Bridal Brunch

A few Salem ladies and friends got together to celebrate Allison's upcoming nuptials! For me it was a chance to see some great old friends, catch up and have a meal with two hands! I left the babies in dad's capable hands and headed to Village Tavern in Winston-Salem to celebrate Allison! I did run into a small brush fire on the way, with several fire trucks parked on the highway just a half mile from my exit. Doh!

Jen Pounders Frick was our fabulous hostess, and baby Tabor came along too! I got to hold him, that sweet little fellow. He was a champ, sleeping for most of the shower. We decorated with some quick banners and balloons that Jen brought and we were ready for our guests!

There were games, there were gifts, there was a generally good time had by all...and of course, the food! I love to eat at VT and it's always hard to choose because I like everything I've ever gotten from there. But we had a great time catching up and even poking a little fun at the bride to be! I miss my Gramley girls and can't wait to see them a little more this summer!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

We attended a shower to welcome Mary Eileen's little girl and it fell on St. Patrick's Day. I was more than excited to dress Lila up for the occasion, and even more excited to find that Emily and Lincoln would be there. We happened to arrive at the exact same time, and Kelly was right behind us with baby Emily. The ones with babies are always 10 minutes late!

This was the first Salem event I'd been to where EVERY single one of us was already a mommy or expecting. What a fun day! We shared our birthing/pregnancy/silly baby stories and had a good time. And, of course, continued to discuss Lila and Link's arranged marriage.

Showered with love

My Salem friends threw me an amazing shower to celebrate the impending arrival of baby Lila. We planned it for MLK weekend so our out-of-town guests could attend without rushing, and we had a blast! Lizard and Stephie came for the weekend to clean and set up, and we had dinner with some other Salem friends Friday night. We had a good ol' fashioned sleepover with chatting and catching up, baby stories and the like. I managed to stay up until about 2am, which is pretty good for a preggers, and finally had to hit the hay. The girls stayed up and with the help of Jay, finished up some "diaper decor" for the shower.

On Saturday morning, we all took our time getting up and ready. We had a few hours before the guests would arrive, but it was nice to have time to catch up and relax a bit. Lizard and Stephanie got busy straightening and shopping, preparing and decorating. When it was all said and done, everything was perfect! A beautiful mix of black, white, pink and diapers to welcome our baby girl!

We had so much food! Dips and sandwiches, shrimp and veggies, fruits and cheese, cookies and some of the most adorable cupcakes you've ever seen! Lizard even whipped up a "taste of home", adding bubbly water to lemonade like they do in Germany. It was perfect!

We had a great time playing games, opening gifts, swapping more baby stories and catching up with old friends. Who would have thought, when we were all hanging out on Clewell Patio and in Bitting basement, that this is where we'd end up?

28 weeks

Well somehow we've flown right to the third trimester! It's gone by so fast but we still have so far to go, it seems.

Hayden is crazy in his activity lately, bouncing all over the place. He feels much bigger as well, and continues to wake me up in the middle of the night (several times) to use the bathroom.

Next weekend is my baby shower with my Anvil troop ladies, and I can't wait! My friends are awesome, and I'm excited to spend some fun time with them amidst ducks, frogs and dinos! As a result I've been put on baby-shopping-hiatus so there's something left for my friends to buy for Hayden! We got Hayden's Itsy Bitsy Spider seat from Heidi last week, and I can't wait to put him in it. Thanks, Heidi! We also got some cute new clothes from one of Jay's soldier friends, David, and it seems like baby clothes get cuter and cuter. It's hard to resist the urge to wash and organize everything, but I'm trying to put that off until closer to the end.

Now seems like a good time to start making and finalizing lists...packing list for the hospital, our birthing plan, our contact list, etc. We've also decided that Oscar should get a new bed right before Hayden gets here, so he doesn't feel left out. It's fun getting the house ready for all my boys!