Shower for the Little Birdie

Oh. My. Goodness!! I'm so behind here, but I'm still in awe over the amazing baby shower that was thrown for Wren and Josh and I! It was almost 2 months ago, yet I am still digesting what an emotional and surreal day it was for us. To think, for going on 4 years, that we may never have the opportunity to have a day devoted to celebrating OUR baby, it still brings tears to my eyes to think that we actually DID get to do it! And we were surrounded by so many women who have been such a great support for us...they've prayed for us, they've been shoulders for me to cry on, they've gotten mad and frustrated with me and for me, they've listened, they've shared their own miracle successes. They were there through the struggle, through the excitement and joy of celebrating Mya, and the subsequent heartbreaking loss that we endured. And they were there to celebrate Wren, our little miracle. I'm still overwhelmed by the love and pure excitement shown for us and for Wren. She's truly one lucky little girl.

So this will be a picture-heavy post, but I can't let one detail go unseen!!

My sister pulled together an all-star planning team. No joke, they had several planning meetings, complete with minutes and projects and WAY TOO MUCH spoiling of me!! So to Shell, Patty, Bub, Wendi and Laura--again, THANK YOU!! It was beyond my wildest vision of how wonderful a baby shower could have been!

Here's a picture of my little throne and Wren's bedroom painting, along with the cute gift table:The food was DEElish!
The little birdie cupcakes were TO DIE FOR! I was so excited that my sister got her friend to make the cupcakes. She is the one who made the cute little drunken mouse cake for my birthday last year, and my mouth still waters thinking about her delicious cakes!!Even Ronnie got in on the planning! Remember that we were living at Ron and Patty's in between houses during this time, and I knew there was a triple-top-secret project going on in Ronnie's garage, but I didn't find out until I walked in that he had actually built a ton of little wren houses for game prizes! They are beyond sweet and such a great addition to the bird theme!Here I am with Bub and Shell, so thankful for them in my life!! They're two very proud aunties, that's for sure!Here's a closeup of Ronnie's wren house:

The "Friend of the Year" award goes to Jessi (right), who flew in especially for my shower all the way from Florida! Jenn is on the left and I'm sad this picture doesn't include Mom Jaye. These three women have taken me into their family and treated me as a sister/daughter and given me so much love in the time I've known them.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful guests: This picture makes me laugh. Everyone was really excited to try to win the bird houses and Denise gave her most dramatic expression of excitement when she won one!
Loved the little clothesline! It's one of my signature baby shower projects and I was so excited that they did it for me!

Here is Daddy unwrapping Wren's Wyoming onesie. Hopefully she'll bring them some luck!!

There should seriously be a law against making a huge pregnant lady turn sideways while all of her non-pregnant friends get to face forward! I'm a giant, but that's okay! From left to right, here are my wonderful, generous, creative hostesses: Wendi, Patty, Laura, Bub and Shell:

And here is the only good picture (aka Josh doesn't have his eyes closed, Christina still looks like a moose!) of the two of us together: Here are some pictures of the aftermath! It was INSANE. Everyone was beyond generous and I think really enjoyed spoiling the heck out of Wren! Like I said before, we were living with Josh's parents at the time, so our gifts took over their bonus room. I tried to be very strategic about unpacking and making sure that I didn't unpack anything until the thank you was written. Needless to say, it looked like Babies R Us exploded in the room! Luckily, I had my thank you's done in about 3 days so it wasn't like this for long!

Once I wrote the thank you, I tried to organize things on the pool table. You can see a bit of the finished product, which was then boxed up, ready and waiting to make it to Wren's house!

Everyone loves to buy baby girl clothes, that's clear!

And they also suggested everyone bring a book for Wren if they wanted. We are SO beyond excited for her book collection. We both love reading so much and we're excited to share that love with Wren. She's certainly off to a great start. Daddy is still reading to her pretty much every night, so having all of these new books really allowed him to expand his horizons! (And it gave me a break from hearing How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? ONE MORE TIME!) :) No, really though, we are so excited to work on her playroom and get her bookshelves together! Like I said, I'm still digesting this day! It was emotional and surreal and we will never ever forget it! I hope I was able to express to everyone who came that though the gifts are fun and they mean a lot, we are most appreciative of the excitement and support that everyone showed. We will forever be grateful for the prayers.

Happy Birthaversary!

On October 10th, we celebrated Ron and Patty's 35th Anniversary along with Patty's 55th Birthday. Ron and Josh worked on the fence all day, but we celebrated with pizza and cake.

Aren't they so cute?! We're beyond lucky to have them. Here's Patty blowing out her candles. If you can believe it, I actually MADE a cake WITH two layers! Granted, it was from a box, but it was a huge accomplishment for me. I didn't burn it and it actually tasted good, so that was a bonus! I wrote "Happy Birthaversary!" on it.
Such a special day for our family because it celebrates our wonderful, sweet caring mom and their marriage, which is such a great example for us.

trying to catch up

I'm going to try to post a few updates this week. I have so much to update on--the house, my baby shower, birthdays, baby prep, all sorts of things! It's funny, you never realize how many people read your blog until you fail to update for months at a time!! Thanks for checking in on us! :) First, just a written update, pics will come soon.

Things are going pretty well for us. We're getting slowly settled into the new house and we're loving it. We got unpacked pretty quickly but we are still working on making it feel nice and homey. We've done some painting, got some curtains for the living room, added a few touches here and there, etc., but we still have a lot of work to do. Lots of small things, really, like hanging pictures, putting the loft/landing area together, etc. But we've certainly been busy little bees.

Josh has been hard at work, with the help of his mom and dad, at putting up a fence. We're so happy to have it! I'm not sure who's happier--the dogs for being able to roam and run, us for not having to put them on a leash several times a day to potty, or Josh and his dad for finally bringing the project to a close! I'll post lots of pictures soon, Josh still has a few things to do, so I will wait until we can get final pictures. It looks so beautiful and we love our backyard!

As for Baby Watch 2010, we are in a bit of a holding pattern!! We're so ready to meet Wren! She seems to be nice and cozy and I don't think she's planning on coming for another week or two. I've been at 80% effaced and dilated a cm for 2 weeks now. The doctor says she's measuring big, so he won't probably let her go much, if at all, over her due date. She's measuring a week ahead, and he's estimating that she'll be an 8+ pound baby. So either way, we're (hopefully) no more than 10 or 11 days away from being introduced to this little girl!

As for me, I really can't complain. I've had such an enjoyable pregnancy. Only in the past few weeks have I really even felt even the slightest bit uncomfortable. Mostly, she's been putting a lot of pressure on my pelvis, so that's uncomfortable, and it's become hard to turn over in bed, so that, combined with many nightly trips to the bathroom means sleep has been a little tough. But I have to say, it's been so much fun and I still marvel at her moving and rolling around in my belly. I think we've been pretty good about not taking a second of this pregnancy for granted and we've both really enjoyed it.

As of this past Thursday, my doctor put me on what I guess we could call modified bedrest. Basically, I'm having some pretty severe ear issues which are causing extreme vertigo to the point that I'm not able to walk on my own and I end up vomiting several times before I crash and am dead to the world for a few hours. It takes a toll on my body and it's hard to predict when my episodes will come on, so the doctor has restricted me from driving. In addition, my BP was a bit elevated for the past few weeks, and I've got a little swelling (though nothing extra from what I've had pretty much the whole pregnancy), so he asked that I cut back from working and just do 4 hours a day. So needless to say, I'm ready for this Wren to BE HERE! I feel like I'm wasting part of my maternity leave and would so much rather use that time when she's here than just while we're waiting for her. The worst part is that I FEEL good. I'm a bit tired, but when I'm not having an ear issue, I feel pretty great. So it's hard to feel like I need to be working less when I feel great 90% of the time. But we're willing to do whatever the doctor thinks is the best for Wren, so cutting back is a priority.

I think that's about it. Josh is such a sweet daddy. He's been constantly on the go, making lists of things he wants to do before his little girl arrives. He's been busy with all of her "gear," putting swings and strollers together, installing carseats, hanging mirrors, etc. We're both giddy with anticipation and trying to enjoy these last few days before our lives are changed forever. Come on, baby girl, we're ready!!

Stay tuned for more posts!!