BABY SHOWER # 4

Finally... everything is coming to a close. Baby shower # 4 is complete and we are now officially ready for baby to come!!!

The shower was a lot of work but thanks to some wonderful people I was able to pull it off!! :)
The day after the shower I slept from 2:00pm untll 9:30pm and was still able to go to bed that night. I was was exhausted.

 It was also a man/woman party which was great!! My brother in law reffered to it as a "Baby - Q" instead of a "BBQ" . lol.

Remember my first post? where my sister in law was pregnant too.... well this is her little guy "Martin" only about a week old.

We played horse shoes... with the old rusty draft horse shoes that we could find. lol.

My brother in law, Scott, who wants to copyright the term "Baby- Q"

This is my little niece "Melody" and Rocky

My two favorite people... my best friend Jessica and my cousin Cara.

This is Jacqlynn and I.. we are only a week apart. I'm actually a week ahead of her but I still think her baby will come first. :)

After the party we had and "after party" with smores. yummmmm

I stayed with a "nesting themed" baby shower...  I was happy with how it turned out.

Birds nest cupcakes

The "party favors" filled with almond joys :)

  

My "choose your team" blue or pink ribbons as well as the "advice tree"

My "advice tree" FILLED with advice.

The Nursery

When deciding NOT to find out the gender of the baby it makes it quite difficult to decorate a nursery. However.... I'm extremely happy with what we came up with so far.

In the beginning...... we had a small but adequate space to work with.



Hank and his manly construction skills





My painting skills :)



Wa-La



BABY SHOWER # 3

My third baby shower, which was in Wyoming, was perfect. Both men and women had a great time and I really enjoyed being able to visit with old friends and family!! The food was great and it was sooo much fun watching the guys play a baby shower game!



"Guess the Chocolate in the Diaper" Game



Fruit Tray!!! Yummy!!

The "Diaper Cake" that my brother "Hal" and Bailey made me! They did an AMAZING job!



A picture of my "undying love" for opening gifts in front of people

 As some of you know.... and some of you can sympathize with me on this, I extremely dislike opening gifts in front of people. It’s NOT that I’m not appreciative; it’s just that it makes me feel greedy and showy when I do it. I was trying REALLY hard to avoid having to open gifts in front of people at any of my baby showers. However, this backfired and I ended up opening gifts at ALL of them so far. (HENCE my mother in the back on the right giggling) At this party I was SOOOO glad to have Bailey there to push me along and make it a better experience. J


Hank and I fulfilling my mother's CREATIVE idea for party favors. Each family got to take home a potted flower. :)



My most WONDERFUL, hopefully soon to be sister in law, Bailey.

Olivia (the youngest guest at the party) and my Mother. I think she is ready to be a Grandma!

My brother brought one of his 4 children (aka dogs) this is Bliss. The other three - Roxi, Loki, and Lilly were playing outside.

Karen- One of the sweetest ladies ever!

BABY SHOWER # 2

This baby shower was fabulous!! It was so nice to get to hang out with some ladies for the afternoon. My mom was even able to make it for this shower at Peggy's house. We had delicious pasta salad, brie with cranberry's, lemonade, and chocolate cake!!!

So many cute items for the baby, as well as a cute little flower pot and picture frame for myself!!! My co-worker Chelsea, who also operates the “Rusty Sparrow”, has the CUTEST ideas and her gift started the ball rolling for my new living room area. I’m having her redo an old chair for me to match the picture frame and flower pot she gave me. In addition to those pieces my mother and I had been thrifting earlier that day and found the perfect desk. It’s kind of like a roll top desk but even better. J

Two shower's down and two to go!!!!

BABY SHOWER # 1

Cake

The baby shower turned out absolutely wonderful!! All my coworkers were fabulous and I got so many GREAT items. I even got a much needed pack n play from several of my colleagues. I definitely feel spoiled rotten.

The cake was delicious as well and it was a great start to my baby shower season!!!

Baby Shower/Annoucement Etiquette

In doing a little research I'm learning all the etiquette when it comes to announcements/invitations. My girlfriend Jessica has been showing me the ropes when it comes to developing/creating/designing baby shower invites. I must say- there is a lot more that goes into it than I thought. Thank GOODNESS I have her around. ;)

Jessica - creative director of baby invitations for shower #4 & baby room mural

What’s so exciting is that I'm actually having 4 baby showers.... your probably thinking "jeez you must be loved or a spoiled brat" .... Let’s hope it's that I'm loved.

As much as I'm excited to have everyone participating and helping me out it has proved rather difficult to fit everything in. As it now stands my weekend are completely booked up until I actually give birth... let’s hope the baby has good timing and can stick to a plan. lol.

My office is having a shower at work on a Friday, and my lovely office coworkers have been SO wonderful to plan this for me!!! The two were Chelsea and Holly, they were amazing!!!!

Office coworkers during halloween!!!
Chelsea, Shayna, Holly, Raquel & Me

My office coworkers (in normal attire)
Chelsea, Holly, Shayna & Raquel

That same weekend I am hoping that my girlfriends and I can ACTUALLY finish painting the baby nursery :) Again- my girlfriend Jessica has been the creative director of this project. She was a saint to volunteer her time to paint a mural for the babies room... I hope she doesn't regret it yet. lol. 



Baby room - BEFORE





Baby room - DURING



grass addition

The following weekend my husband and father are going on a "pig hunt"... I think it's my husband’s way of celebrating. lol. I guess we will be having pork chops when he gets home. On the plus side this means that my mom and I get a mother/daughter weekend to ourselves. We also get to attend shower #2 that a good friend and coworker of mine is having at her house.

Peggy - my baby shower #2 hostess

Weekend after that I get shower #3 in Wyoming at my parent’s house. More or less we are turning it into more of a celebration party instead of a typical baby shower. I'm excited because both men and women are attending and I know it's going to be so much fun. I'm happy to know that we are not playing the typical baby shower games like "lets measure how HUGE we think the pregnant lady is by using yarn"... not that it's a bad game... but I personally DON'T want to be measured.

My mother has been everything a girl could hope for.... she has been amazing at organizing the whole thing and if it turns out like the rest of her parties have then I KNOW it will be a success. She is probably the most outstanding lady I have ever met and I think it's a compliment every time my husband says "you are just like your mother" because I just look at him and say "why thank you".

My wonderful loving mother - Linda



The next weekend is the Memorial Day weekend in which I get to clean/prepare the house for baby delivery as well as pick up any last minute supplies I might need for the baby.  It might seem silly but I’ve actually been using the checklists that those baby websites give you. Being a first time mom I don’t know exactly what to get so having something to follow has actually made me feel more relaxed and reassured that I’m not missing something important. My favorite websites were the bump.com and babycenter.com.



Shower #4 and the FINAL baby shower is happening June 4th, exactly 11 days before my due date. Yes... I know what you are all thinking.... I'm crazy for cutting it so close and hopefully I don't go into labor.

But... it was the only free weekend when I could plan it and have all those I love attend. This shower is also going to be more of a party which includes both men and women and will consist of an afternoon BBQ styled get together with adults only, it is our last hoo-raa to have adult conversations without a child. My girlfriend Jessica has been a COMPLETE saint in this whole process. I have to say that I am incredibly thankful to have her here to get everything together.

Then.... the delivery (if all goes well) will be the following week or so. At which time I'm hoping that I'll have one boy and one girl outfit picked out ready to take my little one home in depending on which we get. :)



I've also pre made all of the baby announcements which only need a picture added and stamps put on so that it makes everything less stressful when trying to keep up with social etiquette as well as announce to the world the new addition to our family!