Bama Baby Shower

Last Saturday (August 16, 2008) I had four wonderful women throw me a baby shower. It was EVERYTHING an expecting mother could ask for. I had friends, family and food! Um, my belly is as big as Robert's Grandmother... The Loot! For as many very cute clothes and much appreciated gift cards I received at my shower in Portland, I received all the stuff from my registry for this one. It was fantastic and I ended up with EVERYTHING that my daughter will need! Of course they played the "how big is the belly game" - using TOILET paper! I think Lisa missed the memo about how I feel about that, but it wasn't ALL that humiliating and I was able to endure it. For the record - 12 - it took 12 sheets of toilet paper to go around my belly. Me, concentrating on opening gifts. My FABULOUS hostesses. From Left to Right - Karin - MIL, Lisa - SIL, ME - how can you miss me?, Tammy - we met riding horses. She just had a baby 3 months ago! and finally Lisa - my "first" friend here in Huntsville. I'm SO sad she lives in Atlanta now! These ladies were WONDERFUL. The spread - it was PHENOMENAL! Reused Diaper cake from the first shower! YUMMY Petit Fours - If you look closely the pink portion is in the shape of baby booties!!!

Portland Baby Shower

My trip to Portland was EXHAUSTING but so much fun. Thursday was a little rough starting - Atlanta Airport basically shut down for 4 hours and I ended up missing my flight and going back home and starting over. Friday mom picked me up from the airport and we bought a few groceries, picked up my friend Erik from the train station and headed home. We probably had about 40 people show up and visit. As you can see everyone had a nice time sitting and relaxing with one another. It was great to see everyone but I think next time I go home, I wouldn't mind just having one on one visits with our friends.

Kids jumping on trampoline Eleanor, Some lady I can't remember, Vicki and Eleanor's Brother Dexter, Harvey, Jeff - sitting, relaxing on the deck

My friend/coworker Erik came down from Seattle to visit. While he was here, he did so much work! It was so appreciated and he ended up "manning the grill". It was funny though, a huge 24 pack of HUGE hot dogs got left out and my mom's two dogs got a hold of them. The next day they had the worst food hangover EVER.

Saturday was BUSY! We dropped Erik off at the train station, then Laurel, Mary and I went to go get pedicures at Spa-La-La in Portland. Afterwards we had lunch at the Old Wives Tale. After lunch Laurel and I hung out and went to some cute consignment shops around Portland. I bought some VERY cute items for our baby girl to wear next year. I can't wait to see her in them!

Later that afternoon, My roommate from college (Meaghan) drove up from Klamath Falls Saturday evening. We ended up going to Rock Creek Tavern . I really missed the beer while I was there :( It was great to catch up with her!

Sunday - My friends Mary and Lauren threw me an awesome baby shower! It was more than I could have ever asked for. Baby Girl received a TON of clothes and in all different sizes so we should be set for a VERY long time. I haven't had a chance to take pictures of some of my favorite items (I will do that in the next few days). Here are a few pictures from the shower.

Laurel made this cute quilt for us! I especially love it because it's made of a soft flannel and it's USABLE - meaning I will be able wash it and lay the baby on it. I love quilts but usually don't see a use for when they are so pretty you can't actually use them.

This picture cracks me up because no one is paying attention...HILARIOUS Becca and I Beaverton Bakery Cupcakes and a cute cute diaper cake!

My belly went on a growth spurt between the time I wen to bed on Friday night and the time I woke up on Saturday.

Mary, Donna, Laurel, Me, Meaghan - the "bouquet" is made of onesies and baby socks

My lovely hostesses Lauren and Mary - Thank you girls so much!!!

See that huge belly? I was 28 weeks!

This is such a great picture of Mike and his daughter Grace. This is Lauren's hubby and baby. This is why we bought the Nikon - I LOVE this picture! Everyone enjoying themselves

After the shower we went to my mom's friend's house to visit a while. Their dog Libby likes to smile - but only at people she likes - apparently she REALLY likes Becca!
On Monday I got to FINALLY see my friend LaRina and her new baby girl Samantha. She's such a sweet sweet baby. I think this is the first time ever that my hair is actually longer than LaRina's! WOW!!! I really like this picture. It makes my hair look like I spent hours with a curling iron but this is all "natural" - with the exception of a quick flat iron to my bangs. I love my hair dresser!!! My mom is SOOOOOO ready to be a grandma!!! She put Samantha to sleep immediately and she slept in our arms for nearly 2 hours!

Easy Mac to the Rescue!

According to the "Nest" - I am 29 weeks today - (28 weeks, 4 days to be exact) and I have been sick. I woke up this morning with a sour stomach, gagged a little and was "ok". I was ok until got to work and ended up puking everything I ate this morning (glass of milk and a nutrigrain bar). And FYI - Sour Stomach + Milk = curdled milk vomit :D So - I ate Easy Mac at 10 am... Lovely - I'm reverting back to my 1st Trimester ways when I ate Easy Mac for breakfast and lived off of cottage cheese. Hey, maybe that means I can convince Robert to get Soft Taco Supremes for dinner tonight!??!! I haven't updated in a while, I promise to update more tonight. But for a sneak preview of my shower... Here is a very cute picture of my sister copping a feel of the baby belly.

Baby Shower Invite #2

This is a quick mockup of a baby shower invitation for a girl. The color scheme is Pink/Brown. I got inspiration from http://www.paper-source.com/ and got the supplies from Hobby Lobby.

Welcome Baby Jackie!

One of my best Huntsville friends, Lisa had a baby last year. She had a precious baby girl named Jackie - and we adore the crap out of that little girl! Dee and I hosted a shower for Lisa. It was a bit of a crazy time in our life, as Robert and I had just closed on our new house TWO days before the shower. The best thing about it, was that I was able to break in our new kitchen. I found out that I was a suprisingly organized and systematic in the way I unpacked. When I was planning my wedding, I decided to attempt to create my own invitations. I think I did a fantastic job (if I do say so myself) and so that experience gave me the courage to try invites again! Lisa had already painted and prepared her nursery in a super cute green/pink theme and thus, it was my invitation inspiration. This is what I came up with for the invites! Poor Lisa, had to help me address them because I was entirely too spacey to do it by myself. AND... One of my favorite CRAZY JOEY (Lisa's (then) 3 year old son) stories that came out of this baby shower event... Lisa and Daniel had just purchased a Wii for their household and so while us women were at the baby shower, oogling over cute dresses and baby crap, the boys were going to stay at home and play the video game. So, Lisa asked Joey, "Joe Joe, do you know what you and Daddy are going to do w/ Uncle Stu while we're at baby Jackie's shower???" Joey smartly replies "go in the baby's room and look around..." Apparently, Lisa had been doing a little too much showing off of the nursery according to Joey. HILARIOUS!