showered! again!

Tim and I were insanely blessed last weekend to have another shower thrown for us by dear family and friends. Paul and Amanda really outdid themselves with the planning, decor, food, games, and so many much needed gifts.

It was such a sweet time of fellowship with our closest friends in Wheaton. We almost forgot to stop partying to open presents.  

I'm not usually one for shower games (I probably made one too many toilet paper wedding dresses in my time), but these games were cool. The top photo is the baby picture game. Every attendee brought a baby picture of themselves and we had to guess who was who, with the help of a name bank. The below photo is The Price is Right, where everyone had to guess how much all the combined items cost. I probably loved this game because I got to take home all the items at the end :) They were mostly things that I didn't know I needed (butt paste? portable diaper trash bags? special baby Q-tips?) or didn't know which brand to buy (diapers and pacifiers: I had no idea where to even start), so walking out of there with it all bagged up for me was really helpful. 

Amazing cake, no? You should make friends with your local Whole Foods Cake Decorator and invite him to your parties. That's what we do.

Fall wardrobe tip: these cardigans are at Target and they're like $22. All your friends are wearing them...or maybe that's just me.

Really, it was such a swell time. Tim and I walked away that night feeling our first sense of "readiness" for New Tab to arrive. Between our own purchases, the two showers, and some early Christmas presents, we have all the must-haves: crib, stroller, car-seat, rocking chair, a few gender neutral outfits to get us started, some nursing and diapering essentials...that's all you need to bring home a baby, right? I hope so.

A word about the registry process: it was so overwhelming for me! And as I got started with some  early research on products I had a sneaking suspicion that the baby industry was out to try to fool me into thinking I had to have all their stuff just as like the wedding industry tried to do. Sneaky advertising campaigns. Plus, I just didn't have the time to tackle it during wedding season. My solution was to hand the bar-code scanner to my mother. I figured; she raised three babies, she knows what I need better than I do. We chose a nationwide chain store (Target) because she's in Florida and I'm in Illinois, and she picked out all of the things she knew I would really need. It turned out to be a great experience for her to get into the groove of grandmotherhood and it helped me so much. Then I went online and made the changes I wanted to the registry that she started for me. I also paid attention to what my friends use the most with their babies, asked them lots of questions, and even looked up their still-active registries online for specific product information when I needed it. 

we threw a "baby shower"

My husband has a brother, and his brother has a wife, and his wife is almost done growing their first little baby.
WE ARE SO EXCITED!!

This is Amanda and Paul. Their child will obviously be better looking than any of us.

Tim and I are beyond excited to become an aunt and uncle! We're so excited we threw a party.

It started off as a baby shower, but then it couldn't be just for girls because Tim HATES gender-specific gatherings, LOVES this baby, and would never stand to not be included in this.  So it became a co-ed baby shower. Then we decided to ditch the traditional baby shower games, so it was a co-ed baby shower with no games...and by then it was starting to not seem like a baby shower at all so we wondered if we could bring wine? Amanda didn't have a problem with us toasting to her baby so we just decided to turn it into a dinner party with presents for the baby and wine for everyone but Amanda party.
And it was a blast! Girls, when you get knocked up, come to me. I will throw you this kind of party.

Little baby shoes! I die. And must capture it on my iPhone.

We normally have a big flat screen TV sitting atop this credenza, but I didn't want it's foreboding presence in the room during the party, so it was banished to the guest room and I thereby gained enough room for 4 people to sit! Win. 

This is Keane. He's a happy guy.

And since we needed a picture of the four of us together, here we are clutching confetti and then throwing it everywhere:

"Hey guys, can we do that cheesy picture where you're both making a heart on Amanda's belly? Just for kicks, really, no one will think you're being serious."

  And then they couldn't stop laughing long enough to try to take the picture.

Until they did. Thanks Paul :)

"Mon petit Chou" is French for "my little cabbage", a classic term of endearment.

And don't worry. As soon as this baby is born I will plaster his or her picture all over this blog for years to come.