Sunday, 01/31/16: 34 weeks 6
days: Ohio Baby Shower weekend!!
Oh my goodness, the
baby is SO loved by SO many! This
afternoon we had a delightful time at the house where I used to live last year
where one of my former housemates and two other good friends from work hosted a baby
shower for Adam and me. From the
delicious food (oh my the chicken salad sandwiches on croissants were sooooo
good…I definitely need the recipe…and I couldn’t stop drinking the punch that
had *I think* Sprite or 7Up mixed with cranberry juice...mmm!) to the sweet
animal decorations hanging from the rafters to the Noah’s Ark themed evite that
was emailed to my colleagues and parents inviting them to the get together to
the fun games and delectable favors (hot cocoa mix with marshmallows on top
packaged in a way that reminded me of a carrot), every little detail was so
very thoughtfully planned and carried out with great and tremendous love. Adding to the beauty of the afternoon was a
sunny 60 degree day that tried to melt the last remaining amounts of snow from
last weekend and the bonus of some of my family also coming to the shower to
meet my colleagues/co-friends!
(Co-friends are coworkers who are great friends. It’s true.
Ashley (another former roommate from York) and I say so.) ; )
After bidding my
little brother goodbye so he could get on the road to head back to Delaware
(everyone had come in last night around dinner time for a place to crash after
a busy day of purging/cleaning at my Grandma’s house in western PA and to also celebrate my Dad's birthday that evening!), my parents, my older brother, and his wife joined Adam and me as we drove across town to
join the party where we caught up with Aunt Marie and others. It was so sweet seeing the joy through the smiles
and hearing the laughter of all as we spent the next 2.5 hours guessing baby
food flavors through taste, smell, and sight, attempted to guess the number of
M & Ms in a baby bottle, tried to avoid saying the word, “baby”, to try to
hang on to our little pink and blue clothespins for as long as we could, identified
baby animals of common animals (e.g., kangaraoo = joey, monkey = infant, dog =
puppy), and also worked our way through a list of quotes that we had to match
up to popular children’s literature and books.
Adam and I managed to get 13/20 quotes correct and it was fun trying to
match up the correct stories to the quotes.
Mom won one of the games with 6 / 7 baby food flavors identified
correctly (guess the fact that she still enjoys eating some baby food now as an
adult paid off for her!). I correctly guessed
only one number off of the M & Ms in the bottle by writing 88 on the paper
(there were 89)! Oh, there was another
game that involved ice cubes in little cups and lo and behold a teeny tiny
eensy weensy little baby was frozen inside the ice cubes! I wish I would have thought to take a picture of it! The first person to have the baby melt out of
the ice cube was to exclaim, “My water broke!”…..and mine was the first
one…ha! I’m glad that when I said that,
it was just for a game and not really happening..........yet!
Although, as I said at the shower today, with
each passing day, and now that we are in the process of gaining a doula to
accompany us on the kiddo’s birthday, I feel more excited and happy over
finally meeting this little angel than terrified of the birthing/delivery
process. Let’s just hope it stays that
way! Tomorrow will be five weeks until
the due date….we are so in the home stretch now!
The time spent with
such dear friends today was so
special. I loved that some of my family
was able to be introduced to some of my colleagues and friends from school. It was also extra special having Aunt Marie
there since she was unable to attend the Pennsylvania shower due to her
grandson being born two days earlier and that Saturday being the day my cousin,
his wife, and new son were coming home from the hospital. I was glad she was able to join us to help us celebrate and to also get in
some time with her sister (my Mom). The
consensus from the Ohio shower is the prediction that we are having a boy. Guess only time will tell!!!
Adam and I are so
grateful for the opportunity to sit and relax and take it all in at this shower
and love that so many are as excited as we are to meet this little one. I can’t wait to read over the messages again
that folks wrote for us as we go over the memories book that was sent home with
us (along with yummy leftovers, an “It’s a Girl!” and “It’s a Boy!” balloon
that we can reinflate when the time is right and display outside announcing our
news, a vase of tulip bulbs to signify the blooming growth of both baby and
spring being on the horizon, and even some of the napkins that we can use when
guests come over to meet the new baby in the spring…seriously, these gals
thought of everything!!) from the
shower. Many many many thanks to Marita,
Ann, & Katy for taking it upon themselves to shower us with so much love! We are so beyond moved by your generosity and
thoughtfulness!!
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| Our lovely hostesses....and the mini blue/pink clothespins for one of our games! |
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| ~ Dad shared his birthday festivities weekend with his newest grandson or granddaughter. ~ |
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| The green reminded me of shamrocks! The cake was so delicious...light, airy, and yummy in our tummies! |
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| Mmm! I'm getting hungry just staring at this picture. ; ) |
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| How adorable are these blueberry hearts?! |
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| Adam hard at work putting the pack and play together as the dogs "supervised". |
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| Ta-da! We ended up moving it to another wall but there it is in all its glory! |
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| The baby memory book that Ann started filling in for us already and other favors from the shower bring a smile to our faces. Thanks again to everyone who was a part of it!! |
