showered with love

i am officially overwhelmed from my shower on saturday. the generosity of my friends, family & coworkers has me totally blown away! barring a few minor items (high chair, breast pump, nursing stool & cradle sheets) we are pretty much all set for this baby girl! my friends who organized (& mom who cooked way too much food of course!) were amazing! my house looked so cute & fun. the theme was 'born to rock' and it was all guitars & bright colors, no pastels in site. everyone seemed to have a really good time & i was surprised (shocked!) at how long it took to open all the presents! it really takes me by surprise when people want to do nice things for me, i just never expect it. i'm not used to be spoiled & i have to say it felt really nice!

i really do have the best friends & family. i couldn't even feel like something was missing by the hub's family not being there. while he has made up with his mom she still wouldn't come. which is fine- i respect that. but we didn't even get a chance to invite anyone else. it probably would have been weird to have aunts & cousins there when the mother-in-law wasn't. but still... it would have been nice to have family all together.

there were a few people who didn't show that i missed. a couple of girlfriends, my 2 aunts couldn't make it & my cousin & goddaughter had an emergency. but with everyone that was there it was a full house! i was really happy with how everything turned out. and my dress- i got tons of compliments. once i download photos i'll have to post a few.
my mom & sister stayed until yesterday afternoon, it was so nice to visit with them. we went to tar.get to exchange the only 2 duplicate items i got along with some bassinet sheets i bought the day before to see if they fit my cradle (totally didn't). i had a few gift cards & my sis wanted to get me even more things since she felt she didn't do anything to help plan the party. i thought she was ridiculous. but you can't stop her because she physically blocks me from paying. all i could do was toss my gift cards at the cashier & hope she didn't spend too much. which of course she did. caiden's a very lucky spoiled little girl already! i'll have to teach her some good manners!

our friends stayed over with their 3 month old. it was so sweet because she went down to the basement with the boys (the hub, her dad & my best friend's boyfriend) the hub was getting tons of practice, although i doubt he changed a single diaper. seeing him with her was such a great experience though. he's never really around babies, especially not infants. he found one toy that was like baby vali.um- a ba.by ein.stein musical thing & she was just fascinated by it. he would carry her around when she got fussy & my heart was swelling about 3 times it's size. i know he is just as excited as i am, but seeing it right in front of me- i can't wait!

the pups were exceptionally good with an infant in the house also. granted- they were extremely worn out from saturday, but they just went up to the little one & sniffed her, chase wanted to get in really close, but he's a little too big. he sat when he was told to & despite his obsession with squeaky toys, he actually listened when we told him they were not for him. roxy just pushed her little nose in & gave the baby tons of kisses. the baby has never really been around dogs & just looked at her with this confused look. 'my other toys don't do that- i don't know about this one'. they were very good though & i was proud of them. chase got a little needy after everyone left- so we'll have to keep up the training, but make sure they know we still love them, but i think they'll be just fine.

all in all- it was an exciting, wonderful, emotional & exhausting weekend. we have our last childbirth class tonight & then the first steps to parenting class tomorrow. wednesday i should get my check from the closing (which is allocated before i get so i don't think i have tons of money to spend!) and all my debt will be paid off! except of course for the mortgage... i can even probably afford all of my 10 weeks of maternity leave & getting those last few items i want. hopefully next week goes well as it's my 36 week appointment, group b strep test & just for fun- an audit. (which shouldn't be a big deal i just really don't want to go through it!) life is counting down to her arrival & it feels very fast now. i am actually doing baby laundry this week. little socks & hats in a bag have got to be the cutest things i've ever seen!