Lisa and Pavel’s FIRST BABY shower!

Sunday November 13, 2011

Our beloved piano teacher, Mr. Pavel and his wife Lisa are expecting their first child at the end of this month. All his piano students and their families happily gathered to celebrate this joyous event with a baby shower. Everyone brought delicacies to share and bore gifts a plenty for the new family.

A boy we are waiting for! How exciting!

Young pianists.

Lisa with the little pianists.

Everyone signed and gave the book “On the Day You Were Born” for the Petrov family.

The children drew pictures and handwrote notes for Mr.Pavel and his wife inside a special guest book.

handmade baby shower guest book from etsy.com

Lisa, her baby still nestled within, close, beneath her heart. Here the lovely mother-to-be is flanked by Akiko and Kaoru.Mr. Pavel was still teaching on the grand Steinway piano inside the sermon room with his last student of the day. The guests were handed papers to fill. What were these papers?Akiko, Chunlei and Mary Anne.

The guests gathered to form a community around the new baby who has yet arrive. The adults and children alike made beautiful wishes and pledges to guide the little baby Petrov in his life.

If you have not filled out one of these beautiful sheets, you can click on the picture above to print a PDF copy. Fill it out and hand over to Mr.Pavel (with a piece of toast or some fresh organic snacks for the maestro) when he is teaching piano ALL DAY LONG in the old church on a Saturday. Tell him to file it for the baby with the other “pledges” in the baby book we gave them.

(If you are hosting a baby shower yourself and want to download a version like the above. Click here to print a free version that does not say “baby Petrov” on it.

• 7 year old Nunu, pledged to guide Little baby Petrov (when he is ready) in gymnastic and ballet.
• Amalia (who is visiting from France) will be baby Petrov’s mentor in life for photography.
• Jzin will be baby Petrov’s “village elder” in the world of doll and puppet making and molecular biology.

Scribbling, scribbling. To win a prize, the guests had to come up with the best names for Lisa and Pavel’s baby. They also have to predict the baby’s personality traits!

“Guess What the Baby Will Be Like?” Game. I asked Lisa to choose what she wished for the baby to resemble in each personality traits (e.g. to drive like mom or to jump rope like dad). Separately, Mr.Pavel had to fill out his personal wishes for the baby (He said he wished the baby to be “romantic like mommy” aaaah! So sweet!). I also asked all the guests to fill in what they think the mommy Lisa would choose. We then shared the parents’ answers with everyone. However, the winner of the game was the person who can match the closest to “mommy”‘s answers!

I created these games sheets for the baby shower at the last minute! Click on the image to view and print a PDF copy if you missed the game and want to check your scores against Lisa’s.

Click here if you wish to print a generic version of the above baby shower game (without Lisa and Pavel’s names) for your next baby shower. Do leave me a note if you use my sheets. It will make me very happy if you do.

Chunlei, Mary Anne, Lisa, Mr. Pavel and Chunlei’s husband. And the “Naming the New Baby game” sheets.

Young Miss Mary Anne taught Nunu piano twice and we love her! So patient and creative with the imageries to help Nunu visualize what is a legato followed by staccato ” a whale jumping out of the ocean in an arc, then makes a clear splash into the water.”

Very patient little guests waiting for dinner to start.

Nicole and Vicky’s families brought enough pizzas for everyone!

The beautiful ambience in the old church that night. The church where Mr. Pavel holds his piano lessons on a Steinway grand piano.The talented gourmet chef in our midst Alena even brought little silver baby strollers to add that special touch to our the banquet table. Everything she touches turn magical and elegant!

Kaoru made delicate flan. Yum…I LIKE!

The Roussanov family brought Peking Roast Duck. Chunlei and family brought chinese stir-fried noodles. Christopher and Jessica’s family brought egg rolls. Kaoru’s flan in the foreground. Alex Kim brought more desserts.

Alena made fresh persimmons salad.  My personal favorite!

Sushi!

The radiant mother-to-be Lisa at the banquet table.

Alena was so busy setting up and decorating, I was barely able to get a photo of her!

Mr. Pavel looking over all the baby names presented for the new baby. Alex, Kenji and Alice looked on.

Mr. Pavel Selecting a winner for the “Naming the New Baby Game”. 

Mr. Pavel was not planning to name his baby “Rachmaninoff”, “Scriabin”, “Travis-Connor”, “Leopold”, “Piano” or “Apple”!

The Winner entry for  “Naming the New Baby Game”  was baby name “PAVLIZO!!!”. Alex, the winner got to choose between 2 prizes. He chose the big mystery prize wrapped in blue slumbering baby teddy bear wrapping paper…”What could his big prize be?”

“This prize is something you will use everyday! This is something everyone needs” Jzin revealed cryptically.

The grand prize: 9 rolls of 2 ply super soft “Angel Soft” toilet paper! Something everyone needs everyday!

The Grand Prize.

Alex was a good sport. He did not mind the joke prize. Later, we took out the real prizes, and he selected a music composition book with young Beethoven on the cover.

We will see what our pianist Alex will compose next in his new music composition notebook.

young Beethoven on the cover of Alex’s piano composition book

Jzin’s tips to new parents: Do you know you do not have to buy and haul toilet paper, diapers, etc from Target or another store to your home? If you buy your diapers online, e.g. Amazon.com for instance, they will ship all your purchases to your home for FREE, no shipping when you spend more than $25 (I tell you no lie, if you buy diapers, it will be more than $25 a pop!) And for friends of parents with children, if you want to save shipping charges when you shop for a single book on amazon.com, get your new parents to buy those books for you when they buy their diapers online. No shipping when you are friendly with diaper shoppers!

There we were, all of us, gathered, brought together by the little one, who was still
“one with his mother”, Lisa. It was a cold night, we were inside the old church, where Mr. Pavel teaches his piano on a Steinway grand piano. Everyone’s hearts was full of loving wishes for the new little guy coming and the new little family who will be transformed by his happy arrival!

As we were wrapping up and ready to leave the party,  a sweet little child threw herself sitting on the floor, exclaiming to her mommy (who was steering her towards the door to go home) “But I want to see the baby!” Lisa stood there with wide eyes, hand on her belly. How cute! The mother had to explain to the little child that the baby in Lisa’s tummy was not ready to come out just yet.

Little children are such blessings. They are the treasures of life. Lisa and Pavel will experience their own bundle of joy soon enough!