Baby Shower!!!

Have I said lately how lucky we are? 

We have some of the sweetest, most giving family and friends.

The women behind the scenes. My sister- the hostess/creator/boss, my mom, the assistant, and Lizzie- the baby consultant.

My sister put together a woodland themed shower full of all the cutest little details.

Clearly the hedgehog cheese ball deserved his own picture.

My sister made these little cupcake toppers! 

These onsies were hung in the entryway as you walked in

I was worried, I have to admit, as we started out with a Bang. 

Literally. 

Rico's grandma missed the step down into the living room and had one of those falls where everyone stops breathing for a a good 30 seconds. 

It was one of the scarier things I have ever seen. 

She's sweet enough to come to my shower and she leaves with broken glasses and what we can only assume will be a black eye. Oh boy did I feel bad. 

Once you entered the living room (after at least 3 people now warned you about the step down)- you saw THIS!

The garland under the fireplace, and the pictures above it (Rico and I as babies) And yes, those balloons are as big as they look…HUGE.

I also felt a bit of guilt for all the things that were asked of everyone at the shower. People did a great job playing along with all the "assignments" I asked my sister to have them complete:

From filling out their own return address envelopes (which she asked them to do in the cutest possible way)

To my sister's addition of having them guess when little Eli might make his arrival. SHAME on all of you who chose my birthday! I don't mind sharing in the future (it means I'll always get to throw a themed party!) BUT I would rather NOT be in the most pain in my life ON my birthday. 

And then the thing I asked of my guests that my sister rolled her eyes at. She tolerates my sentimentality. 

She chuckles at how I make everything an event, even labor. 

So, what this time? WELL I woke up at 1 am after a Bradley class one night with my FAVORITE idea. 

We had talked about how powerful words of affirmation can be during labor. Knowing that this is one of my love languages, I took this to heart. I started thinking about Rico and I's long distance relationship time. 

It didn't go well.  

That's putting it lightly.

There are only so many ways to say, "I love you, and I wish you were here"

I figured that labor might end up this same way. 

After all, there really ARE only so many ways to say "You're doing great, I'm so proud of you"

…and what if I'm NOT doing great?

 There are sure to be moments where what I need isn't someone telling me I'm awesome, but encouraging me through my doubts. 

SO- I started pinning quotes that I thought would be helpful in labor. Quotes he could read to me. Then I thought- what if I put them on cards and had people I love write additional encouraging notes? 

Oh yeah. 

That had to happen. 

200 some quotes later…(taped lovingly onto cards by my mom)

I read a few already- and I have to say, it may have been my BEST ideas ever. Top 10 at least. My friends and family are witty, thoughtful, and encouraging. 

Even with the horrible weather- people still came.

I have one friend in particular that I was having a hard time waiting to see. You see, 

she has always been very clear on her stance on babies, ultrasounds, and all things in that realm. 

We are opposites. 

I am obsessed.

She tolerates it on her newsfeed because she loves stalking people more than she hates the "creepy" baby updates. 

I, clearly, needed to use my pregnancy to my full advantage. I let her know early (and often) that I was going to do my best to make her as uncomfortable as possible when I saw her next. 

I BELIEVE my exact words were, "I'm going to rub my belly ALL over you"

AND DID I EVER.

 I think she underestimated what I meant.

I think she thought I was just going to try to touch bellies with her. 

No. 

When I said RUB, I meant RUB.

AND RUB I DID. 

My belly literally rubbed her head, her back, her stomach, and yes, even down her legs (I am a fairly flexible pregnant lady when I have my mind on a mission)

You can't see my hand, but I literally held her head here. I took her head prisoner.

Even though it meant schlepping their babies across town- people still came.

Even though WSU was playing for their what, 1,000th win in a row? My WSU friends still made it. Like, one's who not only graduated from there- but works for them- and, I'm convinced, will some day run the place. Literally. 

Not only did people come to celebrate little Eli, they, and those who weren't able to be there, spoiled Eli with gifts.

For those that couldn't make it- I'm actually glad. You can't imagine how worried I was about everyone trying to get home. And, after a drive home to KC where we were both sweating (literally, we were drenched) in an effort to keep the car enough to warm the ice that kept building up on the windshield as we drove. Even then, we still had to pull over about every 45 minutes to scrape.

"We"…ha. Rico. Rico scraped. I sat my pregnant self in the passenger seat.

I was very happy to only be worried about Rico's aunt (who ended up on the side of the road. Yes, the daughter of the woman who may have been given a black eye. D'oh.) 

From maternity photo sessions, to outfits for EVERY possible occasion, to the the things we really NEED, to hand made blankets that you can literally FEEL the love stitched/ knitted in. 

Erik rubbed each and every one of these on his face and said, "oh- he's going to LOVE this one!" When I told him that his grandma made the yellow one he said, "I had one like this when I was little- I loved it SO much!" 

The quilt Rico's other grandma made for Eli- so many details!

The quilt from his aunt Terri…you have to see this closer up so you can see how cute it is!

I mean- could this BE any cuter? Even the back is cute! And check out his little owl! It even has his name stitched on the back!

I was blessed with such a great mixture of presents to ooooh and awww over. 

Rico walked in after the shower and I think his mouth nearly dropped.

My sister's ENTIRE informal living room was filled with presents. 

Here they all were before I ripped through them.

Later that night, he got to open them in our nursery and I got to have the fun ALL over again. 

He may not have had the perfect tissue paper to pull out, or have gotten to rip open the wrapping paper, but he sure did have a LOT of fun pulling everything out of the bags and hearing who they were all from. 

I can tell you all this- he LOVED it. He was so excited each time. 

He did a LOT of rubbing things against his face. 

Like, more than you might imagine. 

There wasn't a single ting he didn't get excited about. 

I have to say, one of the highlights of my day was actually a moment with my niece, after everyone else had left.

She was over by me and I showed her my belly and reminded her that  had a baby in there.

We weren't trying to get her to say his name this time…apparently that is a bit of a lost cause as "Eli" is FAAAAR too close to "E-I E-I Oh" and that is WAAAY more fun to say.

She (all on her own- I swear my heart melted a little) started gently rubbing my belly.

 THEN she started showing me HER belly.

Seriously, SO cute. I think she got a little jealous of my belly bumping with Maggie earlier- she did her best to re-create it.

A wonderful day, with wonderful people. 

Eli is a very lucky boy.