Ooh, Baby I Love Your Way (post 21 of 30)

This blog posting contains the Pennsylvania Baby Shower highlights!  I can't wait to share with you the Ohio Baby Shower highlights from this past weekend soon too.  So much love for this little one...can't wait for his or her debut so he/she can meet all these terrific people in person!

January 10, 2016:  31 weeks 6 days:  Family Baby Shower weekend in Pennsylvania!!

Today we drove back to Ohio after going home for the weekend to attend the baby shower my family planned for us.  Mom, Aunt Maureen, Laura (family friend), and my sisters-in-law on my side of the family put together a beautiful storybook/stuffed animal themed shower.  It was so unique and adorable and such a surprise!  I could tell a lot of love, thought, planning, and details went into coordinating it all and really appreciate and am touched by all the time people spent pulling it off for our little one.  Even my brothers and my Dad were involved through choosing which saying to put on the cake and scoping out the venue before committing to having the shower there.  Apparently the night before, Aunt Maureen and Laura drove down from Boston and spent three hours decorating the hall and also went over early in the morning on the day of the shower to put the finishing touches on it.  The ladies in charge at the hall said they had never seen a shower decorated like ours!!!  Oh my goodness, the storybook/stuffed animal theme was so fantastic and unique!! My personal favorite table was the lion/jungle one but all of them were sooo cute!  If I understand it correctly, each gal chose a theme and brought the items for each of the table decorations.  One of the decorations from one of the tables included the cutest little Converse sneakers and even colorful letter blocks that spelled out “Baby" and our last name.  Aww!!  My parents worked on the Winnie the Pooh table which was the one Adam and I were seated at after we initially mingled with the guests.  The decorations ranged from favors to balloons to stuffed animals, books, and other toys that were later given to us in gift bags as we opened gifts!  As Adam said, we came home with a library AND a petting zoo....LOL!

Prior to Saturday afternoon, I knew nothing about the shower, not even the location, so in the days leading up to it, curiosity got a hold of me and I began asking my parents questions to no avail when Adam and I pulled in at my parents’ home late Thursday night.  The shower was not until early Saturday afternoon so it was nice to have the extra day of Friday to run errands rather than driving in late the night before the shower.  My parents remained tightlipped about the details but did reveal that the shower would be in the neighboring town of Minersville and Dad said I had never been to this place before so I was stumped.  On the morning of the shower, he dropped Mom off and headed back to my hometown so that Adam and I could follow him back to the mysterious location.  When we pulled in at the final destination, Alisha and Mason (my 8 year old niece) excitedly waved to us from the sidewalk.  Adam and I looked up above Mason and Alisha and saw that we were parked in front of a Byzantine Catholic Church…!  When we walked through the doors, Liz, Alisha, Mom, and Mason excitedly hugged us.  Then, we stepped into the hall and were blown away by the people and the decorations.  The first two people I saw were Meredith, a friend from 8^th grade on up who had driven all the way in from Chicago, and a high school teacher of ours Mom had invited!!  I was so surprised to see both of them and got even more excited for the shower by their sweet presence.  Maria and Susie, my cousins who have always been supportive and terrific sources of hope who lived about 45 minutes away or so, traveled to be with us to celebrate as well as some friends of my Mom who came from my hometown.  Two of my Dad’s cousins also attended who were nothing but happy for us and who also loved Adam’s tshirt as they watch EWTN quite a bit and are always on the lookout for my school on that channel.  

Alisha’s mother, sister, and niece as well as Liz’s mother and sister rounded out the other guests.  It was special being able to see old friends Heather, Melanie, and Ashley at the table next to us and we knew Monika was with us in spirit!!  Big hugs to you all and thanks for driving the hour or more you drove to get there!!  

After eating and trying to take in the impressive decorations at each themed table, musical entertainment by Aunt Maureen and Laura were provided as well as some brave volunteers who sang some children’s songs.  Even my niece, Mason Noelle, joined Mom and me for an impromptu rendition of “Five Little Chickadees” that Liz managed to get a small clip of…I would post it here if I could figure out how to do it but I can't.  Oh well!  Laura was excellent on the keyboard as she was able to play anything, even songs she didn’t know before the shower, and had all of us clapping and laughing as we attempted to sing or join in with the songs.

The chocolate cake and peanut butter icing were yummy but I so loved the expression on the top of the cake as well as the theme on the top of it (Noah’s Ark).  How fitting in going along with the stuffed animals theme and the St. Francis (animal lover) theme of the nursery/guest room!  The cake had a single strand of lights as did some of the tables that were actually recycled from the reception so that was a sweet touch.  So dainty and elegant they were!  I also learned that the bakery that provided the cake normally isn’t opened during the first two weeks of January but Liz convinced them to still make us the Noah’s Ark cake.  So the bakery opened up and provided us with the yummy cake in spite of being closed…how neat!

Another activity that was provided for the guests was to get their creative juices flowing by decorating a onesie for the little one!  I can’t wait to dress our little guy or girl in them.  We ended the shower by opening the generous gifts provided by our guests and were overwhelmed by the incredible generosity of all!!  Baby R is so loved by so many already.  How blessed our growing family is to have such caring and thoughtful people in our lives!!!  We received many books we are not familiar with and can’t wait to discover these stories with our baby someday soon!!  There were also some classics and old favorites on the tables.  For me, it was the Poky Little Puppy and for Adam, he really appreciated the Hungry Caterpillar table because that was actually his favorite children's book in preschool and he said he can't wait to read it again now that we have it for our child!  We received a “cake” and a “motorcycle” of diapers/towels/toys/onesies/bibs for the kiddo too…what creative gift givers we had! 

Checking out the motorcycle made of diapers and other toys!

Many thanks to Ash for taking pics with my phone!  ; )

Mason Noelle, my sweet niece, helped with the unwrapping of the gifts.  I can't wait to find out if she will have another girl join the ranks or another boy cousin!

Checking out the Winnie the Pooh books Mason selected for her new cousin!

Can't wait to read this book from Grandma Sue to the little one!!

Winnie the Pooh photo bombing us!  ; )

 

Peek a boo!

 

Before leaving the shower, at the end, Adam and I snuck upstairs to peek into the church.  There were people praying inside so we didn't go in but it looked very peaceful!

Ash getting creative with decorating her onesie!

Ash's diaper cake before I accidentally broke it...LOL!

Dad's cousins

Alisha's sister, Kim, showing off her onesie!

From playing music at our wedding to our baby shower Laura can do it all!

Isn't she the cutest?!

'Nuff said!  ; -)

Love it!

Can't wait to dress the little kiddo in all the colorful unique onesies designed by some of our favorite people! 

We missed you Monika!!  xoxo

So nice to celebrate with Liz's family too!

These were the thank yous I had picked up on a whim on consignment or at the dollar store...how fitting these cards were after seeing the cake!!

Below are some of the leftover favors containing an assortment of candy that were on each of the themed tables.  Cute!!  There was even a PA tourist catalogue laying on one of the tables that had a cover story related to babies on it...go figure!

Humphrey the Elephant....how cute is this stuffed animal from Monika and her Mom?!

Can you guess which one Mason designed?  ; )

In conversations with some of the folks at the shower, it came up that if I had one word or a phrase to describe each trimester, for the first one I would say:  "Curious Wonder" through the sense of wondering what things would be like, surprise over it all, and having lots of questions.  For the second trimester, I would say:  "Anticipation" through the excitement and waiting that began to take over all thoughts but for the third trimester I would say:  "Uncomfortable/Ouch!"  The longer this pregnancy goes, the more uncomfortable it is getting with not being able to sit on a bed or couch in my usual positions, getting 1.5 to 3 hours of sleep a night due to the numb hips, pain in the side/stomach when laying on my side, and constant bathroom breaks.  I really need to invest in a body pillow to try to alleviate some of the discomfort in the night and also let go of the stress in worrying about outfits to wear to work as something that fit last week doesn’t necessarily fit this week.  If I have to wear the same thing over and over then so be it.  At this point, as we turn 32 weeks tomorrow, I am on a day by day basis in terms of pain management and levels.  However, I know with each passing day, that surely will go faster as the semester gets back into gear next week, we are that much closer to meeting our son or daughter!!  Oh what a glorious day or night that will be!!

Something else that came out of this weekend was receiving support from a colleague who is also expecting her first and is due a week before us down in Florida!  We were so excited when we learned we were both expecting around the same time and have been able to trade notes throughout the experience of our journeys.  Michella is a great cheerleader and such an inspiration in terms of positivity in lots of matters not just mommy matters now that we find ourselves in this same boat (she was a huge source of support throughout the PhD journey too!) and I’m so thankful for her presence in my life!!  Through reading her comments (and those of her friends) and statuses I’m encouraged to learn that I’m not the only one who is feeling these things or facing some of the same hurdles especially now in the third trimester.  I have also been learning a lot through a baby blog I have been reading of a mutual friend in North Carolina who is a few weeks ahead of us.  She is due next week actually but it’s been nice being able to compare our journeys through the blog postings as well.  Like I said in an earlier blog posting, I’m trying to keep from googling symptoms and we haven’t read any how-to books or anything like that just yet but through reading Nelle’s blog and talking with Michella here and there in addition to the usual sources of support through leaning into each other, God, our family, and friends, we’re getting by with (a lot of) help from others.

One of the topics my friends and I also talked about at the shower was my apprehension at returning to work due to being off for the holidays between the two semesters and wondering how others were going to react to my changing body.  The moms in the group kind of shook their heads and said no matter what, people are going to say things while others said that I looked great and that I didn’t seem as big as I view myself.  I guess it’s all relative and about perspective!  I have to keep reminding myself of what an honor it is to be this little person’s mother and to embrace all the changes and realize they are most likely temporary and are so worth it to be able to bring a brand new life into this world!!

Mere also shared how toward the end of one of her pregnancies she was put on bed rest.  I also hadn’t realized we would have doctor appointments on a weekly basis toward the end!  Here I thought going every two weeks was extreme!  This time with friends was much needed but way too short!!  I’m so glad that Ash and her boyfriend are going to be coming in for a quick overnight trip at the end of the week so she and I can try to get caught up more as well.

Another comment that was made at the shower was that I was wearing pink and did I know something?!  Nope!  I just figured since I wore a blue top for the pregnancy announcement photo, I may as well wear pink to this shower. Everyone seemed to really like the outfit which consisted of the pink dress I bought on consignment for $5, a ribbon from the dress I wore when I met Adam’s family for the first time, leggings that cost a few bucks from Walmart a few years back, and a textured tan sweater with lacy shoulders from Alicia, my sister-in-law in California who recently had our newest niece in late September.  It was nice receiving so many compliments on an outfit that literally was only a few bucks to put together especially when so many of my clothes are not fitting as I would like them to fit these days!

So, now that I have worn pink and blue in two pregnancy related events thus far…what shall I wear to the Ohio baby shower at the end of the month with my work friends??  ; )

An added bonus to this beautiful afternoon was that Adam felt the baby moving for the first real time that night as we caught the end of the Steelers/Bengals game with my family that night.  I say first real time since he doesn’t recall the first time it happened about a month or so ago when it was super faint.  I can’t wait to see him hold our child!!!  In a way, it’s a bit unfair how the mother gets to have all these up close and personal moments with the kiddo while the daddy is on the outside waiting….but I know Adam is bonding with our child too..just in a different way.  He will be the first to see our baby and will be the one to tell me what the gender of the child is too which is something I hadn’t realized until a doctor’s visit!  I had never sat down and thought about how we were going to find out the gender as I had just assumed he and I would find out together but the doctor is right, Adam will be the one to tell me!!  It won’t be long as Heather reminded us yesterday on the way out of the shower that we only have about 56 days or so to go…..!!!

Finally, as Mom, Dad, Adam, and I attended mass Saturday night after the shower concluded and everything was packed up and brought back to the house, I realized that the last time I was at this particular church during the Christmas season was when I attended after a long night of my Dad being in the hospital for the third time during thatparticular Christmas break three years ago.  We sat in the same pew as I did that Sunday morning by myself back then.  I couldn’t help but think of how different life is now compared to then.  Back then, I remember the deep loneliness and despair I felt as I worried over Dad’s health and Mom’s well being in taking care of him around the clock.  I remember watching how Liz and her family lovingly tended to Mark’s (and my) needs as they helped us that weekend and how grateful I was for family while also yearning for a family and love like that of my own.  I couldn’t help but marvel at how God does answer our prayers (in His timing) as I sat in this same pew (in spite of our getting to mass late and having to grab the first empty seat we could find), looked upon the same stained glass window of the holy family to my left, caught sight of the Christmas decoration that depicted the Holy Family in the “o” of the word, “Joy”, spelled out on the windowsill over my Dad’s head, and took in the gospel reading of the baptism of the Lord with Mom on my right and Adam sitting to my left as I felt the baby move inside me throughout the mass.  Seeing this random Christmas decoration also reminded me of my thoughts on Chris and Angela Faddis a few years back and my Just Open Yourself (J.O.Y. acronym) from that time period (and what a coincidence I wore hot pink nail polish to the shower this weekend!?).  What a reminder it was to a.)  stay in the moment, b.)  not lose sight of the big picture of growing a human, and c.) to work on continually opening myself and being grateful for everything…even the challenges!  When we scheduled the shower, I hadn’t realized that it would fall on the feast of Jesus’ Baptism.  How neat considering we finalized the baptism date for our child right before making the trip home last week (which happens to fall on the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in July!).  Again, only God could orchestrate such beautiful timing and stories in our lives!!  As the invitation to the shower stated, I can’t wait to see what this next chapter holds for all of us!!