Baby Shower Gifts!!

So, I officially HATE being the center of attention.

 I handed my cousin Renee the camera with instructions to take a picture of at least one gift from each person, but not of EVERY single gift, because these pictures NEVER get used for anything? 

I mean, how tacky would it be to put up a collage frame of pictures of me opening/showing off a million gifts?  Right.  So anyway, here's a few of the baby shower gifts. 

Of course some of the pictures are not being shared because I look like a moron in them...it has nothing to do with who the gift was from or how much we liked that gift.  It has everything to do with, if I look stupid, I'm not posting it on my blog!!

This is one of three Cars cups we got.  We had to have Cars sippy cups!

Aunt Dianne & Uncle Tony got Luke the Baby Einstein playmat! 

Aunt Rosie & Debbie got us the high chair we wanted!

This is one of many cute little sweater vest outfits.  You can also see the AWESOME corsage my mom made me in this picture. 

Itty bitty newborn t-shirts.  Say it with me, "Awwwwww....!" 

A little baby boy bathrobe!

One of several super soft & fuzzy baby blankets.  Tim really likes the baby music box puppy that matches this. 

Aww, monkeys!  This is another of the few newborn sets we got.  We are seriously lacking in newborn sized goodness!  This one is cool because the legs convert from pants to a nightgown!

Here's an outfit Mandy will appreciate!

Something for next Christmas!

I love this thermal tee shirt w/ dinosaurs all over it. 

This coat is part of the thermal dino set but isn't it fun!

My First Kennywood Bib!  You can also see his first Kennywood toy on my knee.  My dad won that for Luke!

Here's a close up of the pot & the baby doll. 

OK, first off, I look good in this one, right? 

Secondly, those are HAND crocheted w/ size 10 THREAD (not yarn) little sneakers!  Too Freaking CUTE!

Here I am flipping through the burp cloths my mom embellished. There are a baker's dozen of them finished & each is unique!

Renee just about killed the baby when she passed me the bucket & it was funny!

Here's the rocking chair & Luke's blanket all cozy in the office. Doesn't it look PERFECT? 

Luke's amazingly full closet.  I don't know if you can see the little size tags I made, but the whole closet is organized by size.  Doesn't it look like a little man's closet?  I love looking at it!

Here's another close up of the pot, now that it's been unpacked. 

And here's a close up of the basket mom decorated. 

And one more shot of the baby boy!

Phewie, that was a lot of fun!  I'm so thankful to everyone and truly appreciate each and every single gift!  We are so blessed and our baby will definitely feel the love from all of you! 

Baby Shower Goodness!

Well, this weekend was the baby shower in Pennsylvania.  Let me start off by saying that Tim & I are incredible blessed and totally thankful to SO many people, but especially to my mom and dad for the AMAZING baby shower they hosted for us & all the amazing and totally wonderful gifts they gave us! 

This is the dessert buffet that my mom had set up.  She's been baking for what seems like FOREVER.  There were rice krispy treat rattles, sugar cookies in the shape of rattles, pacifiers, and baby carriages, nad pizzelles.  There was anissette toast, anis cookies, sesame seed cookies, and chocolate chip cookies.  There were also m&m cookies w/ ONLY blue m&ms.  We forgot the chocolate drop cookies until the last minute, but I made sure they got set out, too! 

Here's a view of the kitchen table w/ the cake & the food buffet behind it. 

A close-up of the clothes line cake.  My dad MADE the clothesline.  My mom made the little cloth prefold diapers that are hanging on the line! 

Here was the plates & silverware/napkin table.  Isn't it pretty?

Yum, yum, yummy!  This is the food buffet my mom made!  We had ham sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, tuna salad sandwiches, and chicken salad sandwiches.  The tuna & chicken sandwiches were on three or four different kinds of bread.  We also had Italian potato salad as well as traditional potato salad.  On the other side was shrimp salad and lime flavored fluff.  It was ALL delicious and there were very little left-overs. (Not because there wasn't enough food, but becuase people kept going back for MORE!)

Here's another view of the cake.

This is the beverage station, before the tea, juice, ice, and water got set out. 

This is an adorable gift my mom made for us!  It's a large terra cotta pot, painted, embellished w/ my nursery fabric, filled with goodies, and snuggled by a little cloth baby!  (He's stuffed with crinolin & is wearing hand made baby mits (embellished w/ balloons), a 0-3 months sleeper and bib, and a Kennywood hat!) 

Here's the banner that was part of the theme.

This is the awesome wreath my mom & dad made.  They actually MADE the wreath & then decorated it with all those blue baby goodies!  The ribbon was supposed to be spread out but it had a little accident before the shower & it didn't get fixed up. 

Here's a wider view of the living room/wreath.  See that awesome rocking chair?  Yea, my parents bought that for us!  How amazing!  It's perfect & totally comfortable.  I've been sitting in it watchign Sopranos in the office w/ Tim! 

This is the fruit salad mom made.  (Well I melon balled all the fruit, mom made the watermelon baby carriage!)  Isn't it pretty!  Behind it you can see the 'favors' which a lot of people left behind.  You can also see one of the little candy-holding-booties mom made. 

Here's Aunt Nunny writing her antecdotes into the "Baby Advice Book". 

A quick shot of some of the gifts!

Everybody chowing down!  My cousin Renee is in yellow, cousin Lisa in blue, Aunt Dianne in pink w/ red hair, and Aunt Nunny in pink w/ brown hair.  You can also see 1/2 of Lisa's daughter Bailey. 

Here's more folks chowing down.  My mom in the back w/ flowers on, Great Aunt Lucille on the left in white, Great Aunt Rosie in pink and my dad's cousin Debbie hidden behind Aunt Rosie. 

Phewie!  So, that's all the decorations & festivities pictures of the baby shower.  I'm going to edit & decide which of the pictures of gifts getting opened to post & put them in another post.  

I love, love, loved EVERY single thing & my Mom and Dad and brother put SO much into giving us an AWESOME and PERFECT baby shower.  We're SO thankful!    

Pregnancy Update

Well, I just spent the last two hours counting/timing contractions.


Grocery shopping is officially off of my to-do list. I will NOT be doing that again!

I started contracting 1/2 way through Wal-Mart. I pushed on. When I was ALMOST done I called DH to let him know I was in a LOT of pain.

I know I had at least 8-10 contractions while shopping. As soon as I got home I got in bed and drank water and started timing them.

They were coming 5 minutes apart & were close to 1 minute long each, so I called the doctor. They suggested eating, drinking, and taking a warm bath w/ my entire belly in the water. So that's what I did. The contractions went from 5 mins, to 6 mins, to 8 mins, and finally I went 20 minutes without one.

(Mind you, I can feel Luke moving the whole time. He does NOT like contractions.)

As soon as I got out of the tub, I had a HUGE painful contraction that lasted more than 2 minutes. This is what the doc said to watch for (pain & longer than 1 minute). So I got back in the tub.

Same thing again. 5 mins apart, 8 mins apart, 15 minutes...got out of the tub, another huge one. Layed in bed & managed to get up to 8 minutes apart again before calling the doctor back.

She said I have an "irritable uterus" and it doesn't sound like PTL to her. She said eat some more, drink some more, and go to bed. I had to cancel Girl Scouts & Bunco. Bummer.

I also cancelled the Girl Scout camping trip this weekend. There's no way I'd have been able to handle it & there were only 2 girls able to go, not the 4 we'd planned on. So, we're not going. Yay!

Update Time

Wednesday Sept. 2-
I did housework & packed all of our stuff for Pennsyvlania.  Tim got home around 2:00.  We got the truck loaded & were on the road just before 4:00.  We got to Pennsylvania around 12:15.  We took the "Paw Paw" route.  I was in a lot of pain & had to make 2 "unneccesary" stops just to move my hips. 

Thursday Sept. 3-
We spent our first day in Pennsylvania getting things ready for the shower.  Tim cut my hair.  Mom & Grandmom went and had their hair done.  We went grocery shopping.  Mom made veal for dinner. 

Friday Sept. 4-
We spent Friday getting ready for the shower too.  Tim did some work in the basement for dad.  In the afternoon, Dad, Frankie, Tim, and Tony went to the shooting range. 

Saturday Sept. 5-
We spent the entire morning up until the shower started getting the house ready & eveything taken care of for the shower.  The baby shower started at 2:00 and was wonderful.  It was after 6:00 before Aunt Rosie & Debbie left.  Tim and I decided to take Mom & Dad to dinner in Greensburg about 30 minutes away, so we left as soon as we could to head over there.  Dinner was good and we used our credit card to pay for it, so no problems there.  When we got home it was after 9 & pretty much bed time. 

Sunday Sept. 6-
We spent Sunday relaxing!  Tim played games with the boys.  Dad went off and did who knows what.  Mom played her game and I sewed a bunch of diapers.  In the evening, I packed up all of our presents and watched "The Horsemen" with Mom and Dad.

Monday Sept. 7-
Monday morning we got up at 7:30 and got busy packing out.  We had to pack everything in plastic & didn't get on the road until 9:45.  We had to make a couple stops because my hips were hurting but we made good time.  We got lunch at Chic Fil A and made it home around 5:00.  John came to get Tony & we organized our unpacking a little bit.  Then, around 6:15, Tim and I headed out to Obici Hospital for our first "Prepared Childbirth" class.  It was good.  I only learned one thing, basically WHY it hurts when baby comes out "sunny side up".  Tim learned a lot about labor.  We also got to tour their L&D department, even though we're delivering at Leigh.  (We're touring over there on Oct. 5.)  On our way home we went to Pizza Hut & grabbed a pizza.  We ate at home & then went to bed.

Tuesday Sept. 8-
Today was the first day of school & I slept until 11:00!!  When I finally got up, I got busy cleaning house & working on unpacking.  I had to get all of Luke's belongings out of the guest room, because it smells bad in there.  I had a couple small contractions from all the work before I finally left WAY late to go to my doctor's appointment. 

My doctor "isn't worried yet" but my appointment was less than pleasant.

I lost another pound. I am eating...I don't understand how I'm still losing weight.
My fundal height was 30 cm, so I'm measuring 2 weeks behind.
I have a regular check up in 2 weeks & then at 36 weeks we're having an ultrasound.

After the appointment, I went to McDonald's and got some food.  Then I went to Ingleside to visit & drop off my Girl Scout fliers.  I left there around 4:30 and headed home.  Since I've been home, I've cleaned up and been working on getting Luke's clothes put away.  Tim's working on defrosting the freezer in an attempt to save the fridge.  (Although Mandy might get us a used one for $50.) 

We're going to have tuna casserole for dinner, because I couldn't do the grocery shopping with a broken refrigerator! 

To Do List Update

To Do List & Schedule:

Before Luke is born: (mid October)

put away our laundry
clean office
Bank (deposits)
finish cutting grass
bathe dogs
clean carpet in nursery & office
filing
scrub our bathroom (sink, toilet, tub, mop floor)
scrub walls in hallway (and rest of house too)
paint
clean carpet in living room & our room
wash car seat cover
reclean the garage
paint Luke's wall letters
assemble cradle
buy crib & dresser & get set up

M Sept. 14-8:15-3:35 Subbing at Crossroads Elem., 7:00 PM Prepared Childbirth Class
T Sept. 15-Happy Birthday Mom!, Girl Scout Meeting @ 6:00
Th Sept. 17-La Leche League 6:30 in Hampton, Tim going to Pregs & Babes Bible Study
Sat. Sept. 19- Breastfeeding Class
Sun. Sept. 20-Baby Shower (3:00)
M. Sept. 21-Happy Birthday Dad!, 2:45 Dr. Appt., 7:00 PM Prepared Childbirth Class
Th. Sept. 24- 7:30 Pregs & Babes Bible Study
F Sept. 25- 7:30 PM Disney on Ice w/ Girl Scouts
Su Sept.27-3:00-Church of the Epiphany on Lafayette Blvd-Service Unit Meeting for GS
M Sept. 28-7:00 PM Prepared Childbirth Class
S Oct.3- 10 am-6 pm Girl Scout Jamboree at Colonial Williamsburg
M Oct. 5-Sentara Leigh Hospital Tour 6:00
F Oct. 9-3:00 Ultrasound & Dr. Appt. 
Th. Oct. 15-La Leche League 6:30 in Hampton
Sat. Oct. 17-Knitting for Newborns 9-12noon

Mama Time!

I snagged this cute little list (or rather large) from Mama Kenz Studio, who grabbed it from her friend Kim at A View From The M and The Trial of Labor. I have done everything in bold! Have fun learning a few crazy facts about me!



1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Totally copied a post from someone else’s blog to your own

Now I want to learn about you!

I've done 32/100 what's your score?

Copy this list, paste in your post and customize it for you! Make sure to come back and link- I want to see!

My Diapers are Here!!!!

This is just too exciting not to post about.  (My cloth diaper blogging friends will TOTALLY get it!) 

Mandy (the best sister in the world) bought me 6 dozen green mountain diaper (GMD) prefolds!  They are THE top of the line diaper as far as prefolds go!  She bought 2 dozen unbleached diapers of each size: preemie, orange edge (newborn), and yellow edge (small).  Yay! 

They just came today!  Yay!  We just bought them Friday!  Wahoo!