Welcoming parties for my four

Folks get so excited about babies. Before my first son was born, the church women planned a get together to eat food prepared by a missionary from Lebanon. I knew I wouldn’t be going. My oldest stepson had a Cub Scout program that evening. I had to go to the Cub Scout banquet.
My husband told me to go. Puzzled at his insistence I went, ate Lebanese food and listened to the missionary’s tales about living in Lebanon. When she finished the hostess stood up, motioned a couple women out of the room and turned to me. “Joan we have something for you.” The women came back carrying piles of neatly wrapped baby gifts. I opened the presents, thanked everyone and piled them in the car. I wanted to rush home and tell my husband all about it. As I happily reviewed the stash of baby items, I suddenly realized that I had been told to skip the Cub Scout banquet for the women’s supper and the surprise baby shower.
By the time I parked in front of our house, my stepsons had gone to bed. I left the baby gifts in the car and went inside. The father-to-be woke up and asked me about my evening. I told him all about the strange dishes of Lebanese food and the stories the missionary’s wife had told us. “It was fun,” I concluded. “How was the Cub Scout party?” He quickly detailed everything.
As I settled my pregnant self into bed for the night, he finally asked, “did they do anything else?”
“We went home,” I said innocently.
“What! They told me they were going to give you a shower!” he exploded.
“Oh,” I mused. “They did bring out a few gifts towards the end. I guess that would be the stuff filling the back seat of the car.” I grinned to myself as he scurried out to the darkened car to bring in the gifts.
I provided the shower for our next son. I made a layette of kimonos and rompers during the long winter months of waiting for him to arrive.
By the time my husband’s fifth son arrived we were attending a new church. Since it was my first baby at that church, they gave us a small shower featuring “new clothes to grow into.”
Four years later, still at the same church, our daughter arrived and changed the status quo. We were no longer a family of five boys. We had a girl. She slept happily in her infant seat a the neighborhood ladies celebrated her arrival. A few days later, we all loaded in the car to go visit a couple from the church.
When we got there the guys were told to go home. The hostess was holding a surprise baby shower for girls only.
When my husband and sons returned to pick us up afterward, my 6-year-old son looked at me a bit hurt and puzzled, “Mom, why is everyone so excited about us having a girl?”
“I don’t think it is so much that she is a girl, as it is that she is a change. If you all had been girls and she had been a boy, they would have been just as excited because she was a change.”
He nodded wisely and sighed. It’s hard to be 6-years-old in a family with a new baby.