Welcome to the World – a Zero Birthday Party…

So it is Wednesday and Party Day on the Se7en blog, but we are away on Spring Break so it has to be short and sweet in between escapades into mudlarking:

So I thought I would write about a party we have, oh about every other year: How to welcome a fresh baby into the family kind of a party… Now I should mention that all our babies are born at home amidst the passage of life, so everyone is milling around and eager for some action.

This certainly calls for a celebration… Not least of all because the mother person is no longer pregnant.

In the last couple of weeks before a baby is born, during that frantic nesting season, when I find myself unable to sleep nights unless the house is absolutely spotless. Just in case: tonight’s the night, no task can be left undone. Just in case this is the night that I will call the midwife – you know visitors at two in the morning are quite an alarming thought at the best of times. Actually I have never ever had a baby at two in the morning – perish the thought. But during this feverish waiting time: I make copious amounts of waffles that I pop into the freezer.

Eventually, after what feels like years of waiting, a new little Hood arrives. A number of siblings are super excited and so is the mother person, and just in case you didn’t pick this up before, not least because she is no longer pregnant.

Now there is always a slight pause in our life, the lull between the birth and the onslaught of visitors… we throw A Welcome Party: Waffle Feast! Here’s how in the parties se7en steps:

• Step 1: Themes and Invitations. This is easy, it’s a brand new baby party and strictly family are invited.
• Step 2: Arrival and Gifts. All the older siblings bring sweet offerings of flowers and hurried artworks – they haven’t had nine months to prepare.
• Step 3: Party Games. There are a number of mad hatter antics occurring, the father person is usually in some sort of post traumatic stress stupor, the mother person is and I know I have mentioned this before, elated she is no longer pregnant, the newborn oblivious and the Hoods madly happy and insanely bouncy.
• Step 4: Party Craft. Well we usually whip up some Baby Window Cookies.
• Step 5: Pinata. Don’t be mad, I have just had a baby and I haven’t had nine months to prepare!
• Step 6: Food Well let’s not state the obvious, we have a freezer full of waffles, fling them in the oven to warm up, add some ice-cream, syrup and cinnamon sugar and my family thinks I am some sort of hero…
• Step 7: Treasure Hunt and Go Home. Luckily we are already at home and now we have a new little treasure to admire – no need to go hunting.

That’s it the party is over and a memory has been made. It is one of our happiest moments and really worth the effort. The great thing is that this party usually settles the Hoods down on a day that is filled with excitement: a new baby, the father person is now home on leave and did I mention the mother person is no longer pregnant!!!

P.S. I might mention that even though I have been pregnant for a number of years of my life – I really don’t enjoy being pregnant. I don’t glow and blossom, none of that… I really just wait for the great reward! And I so love the reward!!! They are definitely worth the wait!!!