Baby Shower!

On Sunday, two of the girls at the Outback threw a baby shower for me. It was very sweet of them and they did a wonderful job - especially since this was their first baby shower ever! The biggest surprise of all, however, was when our doorbell rang on Saturday around 5:30pm and on our front porch was Jeannie and Janelle! They drove up just for the shower! I couldn't believe it...I even cried! Neal had cleaned the entire house from top to bottom on Friday night and Saturday morning under the guise of it being my "baby shower gift from him". Of course, he knew his mom and sister were coming, but it doesn't really matter, my house is clean and I didn't have to clean it! So that was definitely a good gift regardless of the reason!

Saturday night we had a great visit with our surprise guests, Sunday morning we all went to church, then the girls and I headed to the baby shower.

This is the giant card from the group of Outback employees who could not attend the shower because they were working. They took up a collection and bought us great practical stuff...4 packages of diapers, 3 boxes of 300 wipes each, baby shampoo, wash, lotion, and some nursing supplies, and several little rattles, teethers and cute new toys.

These are the two hostesses, Mallory is on my right and Diane is on my left.

This is the yummy spread the girls put together.

Here is a close up of the cake...Diane did this herself, she is very talented with baking and is always bringing in stuff to work for everyone.

Here I am with my girls, they had so much fun being little ladies.

There were several games - SIX to be exact!
One was guessing the number of M&Ms in the jar...Madeline got the closest with a guess of 448 and won the jar of M&Ms, we were so proud of her and she was beaming with joy!

Another game was guessing the melted candy in the diaper, it was pretty gross, but remember that my shower was being given by high school and college kids...This picture is one of the only guy(Dirk) brave enough to attend the shower and participating in the diaper game. (He is the only other parent that I work with other than my manager, so showers aren't too weird to him.) He brought his son Parker who is looking on with great confusion particularly since he is toilet training right now! I hope this didn't mess him up!
They didn't stay long, but it was very thoughtful for them to stop by.

The girls helped with the present opening while Jeannie recorded the gifts for me. Janelle was our photographer and we realized too late that we did not get any pictures of her! I am hoping one of the other girls did...
Here is the group of girls that attended.

After the shower we went home to rest and change then Jeannie took us all out to BJs for dinner.
Afterwards we walked around the OU campus, then headed home for more rest and visiting. Jeannie and Janelle left in the pouring rain Monday morning. I am so thankful that they came!

Monday evening was my last night to work at the Outback for the next 12 weeks! I am so excited to have this time with my family and our new baby.

Here is a picture of me in my lovely Outback uniform last night after work...yes, they make maternity tops!

I think I made a valiant effort working as long as possible with this type of job. I continued to work 4 nights a week, 6 to 10 hour shifts depending on the day, on my feet the entire time, no breaks, no sitting down, no food all the way to 38 weeks and 4 days into this pregnancy, now it is time to take a break!

I have spent today pulling out baby stuff - the car seat, swing, bouncy, gender neutral clothing, etc., setting up our room with a changing station, and getting everything washed. My mom is bringing our cradle when she comes since Melissa borrowed it for Avery, so that is the only thing we will need right away that I don't have yet.

The pregnancy ticker at the top says 9 more days, but I am expecting that to be extended a bit since the other kids have been 5 to 10 days late...Anyway, most of the projects and preparation are finished and we are very ready to meet this little one whenever he or she arrives. We will keep you all updated as things progress!