Baby Shower Number 1

Last Saturday was my first baby shower. My mom, sister, and Kay (mom's friend of many many years who is practically family) hosted. 20-30 women came to my parent's house to shower me and Baby V & Z with love and gifts. To be 100% honest it was overwhelming having so many people there just for me. I felt so honored that these women would care enough to take the time to buy a gift and give up several hours of their weekend to spend their afternoon in a room full of women where they might only know a few other ladies. People drove from great distances too, some as far as 3 hours, just to spend a few hours of their day with me. It's humbling. I don't deserve it. "Thank you" doesn't seem like enough. But from the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much! Some of these friends I haven't seen in months or years and some are brand new to the world! My friend, Hannah, brought her baby Simeon, and my cousin and his wife came with their 6 week (or thereabouts) old baby, Micah, who I hadn't met before. It's weird to see your friends or family have kids until you realize you are joining that weirdness. It's like I'm a grown up or something.

The shower was llama themed. Before guests arrived I took some pictures:

Party Favors: Llama shaped bath bombs with labels and everything!

My dress. That bump's gettin' big.

llama llama llama llama

Llamacorns (from Sue for Christmas) guarding the mantle of clothing. Yeah, I didn't know llamacorns were a thing either.

Bethany made Harleys out of diapers. They were strung together with tights and socks and wearing teething rings as bracelets with sippy cup head lights. My dad has a Harley so there has been a lot of Harley baby stuff floating around since my niece was born. (Most of it pink!)

Elephants. You can't really tell but these stuffed elephants are each holding baby elephants. If you don't know why elephants are significant go back and read my blog about it. This is our family in elephant representation!

The shower started at 1. There was loads of food - all homemade by the hostesses. The chicken salads and pastas and dips and veggies and cheeses and crackers were all delicious but my favorite thing will always be dessert. Bethany made a homemade cheesecake. She asked if I wanted any toppings other than fresh raspberries. I said I wanted cherry goop and she said, "like cherry pie filling?" I said, "yes!" She said, "I am not putting canned cherry pie filling on that masterpiece of a homemade cheesecake!" I said, "you asked what I wanted. I want cherry goop." Guess what? I got the goop (in a pretty dish on the side.) And it was delicious. Mom gave me the llama cookie cutter so I can make llama cookies of my very own in all my free time now!

Everyone ate and mingled for at least an hour. I tried to make the rounds and talk to everyone. There were neighbors, elementary school, high school and college friends, church friends, family, family friends - you get the gist. Since I don't like games (If I have to play one more round of baby shower bingo I'll lose it) I requested we didn't do any "stupid" ones. I guess they were afraid to find something not "stupid" so they went with no games. We started gifts. And woah buddy did that take a long time. There were so many. They seemed to keep multiplying. Every 15 minutes or so Bethany's alarm went off and the person whose gift I was opening got a door prize, so I guess she snuck a "game" in there after all.

The gifts. I don't even know where to begin. So many clothes. Like I really don't think I'll have to buy another outfit until they are a year old. And little girl clothes are so stinking cute. Not one single thing did I pull out of a bag and think "well that's not cute." It's all love and hearts and unicorns and panda bears and birds and ruffle butts and pure joy wrapped up into every piece of clothing. Some of the colors are so VIBRANT. Like I want matching shirts of equal vibrancy.

One of my aunts guessed the names the day after I posted about choosing the names. She had custom racks (like for clothes or towels or anything that hangs) and baby blankets made with their names on them. They are obviously not pictured below because not all y'all have played the name guessing game yet but they are so precious and I cannot wait to find the perfect place for them in the nursery. 

I am also very excited about the decor. One of my childhood best friends and her mom got me all the shelving I registered for along with a picture frame and some llama book ends and a wood sign with a bible verse on it. I am SO EAGER to decorate the nursery and am thrilled that I have some stuff to get started with now. I also got the lamp I registered for so I have some light when I read to them at night or when I don't want to stumble around in the dark to feed them in the wee hours. It is simple, white, chic. It will fit in with the white furniture nicely.

There were so many other intentional and heartfelt gifts. I couldn't possibly list them all but I'll point out some things in the pictures below. The gift unwrapping ended somewhere around 4 o'clock and by 5 everyone had left and all the gifts were as consolidated as we could get them to fit in my car. My dad played gift tetrus and fit everything in the trunk and back seat with ease. When I got home Sunday afternoon Alex unloaded the car onto the dining room table. We have a massive dining room table - at least 12 feet long. The whole thing was FULL. I don't even understand.

It's been a tiring week (not sleeping much thanks to some pains and sudden insomnia that has shown up) but last night I finally started to organize everything into piles so I can slowly begin to take it upstairs and get everything in place before my next shower in February. Here's a summary of what the baby girls were given:

1. All the cards! I keep every card I'm given. I have since high school. I have every single card from our wedding in a basket in the front room. I flip through them from time to time. Cards aren't so commonly used anymore so I like having the physical paper with the pretty pictures and flowing text and words of love and support from friends and family. I will keep these all together and remember this day. 

2. Clothes, sorted by size! A lot of 0-3 and 3-6 month clothes. Plenty of 6-9, 9-12 and 12-18 as well! I would totally upload a picture of every single adorable item but I figure no one wants to see hundreds of pictures. Just know everything is adorable. I also got a nursing sweater shawl thing that will prove to be helpful when nursing. It lays open when you want it to and has snaps around the collar so you can drape it around a breastfeeding baby without showing the world your goods.

3. Diapers! The lose diapers were all the diapers used to make the wheels of the harleys. Then we have some packaged diapers, wipes, birp clothes, a changing pad (not pictured, it arrived in the mail Tuesday) and changing pad covers!

4. Bottle/breastfeeding stuffs - Dr. Brown's bottle set, different nipples for different ages (somebody get me a book on baby bottles/bottling my milk. I know nothing. Legit didn't know there were different nipple sizes until I registered for them), sippy cups, nipple pad things, nipple cream (you know, the fun stuff). Then we have health and wellness and bathing essentials complete with all the bath time stuff a gal could ask for and two ducky hooded towels. The lazy susan thing in the bottom right corner spins - super excited about that.

5. Llama cups from mom. These are really for Alex and me because we are 12 and drink out of plastic cups at home!

6 Organizer/on the go stuffs - organizers to put on the back of the cars in the *ahem* mom van we'll soon own, portable bottle cooler, diaper bags, bottle cleaner container thing, stroller accessories.

7. Rattles galore! And a baby lounger. I only registered for one. I figured I'd see how they like it and then maybe buy another one with gift cards. We've received several gift cards through the mail or at the shower to be used toward bigger items. We haven't figured out what stroller we want yet and need some car seats still so they will definitely be put to good use!

8. Stuffed animals - zebras and elephants and little baby llama ty keychains that say they are from Peru! (Not actually from Peru, but you remember ty (beanie babies), right? They all have names and little poems and origin stories). Then books and books and books including a twins tracking book and individual baby books for each of them. I am DETERMINED to track their lives together and separately the first few years of their lives if it kills me. The bucket was from Kay with a lot of the bath supplies in it. I'm sure it will get put to good use once I get organized.

9. This step stool. So cute! They will use it in a couple of years to reach the sink. Until then it's just cute. Mom also suggested it be the "time out stool" once they are old enough to get themselves into needing a time out. I like that idea.

10. Teethers, pacifiers, pacifier clips, sippygrips, bibs, socks, hats, head bands. There are cloth and plastic bibs of all different colors, shapes, and sizes. A friend told me to never underestimate the number of bibs you will need on a given day so this selection ought to last me at least a week. haha. There is a special set that my voice teacher's mom embroidered for me with singing llamas on them!

11. Some of the bigger items have come in the mail at various points and some were opened on Saturday. Swings, bouncers, an umbrella stroller, play mats, diaper genie and probably some other things I have forgotten. (I love nemo so I was particularly excited about that playing mat.)

Well there you have it. I'm still overwhelmed with gratitude. These babes are so loved already. I can't wait to use all of these items and remember each person that gave them to me. They say it is more blessed to give than it is to receive, but I feel pretty darn blessed right about now.