The World's BEST Baby Shower!

Do you know what a crappy friend I am? A really bad one...really, really, really bad. I'm that friend who had some of her best buds in the whole wide world throw her a shower (oh, about 9 months ago!) and I have never blogged about it. Yes, there were extenuating health concerns at the time...but that's no excuse! These two lovely ladies threw me one heck of a baby shower and I dropped the ball sharing it all with you...

So in the spirit of "it's better late than never" feast your eyes on the world's best baby shower!

Two of my besties...T and B...spent so much time and effort making this a great weekend for me. Check out the decorations:







The food...




The gift table...with the CUTE homemade clothing-closet tags from B!

The little girls present were busy checking them out...

The guests started to arrive, and I took my seat to welcome most of them...I was pooped by this time!




Before long, the party was hopping, and we started playing some games that B came up with. I LOVE this face that my Mom is making while playing the "Guess which baby food this is game!"

Obviously the baby diaper/candy bar game was a hoot!
I think that I was laughing at Jenna, who actually tasted the baby diapers for her guesses...
Before long, it was time to get to the gifts!

We were blessed with SO much by our friends and family that day! Truly blessed...

Good thing that I had my little helper there!













And then it was MY favorite part of any party...CAKE time!! There's a story behind the cake (isn't there always?!?!) but look at it's gloriousness first, please! The lady who made it copied off of the shower invitations and did a FABULOUS job!

Doesn't it look all yummy! It was white with raspberry filling...I'm hungry now just typing that. Now for the story...If you look closely at the picture above, you'll notice that the bottom right corner is a little...off. To say the least. Well, what happened for sure is still a mystery, but we have two theories. T lives a good bit away from me, in Boerne, TX, and had the cake made by a friend of hers who makes really wonderful, yummy cakes. Because she lives so far away, there was a question about transporting a cake that far. For any of you readers who bake out there, you know that things can happen when transporting baked goods that have icing!

We're not sure if the cake got too hot, which made the icing unstable, or if just the jarring ride brought about the disaster. Either way, by the time that T got the cake to our house, she was nearly in tears (and half frozen for trying to keep the interior of the truck cold!) because the right side of the icing had crumpled and fallen off. B and I assured her that we could repair it somehow (although we weren't really sure how to go about it) and T got on the phone with the cake maker for better suggestions. We eventually went with the toothpick route and before long, it was all shored up and looking better. You can see in this photo how the icing crumpled a bit...

And here you catch one of our hands in the act of the repair...

In the end, I think that we did a good job...check out this close-up of the worst corner...

It all turned out well, and since T and B were going to do the serving, I just told them to cut that side first, removing toothpicks as they go, and no one but us would know the difference! I think that the photos speak for themselves...no one was the wiser, as the taste was PHENOMENAL!!

I just see lots of people eating cake...not complaining about it!

Overall the shower was one of the best parties that I've ever been thrown! All of the thoughtful details and personal touches really made it special...and Brent and I got enough gift cards to go shopping the next day and come home with these important items...





A great party all around...thanks ladies!! There is much love in my heart for you two...despite the lack of posting evidence! :) LOL!

Some of My Favorite Things

No, not rain drops on roses or whiskers on kittens - although those things are great too!

But I'm talking about some of my favorite baby items. Some of these are things that I bought for myself, some where things that I registered for and some where thoughtful gifts from friends/family that have become things that I couldn't live without. I know that this list will change and evolve over time as he gets older and moves into different stages, but I thought that I'd share what I have been loving the most during this first month.

Here you go!

Microwavable bottle sterilizer bags - I saw these on OMGMom's blog found here. (I'm not even going to tell you to follow her, because I can't believe that there are people out there that don't know about her! She cracks me up daily!) I took her suggestion to heart and bought some of these myself, and she was right. How convenient - they're small, taking up no space in my limited-counter-space-kitchen, fold up well for travel (although I haven't really gone anywhere) and they're cheap. I got mine at Target (the Munchkin brand, but there are other brands) for like $5 - that included 6 of the bags that can be re-used 20 times. There's even a chart on the back of the bag for you to mark the uses on so that your sleep-deprived brain doesn't actually have to try and remember when you've used it 20 times. Great for bottles and breatfeeding pump parts/accessories.

Bottle Draining Tray - this is something that was gifted to me that I did NOT register for. Had I known about such a thing, though, it totally would have been on my registry! It's been a lifesaver for me, and I can't imagine washing bottles without it. Not to mention that it's SO cute because it looks like a little patch of wheat grass! My friend (find her blog here) gifted this to me, and warned me that she normally doesn't buy gifts that aren't registered for, but that she saw this and couldn't resist. I mean, isn't it the cutest? You simply wash your bottles, then put them on the grass mat to air dry. Once they're dry, I use the sterilizer bags to sterilize and then the bottles go back on the grass mat to finish drying. Every so often, I drain the water out, and it's easy-peasy. Yes, I know that you can dry bottles in your normal dish drainer, but I like having a seperate place just for the bottles. I mean, who knows when the last time I cleaned my dish drainer was? Plus, being a more compact size, this is easier to clean. I just love it and would recommend it to any new mom!

Medela Nipple Shields - I've already written about these wonderful devices here. I won't say more, you can read about their wonderfulness over on that post.

Hospital blankets - these beauties, I stole. Yep, I'm admitting that I have a problem. Although technically, Brent stole them. But it was at my suggestion. They're the perfect weight in thickness (not too cool or too hot) and unlike other receiving blankets that you buy, they're a perfect square. Which makes them the BEST blankets EVER for swaddling. Even better than those pre-preapred snuggly things. Seriously, trust me on this one. You pay for the stuff either way, so you might as well take home two or three. Or five or six like we did! We literally use one every single day. The Boppy Pillow - this has been my new BFF. He literally spent the entire first week of his life in this pillow. Yeah, it wasn't until last week (that's three weeks old) that I finally saw the big SLEEP with a big, red "X" marked across it in reference to letting babies sleep in the Boppy pillow. I hope that I'm not castrated for doing this, but I honestly didn't see the warning. But in my defense, he can't roll over, when he's placed on his back the worst that can happen is that he can get all scrunched down in the middle - but we watch him really close for that and readjust him when needed. I promise! Either way, now that I know about the sleep warning - I still let him sleep in there during the day - he just loves it so much!

Swing - this is the swing that we have by Graco. You don't have to use the same swing that we do, but I can recommend it. It was super easy to assemble and the batteries don't run out quite as fast as I was worried that they would. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to buy me some rechargable D batteries as soon as I remember to get them the next time I go to the store! Anyway, we just assembled his swing last week and so far it seems to be a hit. The swing has 6 adjustable swing levels, as well as both music and nature sounds and the cradle part also has two vibrating speeds. Love that! Most of the time when we put him into the swing, he goes right to sleep. It's not 100% reliable as a means to stop the crying, but for the most part he loves it! Thanks Mom!

So that's it for now. Like I said earlier, I'm sure that as he grows and his needs change, my list of Favorite Things will also change, but for the first month, I don't think that I could have made it without these things! I hope this helps you out!

Nothing "BIG" Happening Here, I Promise!

Do you worry about us pregnant bloggers when we “go away” for a few days and don’t have anything posting while we’re out?

I do…so sorry to disappoint you, but baby watch is STILL going on (which is a GOOD thing for me!) and I haven’t been absent due to being otherwise “occupied” just really, really, really, really busy. Did I mention that I was busy? LOL!

My friends threw us a baby shower this past weekend, that was held at our house, and they did an AMAZING job…not that we expected anything less! The decorations were great, the food was nom-nom, the cake was TO DIE FOR…and of course, our friends and family were SO generous with the gifts! All the makings of a good shower, if you ask me.

I’ve got a TON of pictures…that I’ll try to start going through and uploading today…but I only slept for like 2-2.5 hours last night…the little guy was busy, and I had a headache. So maybe today will be spent napping…and then tonight when I can’t sleep, I’ll work on the pictures! :) Just kidding…well, maybe not, but I will TRY to sleep tonight, I promise.

I know that I also need to post a 35 week update, with belly shots – it’s getting to where I completely look like I’ve got a basketball underneath my shirt! So maybe after a good night’s sleep I’ll have more motivation to do all of that…but on a good note, when I couldn’t sleep last night, I googled “how to change the font on your blog” and came across these instructions which worked like a charm! If the font doesn’t show up in your Google Reader, click over and check it out…and if you blog too, there’s a cool little tutorial for you if you ever want to do some different fonts than the 5 that blogger offers for use!

Nursery Options

In keeping with the current topic of choice, let’s keep talking about Jax’s nursery. You might remember from several posts that I did about picking his bedding, that we went with a bedding set by Cocalo called (ironically) Jackson. Here’s a picture in case you need a refresher: Cute, right? Well, my step-mom had generously made the offer to purchase the bedding set for us once we picked on out, so I had emailed her a list of places online that sold it. Then she found it on her own at BuyBuyBaby. At our shower two weeks ago, I got to bring the bedding set home. But as cute as it was, it was lacking a few things…you know, the accessories that make the room cutesy. And yes, even little boys need cutesy rooms…

I found out (sorta by accident) that JCPenney’s carried some of the items from that line of baby bedding, and it was on sale this week. I looked at it very seriously for a few minutes, but then decided against purchasing any of it since their sales prices were the same prices as the normal prices anywhere else. Plus, my Uncle had gifted us with a gift card to BuyBuyBaby where I knew that I could get some of the items. Then, the VERY next day, I got an email coupon offer from JCP offering an additional 15% off of online or in-store purchases, including items already marked on sale. Hmmm…this might be worth pursuing…

So I picked three additional accessory items and dropped them into my basket and applied the coupon and held my breath to see the total. Not bad – just over $100…but wait! I had some JCP gift cards from a return and a gift that I hadn’t used yet…I quickly applied those balance to the basket and my grand total out the door was about $30! Score. Quick – click on the Submit My Order button fast before anything happens!

For just over $30, these items are on their way to our house…the Mobile……and the extra window valance that we need for that area of our room… …and these adorable wall hangings…Awesome, right? Then on my way home that day, I stopped off at BuyBuyBaby and picked up the lamp (which JCP didn’t carry and I really wouldn’t want shipped anyway) and spent a whopping $2 out of my own pocket for that item! Double score!

Ten minutes later, my friend Brandi emailed me a 20% coupon for one item from BuyBuyBaby. Sort of rotten timing, as I wasn’t going back to the store and trying to get the discount back…but now that I have this email coupon sitting in my Inbox, it’s calling my name…urging me to use it…almost mocking me.

I took a look online real quick to see what other items are in the Jackson collection that I could use the coupon on and found a few things. Help me decide which one to get.

There’s a laundry hamper… A throw pillow that might look good on the glider that we’re probably going to end up getting…Or a blanket that matches the bedding. Normally, I would shy away from the blanket, remembering the astonishing amount of blankets that I received when I had Jenna. But I only got one blanket in my last shower…so maybe the blanket would be cute?

Which one do you think that I should get? They’re all pretty cute, except I’m not sold on the laundry hamper 100%. A nice dark brown wicker one would look just as cute and match our other ones as well…

Do you have any thoughts as to which other accessory would help dress up the room a bit more? Or do you think that I should wait and get the room “assembled” and then step back and look and see what else I might need?

Jax’s First Shower

I know, I’m totally like a week behind on getting this posted…but oh well. You’ll forgive me, right? I was waiting to get some of the pictures of Jenna and I (mostly Jenna) opening the presents…but I really don’t want to wait any longer.

My aunt contacted me a few months ago to tell me that she and my other aunt were wanting to throw us a family baby shower in East Texas. I was overwhelmed at the generosity and offer, and of course I said ok! We planned it for Memorial Day weekend so that I would have an extra day to rest from my travels…it’s a 4-hour drive one way for me, so I knew that at almost 8 months pregnant, it would take it’s toll. And maybe since you saw that my posting was so light last week, you can understand that it just about kicked my booty! That’s a LOT of miles to cover…

Anyway, we kept it all light and casual, and grilled hamburgers and made homemade ice cream…yummy! It was all family members, and these ladies worked REALLY hard to make sure that our shower was special. In addition to my aunts, my step-sister and cousin, along with my step-mother all pitched in on the effort. Here’s the pictures that I do have for you… Everything was set in tones of blue and white… That’s one of my aunts taking a break from all of her hard work! Decorations were hung…
…and scattered about… And there was cake to go along with the ice cream! Yes, there’s a story behind that cake…a really good one! You see, my sister volunteered to pick up the cake to go along with the homemade ice cream because there was this man in Nacogdoches (where she lives) that was SO talented at matching cakes to paper goods and napkins and such. Good idea, right? So she goes in to place the order and leaves both one of the paper plates and a napkin there for them to match it up to. And that would have worked fine, had the lady that took Tiffany’s order explained that the man that was so good at that was no longer with that store/company. So when my step-sister got there to pick up the cake the day of the shower, she was WAY disappointed…the plates/napkins had this cute plaid pattern to it…and yes, the bakery used the blue, yellow and green colors correctly…but it just wasn’t the cake that my step-sister had in mind. When she questioned the bakery about it, she was finally told about the one man taking an offer at another bakery…and it all made sense.

She was really upset. And I think that it was supposed to be a little bigger in size too, which made matters worse. But what could she do? She hurriedly bought a few other pies/cakes from the store and went on about her way. But trust me, she was HOT about the mix up on the cake! It was really delicious, though…a fact which I told her often in hopes of making her feel better. I don’t think that it worked all that well.

No, I don’t have any pictures of the great big pile of presents that was over in the corner next to the “seat of honor” that they had prepared for me…and I didn’t get any videos of the “carnage” path that Jenna made while opening all of the said presents. Let’s just say that a couple of times I had to pull her attention away from the process of slinging tissue paper and wrapping paper around and talk to her about calming down. Not that my talks really worked that long, but I tried!

We got a TON of cute stuff! The family was very generous, and Jax will be dressed to the nines for many months to come. I think the funniest present opened of all was a box that my step-mother put together that had the tee tee tee pees in there…Jenna wanted to know what they were, and she was told to talk to her mommy about that! Nothing like being thrown under the bus in the middle of a big crowd, right?

Anyway, we got a ton of clothes and bathroom items, along with several packs of diapers and wipes and our mattress for our crib. Since I already had the crib, I was worried that no one would see that lone mattress there at the end of the registry…enter Mom to the rescue! All in all, when I left my aunt’s country house, I could barely see out of my rearview mirror and had to stop and re-pack once along the way home for my own peace of mind.

We didn’t play any of the normal shower games, so there are NO embarrassing pictures of me being measured with toilet paper…shucks! We were just family getting together to eat, drink and celebrate…three things that we do really well! And yes, that dress that I posted about here was a big success! Very patriotic and cool in the hot, summer sun!

The Great Bedding Debate

Yes, I know what you're thinking...ANOTHER post about bedding? Sorry, guys, but like I said it's on my mind a LOT right now! The countdown to my first shower is FAST approaching, and I would like some of these decisions made NOW.

Have ya’ll heard of a place that I wrote about the other day – called babysupermall.com? OK, smarty pants...your answer can’t be yes, we’ve heard of it you big bimbo – YOU told us about it! I mean, had you heard of it BEFORE I mentioned it...or have you gone to check it out yet?

Well, even though I had looked there to grab the images of the other bedding that I had found at jcp.com, it didn’t occur to me until three days later to check there for OTHER bedding options...like, duh, right? I mean, if they had pictures (that I could snag) of all of those other options, maybe they would have even more, huh?

Since I’m still restricted to the whole “no animals” policy, here are some others that I saw that caught my eye and I had to share them with you guys.

First up – more sports...

Little Champ by Beansprout

Cooperstown by CocaloNext down the line? Transportation themes...

Travel Time by Bedtime Originals Mosaic Transport by Kids Line Now for some new themes...

Lil Builder by Eddie Bauer Rock ‘N Roll by Lambs & IvyAnd just for grins...some that are just colors and patterns...

Aidan by Cocalo Couture Daniel by Bananafish All images sourced from here.

Man – that gives me LOTS more options, huh? Maybe too many? Then again, I haven’t shown any of these to Mr. Picky yet...I’m sure that he’ll help me narrow down the selection.

For you moms out there – past, present and future –are you planning on doing something traditional for your nursery? Or maybe going a little outside of the norm for your nursery décor? I LOVE what All Things G&D did for her nursery...took a tank top with colors/design that she loved and developed her nursery around that – just completely original. But I don’t know that I’m creative enough to do that...what do you think?