Baby Showers....

... (and wedding showers for that matter) are the bane of my existence.

While I understand that the original intent of baby showers was for women to share wisdom and lessons on the art of becoming a mother, they seem to have turned into a dressed up gift grab.  Let's be honest, a large bulk of the time at these event is spent "oohing and ahhhing" as the mother-to-be opens the gifts that attendees are basically required to bring because let's be honest, you can't show up to a shower empty-handed.

And many times, non-mothers are invited who are expected to bring a gift yet have no practical parenting experience or wisdom to share.  Don't get me wrong, there are some cute outfits out there but realistically, I can only ooh and ahh over so many onesies.

Tomorrow morning will see me at a baby shower in honor of my cousin.  While I'm certainly happy for her as she prepares to welcome her first child, I'm dreading having to spend a Sunday morning / early afternoon faking enthusiasm at this baby shower.

I was planning to politely decline so I could spend my precious weekend time doing something I actually want to do but before I could get my RSVP to my cousin's sister-in-law whose hosting this event, my aunt (my cousin's mother) cornered me at a family birthday dinner to confirm that I'm coming.  And how do I politely tell my aunt that I couldn't care less what toys and onesies her daughter gets?  So of course I'm now stuck having to waste my little free time bored out of my mind.

Here's hoping they have mimosas at this shower so I can at least take the edge off!