Babies, Booties, Blankets, and Bibs

My sweet friends, Cynthia, Emily, Melissa, and Jessica, graciously offered to host a baby shower for me two weeks ago. It was such a beautiful day and I am thankful for all of my family and friends who were able to attend.

The shower was at Emily's house, conveniently located right next door, so there were no travel snafus to deal with. I arrived a few minutes early to be able to visit with the hostesses and take a few pictures before the party got underway. (Unfortunately, Jessica and her mother, Kathie, weren't able to be there due to the fact that Jessica's bridesmaids' luncheon was scheduled for the same time.)

The flowers were beautiful and the food was delicious!

Cynthia, Me, Melissa, and Emily

Mom and Me

(I hope I'm just like her--in all ways--when I grow up!)

Mom and Cynthia

(C and I have known each other since we were 2, so she's like a sister to me.)

Jackie and her sister Judy

(So glad they were both here for the celebration!)

Julie, Haley, and Tyler

Melissa and Jane

Tricia, MAV, Kelly, and Nan

Members of the HC--Suzanne, Mom, and Marion

(Tish and her daughter, Amanda, were there too, but somehow we failed to get a picture of them.)

Sue graciously agreed to be my scribe as I opened the gifts.

Thanks to all my wonderful friends and family, I received so many wonderful gifts, I can't possibly chronicle them all on this blog. Suffice it to say that I am so pleased to have baby clothes, bedding, and a multitude of other things ready and waiting for LE's arrival and extremely thankful to everyone.

I do have to share a picture of one very special gift. Before I was born, Gran, my mother's mother, announced that my silver pattern was going to be Chantilly, because she intended for me to inherit her silver pattern. Suffice it to say, LE's Bamma (my mother) "announced" through her gift that LE's silver pattern will be Chantilly as well. I love family traditions!

A Whole New Kind Of "Uncomfortable"

Even though this picture was taken about three months ago, I like looking at the little one rolled into a ball. I have to remind myself that this is just a temporary situation--for around 8 more weeks, to be precise--particularly when I have someone's "booty" pressed up against my ribs causing me to be extremely uncomfortable and inhibiting my breathing! I am REALLY looking forward to meeting her all too soon!

New Year and New Chapter

Today, Ken and I spent most of the day cleaning up around the house...particularly in the baby's room! Up until today, as we acquired more furniture, diapers, clothes and other sundry items, we simply put (read: "piled") them along the walls. I decided that today was the day to not only start a new year, but also to begin organizing things a little better than they were.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, Ken painted the walls and the ceiling. He wanted to use blue as the main color with pink and brown accents. He tried to describe to me what it would look like when he was finished, but I was having trouble following his line of thinking. He promised me that it would look good when he finished and, if I didn't like it, he would repaint it. I learned early on in our marriage to trust his instincts when it comes to paint, so I let him go ahead. It turned out beautifully, as you can see below. Shortly after he finished painting, he put together the bed, changing table, glider, and ottoman and placed them according to my instructions.

Today, I set Ken about the task of moving the boxes of diapers we've collected into the closet and then cleaning out the area under the sink for more "baby appropriate" items, like lotions and bath washes. I "issued orders," as Ken so lovingly puts it, and began to organize the clothes we have received. We had two pictures that we acquired while we were in Walt Disney World back in 2001 and I wanted to have them hanging on the walls so it didn't look quite so bare. One of them is a lithograph of Thumper from Bambi and the other is a Monet-type poster of Tigger, Eyore, Piglet, and Pooh in the Hundred Acre Woods.

I know that there is still a whole bunch we have to do to get ready, but I feel better that we've begun. I can't believe that today is the first day of 2012 and that this little one will be here in about two months! We have so much to be thankful for and to look forward to this year as we begin this new chapter of our lives.

Glider and Changing Table

Bed