Baby Shower and Nursery Update

What an amazing and wonderful Baby Shower I had last weekend!!  Where do I even start? 

My mom, my sisters (Heather and Diana), and two of my dearest friends (Stacey and Bethany) all worked together to plan an amazing baby shower for me and my Lil Pea.  The shower was on Saturday afternoon.  I was worried when I heard there was supposed to be snow and freezing rain on Friday night, but I held out hope that the weather forecaster had gotten it wrong.  Sadly, he did not… When I woke up Saturday there was a nice layer of both covering our cul de sac.  Poop! 

In spite of the weather, the turn out to my shower was awesome!  There are no words to describe how lucky and blessed I am to have such wonderful people in my life – in our lives!  My Aunt and cousin even came down from Delaware; my awesome and fearless Uncle brought them down. 

When I got to the shower, my sisters met me at the door and ushered me into a classroom of the church it was held in.  They had an outfit for me to wear, a little girl Pea for a headband and a customized “There’s a Pea in my Pod” shirt. 

Me!

Everything at the shower was Pea themed!  The details were amazing, from the peas in the punch (grapes, really) to the green pea colored lanterns to the names on the food (like Chick-PEA Mash was hummus).  My Dad even made a Jala-PEA-ño bread roll; it made my day that even my Dad got involved.  Anyway, the decorations were fantastic and set the tone for a fun and festive experience.  My Mom got pictures from Richard and his mom and built an awesome slide show with pictures of us as babies and from our youth.  We were super cute kids, lol! 

Decorations!

PEA themed food!!  So tastey!

Baby Sara

Baby Richard

Sara's Smurfing Birthday!

Richard's blue berry pancakes

Oh, so, the Planning Committee decided there should be music.  My Mom went on the hunt and found a digital copy of an album I had as a child.  It’s a Smurf record; yes, like a vinyl record.  So, I’m standing back in the food line when I hear the first song (apparently Mom was in the front of the room slowly turning it up until I noticed).  Well, I recognized the sound immediately, but I couldn’t place it.  I started to bounce in place a little, right.  I’m asking Heather, “Where do I know this from… I know I know this?”  Then it hits me.  It’s the Smurf record that we used to listen to on our Fisher Price Record Player when we were little.  I started laughing and teared up a little.  Suddenly, I was rushed with all these memories of my childhood… playing on the dark green carpet that was in our room, dancing to the Cookie Monster Disco.  And then it hit me… we’re having a baby and she’s going to have her own experiences like this.  She’s going to build her own memories.  And the tears that had been just laughter were overtaken by hormones.  It was just a little overwhelming, I guess.  Mom was worried for a moment that she’d upset me, but I assured her it was all right.  Just me having a silly hormonal moment.  I was a little embarrassed, though. 

Once I collected myself, we all ate some of the awesome food the Planning Committee made and then got started on some games.  They even gave away some door prizes.  The Planning Committee made some homemade truffles as gifts.  I hear they’re pretty tasty, though I haven’t gotten to eat one yet.  (Richard rations my sweets, lol!)  One of the games played was Musical Chairs!  It seemed, at the start, no one wanted to play (or believed that they would really make us play).  Once we got going, the game got a little competitive!  I was booted off my chair pretty early and I was actually a little grateful.  It looked dangerous!  Haha! 

Musical Chairs!!

Then we cut the cake, which was super cute and very tasty!  My cake was quickly stolen by Stacey so that I could start opening presents.  I tried to go quickly, but there were quite a few stacked up!!  Lil Pea is going to be a well stocked baby.  I cannot even begin to express my gratitude for the generosity of my family and friends.  We appreciate it so much!!  We got a lot of things we really needed and some things we didn’t know we needed.  All will be used, loved, and deeply appreciated. 

Lil Pea Cake

After gifts, my sisters wanted to know if I wanted to judge a contest they’d done.  Everyone had been given a onesie or a bib with some fabric markers.  They’d been asked to design a onesie for Lil Pea.  Well, there was no way I could pick just one with all the fabulous designs on display.  I didn’t realize until Mom told me yesterday that they could be washed and worn!  I can’t wait to dress her up in them, haha!

Onesies Clothes Line

Sunday, I wasn’t feeling very well.  I suspect I was just a little worn out from all the activity the week before (I’d been doing a lot of cleaning and running around, then my shower).  I had some pretty bad back pain and was feeling all around yucky.  So, my amazing Mom came over and hung out with me for the day while Richard was at work.  We unpacked all of Lil Pea’s new things and started to organize her room.  



Glider Corner



Crib (see the lanterns from the shower!)

Changing Table

Dresser, Lil Pea picture, the corner of the Pack-n-Play...

Closet!

           

All in all it was a fantastic day and I couldn’t be happier!!  I’m so excited that she’s so close to joining us and so grateful that she’s going to be born into such a loving group of people!