Hello World!

Ethan James Born Wednesday August 17th at 8:24 am

Showered with Love

It’s amazing and humbling the people that gather to celebrate new parents and babies. I am so incredibly blessed.

I had three showers – a work shower, a family/Longview shower, and a Kleinwood church shower. Each had wonderful turn outs, wonderful surprises, and wonderful hostesses.

First was my work shower hosted by CA.

It was kind of an owl/book theme (which go perfectly together) at a restaurant near work.

Susan made Owl cupcakes and Toblerone cupcakes and a book banner (not pictured b/c I forgot to get it from my work computer before I left)

Lindsay decorated her diaper cake with owls and books as well. Lindsay, don't hate me for forgetting the pictures! Trust me guys, it was super cute! And they were made with those cute denim diapers.

And I got great gifts! I got a bouncy seat/swing. A Diaper Genie. Cash. Tons of Babies R Us gift cards. And tons of books!

Then, as a surprise on 4^th of July weekend, Jay’s mother’s side threw me a little “shower.” Since they’re from out of town they weren’t going to be able to make it to the church shower. I got a lamp, clothes, a diaper organizer with supplies, and my glider!

Ignore the stuff in the crib. Don't worry, it's all cleaned out :)

Just a couple weeks later, my aunt hosted a shower in my honor in Longview, my hometown (kinda). Several women from the church I grew up in, my mom’s friends, and of course family members.

One of my favorite gifts was the cup my aunt got me so that I drink lots of water during the shower! 

I got a lot of great gifts. I was able to get my stroller & car seat travel system. My sister got me a lot of cute onesies, Cowboys stuff, and A&M stuff. My Grandma Dorothy got me an A&M blanket with a built in pillow (you can see it in the crib of the glider picture. I know, I already told you to ignore it). One person owns a boutique in Longview, Ellie Bee’s, and her stuff was amazing too!

My friend, Courtney, embroidered a wipes case, burp cloth, and bib. Look how beautiful!

Her Etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/heknowsyourname

Some other aunts made me a diaper wreath that was pretty cool!

I got so much cute stuff, I can’t name it all!

Then just a couple weeks ago, I had my church shower. I attend Kleinwood church of Christ in Spring. It is the congregation my husband grew up in, so everyone knows him, but people are just now getting to know me. However, I had a wonderful, better than expected, turn out!

Some cute things with this shower:

delicious cake balls… I ate at least 10 of them!

I hung this on his wall

There was a banner made that I'm bringing to the hospital because it's precious and has his name on it. There was also another diaper cake. Neither of which I got a picture of, oops!

Some of my favorite gifts were some embroidered receiving blankets, Luv U Jumperoo, and Johnny Jumper. I got a lot of sweet clothes and things I needed like bottles and such. My mother-in-law, seeing as how this is her first grandbaby, went crazy shopping, so I got too much to mention from her. And of course, we can’t forget the Lemon Drop products!

Cupcake Onesie, Lollipop blanket, plush toy

Bouquet of Wash Cloths

Crinkle Toy

canvas bag (it will be Ethan's church bag)

There was also a memo board, but she forgot to take a picture, and I'm too lazy (p.s. as I'm typing this my husband is came home from work and said "where's lazy butt?" - yeah, that's me!).

However, some of the greatest gifts weren’t tangible. My friends Jordan, Tracy, her husband Jared painted and put up the chair railing in Ethan’s room.

I wish I would have taken pictures of the room beforehand. It was bad. We even called it the homosexual room. (When we moved in last year, it was supposed to be a guest room/office and we were going to paint it, so I told my husband to put 3 different blues on the wall and we’ll decide from there. He did. But he also wrote on the wall “Jared (above) loves men.” I think this is the main reason they were so eager to help us. But not only that but the room was covered in clouds! And a terrible chair railing.)

Also, my mom was a huge asset. She did everything from putting away clothes to shampooing the carpet. She was amazing.

THEN… (I know! It keeps coming! People must know how helpless I am!) CA came over and helped even more!

The only things left are the window treatments (my dad will help with these), hang letters that spell “Ethan” on the wall, and hang Chinese lanterns above his crib. Then it will be done. However, it’ll have to be done after he’s born because that’s when my dad is coming. I will post more pictures then.

Like I said, the outpouring of generosity and help and hand-me-downs is so amazing. I am so blessed. I just hope in the future I can do the same for others and pay it forward.

P.S. I only have 8 more days until Ethan’s due date!