Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween!! I'm so excited to actually get some trick or treaters tonight. I always love seeing the kids (especially the little ones) dressed up. When we lived in the condo we never got any trick or treaters but we now live in a community FULL of kids so tonight should be fun. And while we did buy pumpkins we totally slacked on actually carving them. Maybe if Kristian gets home early enough he'll do one.

We were lame this year and didn't go out to celebrate even though I had the perfect costume idea if we had--- I would wear some thrift store wedding dress that would highlight my belly and he would wear a wife beater, bow tie and carry a shotgun and we would be a 'shotgun wedding'. But alas we stayed in most of the weekend due in part to the lousy weather Mother Nature threw our way. Umm Snow in October? What?!

Tonight however I believe Kristian and Moxie plan on doing a daddy/fur-daughter costume to answer the door that may involve some headgear.

Yep I live with these two jokers.

I'm more excited for next year and dressing the little one up in some costume that will surely embarrass him in 20 years when we show his future wife. Maybe something like this:

Mr. T!!!!!

**Someone posted this on Facebook so not sure who to credit**

Hope everyone has a very happy Halloween!!

**Tomorrow I'll post some pictures from my maternity photo session yesterday. They look awesome!

31 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 31 weeks

Here's a picture of me today at 31 weeks. I realized when going through my phone I wore this same shirt for the picture I took at 28 weeks which I reposted below. Look how much I've grown in 3 short weeks!! Unbelievable! No wonder I'm measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule! I'm honestly scared to see what I'm going to look like full term.

 

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is about the size of four navel oranges (really? That's such a lame comparison, they couldn't think of anything better than that?)

 

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds and is heading into a growth spurt (Good Lord, like I'm not big enough already). He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy

 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +23 pounds approximately. Started out at around 104, I'm now up to around 127 depending on the day. 

Maternity Clothes: Still stretching some non maternity shirts to their breaking point (see picture above) but I prefer maternity clothes, I just wish I had more, I'm already sick of wearing the same stuff over and over but hate to spend the money on something I'll only wear for another two months.

Gender: Baby Boy! Which we reconfirmed at the 4D ultrasound.

Movement: He's started doing more rolling action now than just kicks. He kicks so hard I can literally see the outside of my belly jump.

What I miss: Being able to just move my body the way I used to. Bending over has become the biggest challenge.

Sleep: Not great but I'm actually getting used to the lack of sleep which I guess is the point of all these middle of the night bathroom trips. I'm definitely learning to function on less sleep already.

Symptoms: Backaches (all day long!), braxton hicks contractions throughout the day (though not painful), and I've started feeling nauseous on and off again like I did in my first trimester (though not as severe). I'm hoping that's not a symptom that plans to come back permanently. Ugh!

Cravings: Mainly liquids, I'm thirsty all the time.

Best Moment this week: Definitely the 4D ultrasound and seeing our little guy's handsome face. Also, watching Kristian's face as he got to see his son which was priceless.

What I am looking forward to: One of my sorority sisters who is starting a photography business is coming over this weekend to take some maternity pictures.

Two Months

My due date is exactly two months from today! Holy Crap! Granted the odds of him coming on his own on his actual due date aren't very high but it's still amazing to me that in approximately 60 days or so I'm going to have a little person to take care of. I just hope that this little guy isn't impatient like his father and decide to be born two months early ---Kristian was supposed to be a Dec. baby but decided he liked the month of October better for his birthday.

The first 20 weeks seemed to drag, dealing with the all day nausea of the first trimester than not-so-patiently waiting to find out the gender. But every since then time has been flying by at warp speed and the weekends are over before they even start.

My nesting instinct has kicked into full gear. Even though we plan to keep the baby in our room at first I have this overwhelming desire to get his nursery done NOW. After all once he's here we won't have the time or energy to work on the nursery so I'd rather have it set and ready to go. Kristian doesn't seem to understand this urgency I have and why I get annoyed when he won't help me with something the second I ask for his help.

Unfortunately I do need his help with a lot of things, it's getting harder and harder everyday to complete even the smallest tasks. I have this growing to-do list but lack the energy to actually do anything on the list. And this constant backache makes any kind of extended physical activity nearly impossible.

As excited as I am to meet and snuggle this little dude I plan on enjoying these last two months or so of this pregnancy as best I can, after all who knows if or when I'll get to do this again.

Best Face in the World

The 4D ultrasound on Saturday was amazing. I'm so so happy that I splurged to get one and it was a nice treat for Kristian to see his little boy on his birthday.

We also were able to re-confirm that we are in fact having a little boy. That was the first thing the tech checked for us, which was a huge relief or I would have spent my weekend returning a LOT of clothes!

We got a CD of 230 pictures and a DVD of the entire ultrasound which are such amazing keepsakes to have. We got to see him smile, open and close his eyes and mouth and move around, it was so cool. He's no longer a little blob or skeletor he actually looks like a real baby. Very surreal.

Below are just a few of the pictures of my son. We can see that he already has some dark hair and big hands and feet like his daddy. He also has his daddy's lips and I think my nose and chin. In my totally
unbiased opinion of course, I think he's the cutest baby ever!

*I labeled some of the pictures to give a better of idea of what we're looking at*

*We got a couple little smirks out of him. Towards the end though he started to look pissed, I think he was over the whole viewing party and wanted to sleep in peace.*

*Love his little pointer finger*

*I think he has really big feet, just like his daddy. Hopefully that means he'll be tall like his daddy as well*

*The little braided looking thing he's cuddling is the umbilical cord. Kristian looks similar when he sleeps*

*He was all scrunched up, looks like a tight fit in there, poor guy*

*Yep I'm in love*

That explains a lot

Yesterday I had my now once every two weeks appointment with my doctor. First let me say I really like my doctor, actually the practice I go to has 3 OB's each of whom I've met and liked though the one I saw yesterday is probably my favorite.

Anyways, after doing the standard measuring of my belly we discovered I'm measuring two weeks ahead! For those that don't know, once you get to a certain point your doc will measure your belly each visit from top to bottom vertically, ideally the measurement in centimeters should match the number of weeks you are ex: 28 weeks = 28 cm. Well I'm 30 weeks measuring 32cm. The doctor is not concerned, he said 2 weeks in either direction is fine, if it's more than 2 then they will usually do an ultrasound to see what's going on.

So it's not like I will deliver 2 weeks early or that the baby is really big, necessarily. It could just be that I have a lot of fluid in there right now, or the way he's positioned could be making my belly stick out more. But at least it was confirmation that I am in fact a bit bigger than I really should be, which I already suspected. But as the doc pointed out, I'm petite, not much room for the baby to spread out in there so I'm bound to look a bit bigger.

I also learned that what I thought was the baby just poking his head or tush out a bit is really a braxton hicks contraction. For a while now I've been getting these two hard spots on my belly throughout the day, one on the leftside of my belly button which I thought might be his head or shoulder and one on the right side under my ribs which I thought might be his butt.

While measuring my tummy I noticed the hard spots and asked my doc if he could determine what body parts they were. He confirmed the one on my right was probably in fact his butt but that the baby's head is already head down where it should be and the other hard spot isn't his head but in fact my uterus having a braxton hick contraction, he could literally feel the contraction happening. He said that since they aren't painful I don't need to be concerned. If they start to get painful and happen more than 6 times in an hour I need to call them. So for weeks now I've been having these contractions and not even knowing it!

Everything else at the appointment went really well and when I go back in two weeks I'll be getting a Flu shot (which I normally don't do) and the Pertussis vaccine which will help protect the baby since he won't be able to get one himself until he's a bit older, but the antibodies he gets from me should protect him until that point which is good because that can be very deadly for newborns. Sidenote- my mom remembers having Pertussis (aka whooping cough) as a child and said it was horrible and she can't imagine a newborn having it. Ah the joys of having a baby during the winter when everyone gets sick.

30 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 30 weeks

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is about the size of a head of cabbage.

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and he weighs almost 3 pounds.  A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds him, but that volume will decrease as he gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. His eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after he's born, he'll keep his eyes closed for a good part of the day. When he does open them, he'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means he can only make out objects a few inches from his face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +20-22 pounds approximately. I'm still hoping I don't gain more than 30 pounds just because it's getting harder and harder for me to carry around all this extra weight I'm not use to.

Maternity Clothes: A mix but more maternity than regular just because they are more comfortable. I'm starting to worry I may outgrow even a few maternity tops, hopefully I don't need to do another round of shopping before he arrives.

Gender: Baby Boy!

Movement: Yep, it seems there is a constant dance party happening in my uterus and his movements are getting stronger and stronger. This is the one part I'm really going to miss once he's here, I've gotten so use to his movements it will be weird not having them anymore.

What I miss: not having my back hurt constantly

Sleep: Okay, not great, still getting up a lot to pee 

Symptoms: Lots of backaches and basic discomfort.  I've been trying to do my prenatal yoga DVD more but so far it hasn't helped much.

Cravings: Nothing in particular.

Best Moment this week: Hitting the 30's! Only about 10 weeks left which is amazing to me. Also, we may have finally decided on a name, though I'm still not telling just in case we decide to change it at the last minute.

What I am looking forward to: Doing the 3D/4D ultrasound on Saturday, I can't wait to see little man's face! Hopefully it will look less skeletor than it did at 20 weeks! 

Guessing Game

When it comes to gift giving, especially in regards to my husband, I have the hardest time keeping whatever the gift is a secret. I get so excited and just want to give it to them or tell them about it immediately. Kristian is much the same way, which is why he ended up proposing sooner than he initially planned.

Well this Saturday is Kristian's birthday and after a moment of inspiration a month ago when I figured out the perfect gift for him I've been dying to let him know what it is. I kept asking him if I could just tell him and he said that he wanted to be surprised. Well yesterday while on the phone at work he  started asking for clues as to what his present is. It's his birthday week so close enough.

He already knew that his present involved us going someplace and some of his guesses were pretty humorous for example he guessed Skydiving...umm why would I want him jumping out of a plane to his potential death right before giving birth (he was relieved this wasn't it).  He also guessed painting pottery! Umm what?! Again very happy that wasn't it. He then guessed that I was going to take him the gun range to shoot a bunch of really cool guns for the day. I told him that wasn't it but that's a cool idea and maybe I'll do it next year.

One of the best clues I gave him was that it was something that I could probably only give him this year for his birthday. That really got the wheels turning but he still couldn't figure it out. Finally I told him I had one last clue that would most likely give it away and asked him if he wanted it or if he wanted to wait until Saturday and be surprised. He asked for the last clue which was "it involves the baby" and immediately he knew what it was and got very excited.

Any ideas what his present is?

Well this Saturday for his birthday I'm taking him with me to get an elective 3D/4D ultrasound of the baby so that we can hopefully get a good peek at what our son looks like. Since we most likely won't be getting one through my doctor's office I found a few places online that offer this service for a fee and signed us up. We get a 20 minute session including a CD of photos and a DVD of the ultrasound. **Note- these places only offer ultrasounds for gender determination and 3D/4D ultrasounds for fun, they will not diagnose any potential problems with the baby and reinforce that you need to still get ultrasounds through your doctors office.

I decided to do this as his gift for a few reasons:

1. When he found out that our Anatomy scan ultrasound would only be 2D and they only do 3D ultrasounds if there is a problem, he was a bit disappointed and mentioned how cool he thought the 3D ones were.

2. As I told him, this is probably the only time I'll be able to do this for his birthday, even if we have another kid who knows if I'll be pregnant or far enough along during his birthday to do a 3D ultrasound.

3. What better gift for his birthday than getting to take a peek at his son's little face? I can buy him hunting and fishing shit anytime.

4. I'm not gonna lie I REALLY wanted to do this too so it's kind of a joint gift :)

Needless to say we're both really excited and I just hope baby boy cooperates so that we can get some good photos of his face. Assuming we do I will of course be posting them next week. And who knows maybe seeing his face will help inspire us to finally pick a name for him!

Baby School

The hospital I'm planning to deliver at offers several classes for expectant parents through their Wellness Center and last week Kristian and I took two of their classes.

On Wednesday night we went to the 2 1/2 hour Baby Care Basics class which is taught by a registered nurse. As the name implies the class teaches you the basics of how to care for a newborn baby including diapering, feeding, bathing, dressing etc. Since the class is only 2 1/2 hours long there isn't time to go into too much detail but it's a nice overview for first time parents. Most of the stuff she went over I had read about or heard about but I did learn a few new things. For instance- with breast milk the babies will poop more but the poop doesn't really smell, with formula they poop less but it stinks more. So even though I am hoping to breastfeed we got into a debate about which would be worse, more poop that doesn't smell or less poop that does. What do you think?

We also had the chance to practice diapering and swaddling a baby doll. The teacher actually complimented me on my swaddling technique. Kristian told her we had been practicing on our cat (true story) and the teacher thought that was awesome and couldn't stop laughing. Hey whatever works right? We were both very pleased with the class and definitely walked away more knowledgeable.

This past weekend we took the Childbirth Prep Class which many people know as Lamaze class. We had the option of spreading this out over 5 weeks- one night a week or knock it out in a weekend- 5 hours each day. We went with the weekend option and even though it sucks to give up a weekend I'm glad we did it all at once.

This class teaches you all about childbirth including labor, birth, breathing, relaxation, medication, C-sections and post partum. This is also taught by a registered nurse who had worked in Labor and Delivery for 25 years and had 4 kids herself (two naturally and unmedicated and two C-sections) so she knew her shit.

The first day was more of a general overview and introduction of things and we learned a few breathing techniques. The second day got into more specific, nitty gritty stuff and we got to watch several videos including one where we watched a birth- from the end you usually don't want to see it from. We ended the class with more relaxation and breathing techniques and your partner learns different coaching techniques to help you with.

Overall we really enjoyed the class despite having to miss the Redskins game yesterday (they lost so it was probably better we missed it). We learned a LOT of information and I really liked how the nurse talked about so many different birth options, not just one, so that we are fully informed of our options and what we can/should ask for. I think the class did alleviate a lot of my fear and uncertainty about the labor process and I feel much more prepared for labor/birth regardless of which option I go with.

Most of all I think Kristian really benefited from these classes. I've been reading a LOT online and in books about this stuff and even though he knows quite a bit already I know he learned so much more and now feels confident that he can help coach me through this. He was a great student and asked both teachers lots of good questions and was a very active participant. He's going to be such a good dad, he's so excited about meeting his son.

I highly recommend taking any classes you can prior to having a baby that you think may be helpful, for me it has helped ease some of my anxiety and increased my confidence level. It will also help you make informed decisions about yours and your babies care which is priceless.

Share time- did/will you take any classes before having a baby?

Pumpkin Patch

Last Sunday after a quick stop at my in-laws we decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall day and stop by a pumpkin patch that is close to our house. We plan to actually carve a pumpkin or two this year since we finally live someplace where we can expect a good number of trick-or-treaters. Moxie was with us so we had to get a couple pictures of her first trip to the pumpkin patch.

She was a bit too excited to sit still.

Shorts and t-shirts in Oct. gotta love warm fall weather.

It looks like I'm trying to smuggle a pumpkin out under my shirt.

I think my belly is bigger than the pumpkin I'm holding.

We didn't stay very long since we had the dog with us but it was a nice little trip and I'm excited to carve some pumpkins this year and get a bit more into the Halloween spirit.

29 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 29 weeks

*Last night I met a woman in our Baby Care class due 3 days after me, my bump is WAY bigger than hers. Actually mine was bigger than some of the ladies due in Nov.*

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is about the size of a Butternut Squash

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +20 pounds approximately. I think about 15 pounds are in my belly and the other 5 are in my ass/thighs.

Maternity Clothes: Still a mix, today I'm wearing non maternity jeans with a belly band and a maternity top.

Gender: Baby Boy!

Movement: ALL. THE. TIME. He also loves to give me little hard spots all over my belly from where he's sticking out what I imagine is either his ass or his head or both.

What I miss: Eating chicken. I've had a strong aversion ever since getting pregnant which has made cooking really hard since most of the (few) recipes I know all involve chicken. Hopefully I'll like it again once he comes out.

Sleep: I've actually slept really well this week! Last night I slept so well I only woke up once to pee which hasn't happened in about 7 months.

Symptoms: Backaches and basic discomfort. But the good news is my skin is finally clearing up so I feel like I'm finally getting that pregnancy "glow" I've heard so much about rather than just pimples.

Cravings: Last night on the way home from our class (at 10pm) I was desperate for a McDonalds chocolate milkshake but of course by 10pm their ice cream machines were down. I think Kristian feared for both his and the cashiers life.

Best Moment this week: My babyshower and visit with Kristen. Also, I passed my Glucose Test I took last week!!! So I can still eat sugar which means the holidays won't be torture. Also, taking our Baby Care class last night which I'll do a separate post on.

What I am looking forward to: Hopefully organizing and putting away all our shower gifts. Also, our childbirth prep aka Lamaze class this weekend. Should be interesting.

Shower Recap Part 2- Friends, Games and Gifts

We had a pretty good turnout for the shower, I think we invited around 30 people and about 15 or so came. Most of my friends live out of state so I knew there was a good chance a lot of them wouldn't be able to make it. That was the only disappointing part but since I know how hard it is to travel for events I understood. It actually worked out great, our house is a good size but still not big enough to accommodate a really large crowd, we were able to fit everybody in comfortably and thank God we had the perfect fall weather (sunny and 70's) so that people could spill out onto the deck.

Below are some pictures of the guests.

Here I am with Kristen, Colleen and Kelli. We are all in the same sorority (actually Kelli and I went to high school together as well). Both Kristen and Kelli have 1 year old little boys so I'm excited to join the club!

Here I am with Kristen's son Smith, cutest dude at the party! He really did well and all the ladies couldn't get enough of him.

Here's a pic with my mom and brother. My mom is very excited about her first grandson (she already has two grand-daughters) and my brother can't wait to buy boy toys for his first nephew.

My friend Colleen took charge of the baby shower games. The first game was actually suggested by Kristian. Everyone donated a dollar and got a raffle ticket where they wrote their name and their guess for the day and time that the baby will arrive. Whoever ends up closest will win the pot. I believe the dates ranged from Dec. 13th to Dec. 29th. (My due date is Dec. 26th)

We also played the game where everyone got a ball of yarn and had to cut a piece of yarn based on how big they thought my belly was around. We actually had a tie, my aunt and cousin were almost dead on. Everyone else WAY overestimated my size. Thanks ladies!

We also had a baby themed word scramble and baby themed Mad Libs where everyone had to fill in the blanks about their thoughts and wishes for the baby (unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that). Everyone apparently thinks the baby will look like his daddy. Again Thanks Ladies!

Below are ac couple pictures from the games.

*check out Moxie and Smith eyeballing the lollipops. Partners in crime*

Now onto the gifts. Everyone was so generous and we couldn't be more thankful. Between the shower gifts, presents we received prior and items we've been able to borrow from friends we're almost completely set for our little man's arrival. The only big item we still need is a glider and then some smaller stuff like bottles and extra crib sheets etc.

Below are pictures of just some of the great gifts we received.

My aunt (the lady in the chair next to me) made this Christmas stocking for our little guy. It's in the VA Tech colors (where Kristian went to school). We said if the next one is a girl she'll get a purple and gold stocking for ECU. My Aunt has made everyone in our family (including Kristian- his is a camo hunting boot) our own knit stocking so I was psyched that our son will have one too!

My other aunt gave us a bunch of bibs and blankets she made as well including the camo blanket below. This way the baby will fit in when hanging out downstairs in the man cave.

We got a lot of soft blankets which is nice since we're having a winter baby. I can't wait to cuddle him in these.

How cute is this little robe? When I showed it to Kristian he was like "Oh My God we're having a baby" Something about seeing the little robe made it real to him. Apparently my Ginormous belly hadn't tipped him off yet.

We got a lot of cute little onesies and outfits, that tupperware bin is full of clothes from my mom. People always talk about how cute little girls clothes are but boys clothes are freaking adorable in my opinion.

We now have a little Christmas outfit just in case he comes a few days early. Depending on when he comes this may be his coming home outfit.

We also got a lot of bibs, this one says "My dad is cooler than your dad" Love it! Also, Kristen gave us my favorite bib that says "These two dumbasses put my cape on backwards" hahaha (unfortunately I don't have a picture of that one)

Here is Kristian's diaper bag, we each wanted our own and he wanted something a bit smaller and more manly. This was one of his favorite gifts.

Here is my diaper bag, I wanted a bag that looked more purse like. I think it's really cute!

My mom got us our crib bedding that we wanted from Target. I can't wait to see how this looks all setup in the nursery.

The two ladies that helped as my wedding day coordinators chipped in and bought us our baby monitors!!!

My brother bought us our high chair. Kristian picked this one out, he liked the silver and thought it would go well in our dining room.

We got a lot of other great gifts but I didn't want to post 50 pictures. Now we just have to figure out where to put everything!!

So there you have it. My shower was awesome and full of lots of love and everyone is so excited to meet his little guy....me especially!!!!

Shower Recap Part 1- Decor and Food

As I mentioned my shower this past weekend was wonderful. Truly even better than I expected. A number of people helped make the shower a success- my mother who paid for all the food, my mother-in-law who made an amazing diaper wreath and diaper cake, my good friend Colleen who took charge of the games and prizes, my other good friend Kristen who came up with the theme and designed almost all of the decor herself as well as prepared much of the food and my fabulous husband who helped  coordinate everything with everyone as well as helped setup the day of. I can't thank everyone enough!

I decided to split up the shower recap into two parts so that I'm not posting 100 pictures in one post. This post I'll show you the food and decor.

First up though here is a picture of what I wore. I really wanted to wear a blue dress in honor of our baby boy. It was surprisingly difficult to find a cute, blue maternity dress that was affordable. Fortunately I found one I loved at JC Penney of all places. I thought it was very cute and super comfortable. It also matched the ring Kristian bought me and the decor!

My mother-in-law very excitedly made us a diaper wreath full of goodies for the baby which hung outside on the front door. I plan to hang it on the door of the nursery until he arrives and then we'll disassemble it to use everything.

She also made a HUGE diaper cake. When I first saw it I couldn't believe how big it was or how much stuff she included. It's full of onesies, bibs, socks, and a few of Kristian's baby items she still had. It's so cute I don't want to take it apart! We plan to keep it together until closer to his due date.

As I mentioned Kristen made a lot of the decor. For those that don't know she has a side business designing all sorts of paper goods and party decorations and does a great job. All of my family was really impressed with the decorations. Check out her website- http://www.littlelawsprints.com/ (All the proceeds from her sales go straight into her son's college fund)

The overall theme of the shower was the Circus. Such a cute idea!

 Here is the banner she made to hang on our mantle.

She also setup a little photobooth. If you click on the picture you can see in the frame what the invitations looked like. These were some of the props to use in the photobooth. Unfortunately most of our older guests didn't really get the whole photobooth thing (guess they don't read blogs) but we still got some cute pictures with it.

Here I am with Colleen and Kristen. You can't have a party without mustaches!

Here are the two backdrops for the photobooth.

After Kristian helped setup we took a quick picture before he left to go hunting for the day. I loved this little backdrop with the cut outs. So fun!

Here's Kristen and her son Smith. How cute is this?!

She also made jars full of dyed sugar (yes she DYED sugar) with lollipops and gumballs stuck inside. She also decorated the table with raffle tickets which we used for one of the games.

She also made these super cute cupcake toppers to match the theme.

Here is the food spread, we had veggie and cheese trays, fruit salad, chips and dip, meatballs, a really good pizza appetizer (that I need the recipe for!), popcorn and cupcakes. We also had ice tea, lemonade and wine for the drinks.

So as you can see everything looked awesome! I was so excited and overwhelmed when I walked in and saw the setup. It really was everything I could have wanted and more and all of the guests were super impressed and are still talking about what a great time they had.

Tomorrow I'll post about the baby shower games and gifts we received. Our little boy is so loved and spoiled already!

Weekend full of friends, fun and baby practice

The baby shower this past weekend was awesome! It was even better than I could have hoped thanks to the help of my wonderful husband, my mother, my mother-in-law and my good friends Colleen and Kristen. In addition to the amazing shower I got to spend the weekend with Kristen and her little boy Smith. I haven't seen Kristen since her baby shower over a year ago so it was so much fun being able to catch up in person and have a little boy in the house. Best practice ever for our little guy on the way.

I have to say that Kristen's son Smith is such a sweet, cute and well behaved little boy. Given that he was in a brand new environment with people he'd never met he did an amazing job and was such a pleasure to have around. The best part for me was seeing Kristian and Smith interact. The first time they met Smith walked over to Kristian and gave him a big hug, after that they were buddies. Kristian had a lot of fun watching him run around and play. He said it makes him even more excited for our little guy to arrive.

Smith was also a big fan of our puppy Moxie. They are BFF's for life. Not sure who had more fun or who was more tired at the end of the weekend Smith or Moxie. It was also nice to see how Moxie will do with a little one in the house, thankfully it seems like she will be a great big sister to the baby.

Here is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend of Kristian holding Moxie and Smith. I can't think of anything cuter than seeing my husband holding a puppy and a baby. He's going to be such a great dad, total natural.

I plan to do a full recap of the shower including pictures of the amazing decorations and food and gifts but I wanted to just do a quick shout-out and thank you to Kristen especially, who came up with the theme and designed almost all of the decor herself. I know I've mentioned her business before but seriously if you ever need any kind of paper goods or decorations contact her immediately, everything she did for my shower was amazing and everyone was very impressed. 

Kristen- thank you for making the trip up North to help celebrate Baby P, you really made the day/weekend so special and we can't thank you enough!!

After a long day of celebrating Kristen and Moxie got in some cuddle time.