - that after having had a crying spell all morning. (If only babies could say what was wrong!) Here she is unpacking Thelwyn's bag while we were waiting for Elrika to come down. She did not know about the baby shower: here in South Africa we like to keep it a surprise. Her friend had invited her for a massage and while they were busy upstairs, her mother and other friends quickly set the tables with really delicious goodies. Elrika never suspected a thing - she did not know about the cars that were being parked on the sidewalk while she was being pampered. I thought having the guest of honour in the house beforehand was a very clever idea, because the parked cars can be a dead give away.

Another good idea was to have the tea party before the opening of the presents. That gave Elrika chance to say hello to everyone, and anyone who was in a hurry could leave whenever they wanted. Here is Elrika (the pregnant one obviously) talking to friends. Elrika is expecting baby daughter Janelle in 5 weeks time. We were over the moon when we heard that she was pregnant. They had struggled to fall pregnant for years.

Everyone settling down for the opening of the presents. My friend Elsa in the foreground.

Thelwyn and another very good Kempton Park friend of mine, Rouxlene. Rouxlene was also part of the exchange playgroup at some stage. She was an excellent math's teacher and a real inspiration to my children. She and Elsa now work for her engineer brother. Elsa was also a teacher before. (Rouxlene, by the way, if you are reading this, we hope to be reading your blog soon. Just go to www.blogger.com and create a blog - it's that simple! Even if you don't start a blog, just register, so that you can at least comment and let me know when you have read my blog.)

Another very dear Kempton Park friend, Irmgardt. We come a long way too. Like some of Elsa's and Rouxlene's children, her children were in my "official" (i.e. not exchange) playgroup and she referred many friends to me. I had a playgroup in Van Riebeeckpark for 9 wonderful years - until God sent me to Con Amore, a school for severely mentally handicapped children - but that is another story. As usual, I digress....
Irmgardt and Annemarie visited me just the other day, but we had so much visiting to do, that I completely forgot to take photos. (Sob!)

Another very good idea: Elsa's cake she had made out of nappies.

(Jy is baie kreatief Elsa - dit was 'n heerlike partytjie, so baie dankie vir die uitnodiging. Ons sien saam met julle met groot verwagting uit na die koms van Janelle!)