The Expected One...

Today begins week 33. 7 weeks until my due date! 49 days. Wow! I can't believe how close we're getting.

We've been working on packing a hospital bag. It's extra hard not knowing what I'll want, what I'll need. It's not like I've done this before! ;)

On October 18th we had our "expected" baby shower. Only "expected" because the first one was a surprise. This one I knew about ahead of time and was involved in the guest list.

We arrived to aunt Deb's house to lots of fun decorations. Pink balloons, "baby shower" written on bags (that we later played a game with and received gifts from), a clothes line across the living room holding baby socks, a bib, blanket and several other baby goodies, mini herSHEy bars with the SHE colored in pink, and several other things that made me excited just going into her house.

Her house quickly filled up with family members. Everyone arrived with such excitement for us! A couple of cousins, one from each side, surprising us by coming.

We ate salads, veggies, homemade Linda rolls, crackers and cheese, and apples with carmel. Very yummy! And since the carmel apples, me, my mom and my grandma have all bought apples with a side of carmel because it hit the spot at the party :)

After eating we opened gifts. Lots and lots of gifts! It was so much fun!! I think everyone had fun picking out baby stuff and seeing all of the baby stuff. The itty bitty clothes, cute blankets, the "they didn't have that when I had kids", and all of the "awws" and "that's so cutes". We received many things that we needed for our baby and are so grateful for everyone's support!

One of the games we played was to guess what was in each of the "baby shower" bags. In the B bag was a baby item starting with the letter B. The A bag, starting with the letter A, etc. It was fun seeing everyone get so excited when they had guessed right. We had a repeat of the "loud table" from our wedding reception...you know who you are!! ;-)

We had a really great time!! It was so nice to see everyone! We want to send a huge thank you to aunt Deb for hosting the shower. And also to Nana, aunt Karen, Trisha, Erynn, Traci and Erica for all the decorations, food and games. It's my understanding that cousins don't always pitch in to help but you guys saw a need and wanted to help make our party fun and exciting. Manda has talked many times during this roller coaster year of how amazing her cousins have been. For something as simple as a phone call. She put it this way when we were talking about you cousins and the shower. "You are my pedestal. You are always there to hold me up. To keep me strong. But my cousins have been my rocks. To hold up my pedestal. To stop me from knocking down my pedestal. To lean on, to cry on. They helped keep me strong so I could stay strong and not knock down my pedestal."

And for that, I thank you.