Showered with Love

So I'm finally getting around to blogging about my baby shower that was on Saturday, August 14. I've been so incredibly busy (aka stressed out) with multiple work events that any free time I get I use to relax and decompress. I was so stressed out the Friday before the shower that I actually broke down at work and started crying. Thankfully most people had already gone home for the day so I didn't have to worry about making a scene in front of others - I hate crying in front of people. This is the first week in a few that my Outlook calendar isn't booked solid and I'm totally looking forward to it. I love my job but when it gets so busy that I get stressed out, I don't like it so much; especially this far along in my pregnancy. The last thing I need is my job sending me into early labor.
I had a hard time picking out all the decorations for the baby shower because there were a lot of different ideas I had in my head. When I went to Party City I would pick a design, start loading the items in my cart, go down the next aisle, see another design I liked better and have to start over. I did that at least three times before finally deciding on a paisley design. I was really trying to bring in other colors than pink because I'm just not a pink fan. I like it in small quantities but not as a main color. The paisley design I found had green, purple, pink, blue, and orange so it was perfect; and I absolutely love paisley so I was sold. I had Cupcake Craving make four different flavors for me: carrot cake, lemon meringue, black forest, and strawberry angel food. I put together some great prize gifts with items from Bath and Body Works for the games Jamie put together. While I was at work on Friday my mom went to Costco and Raley's to get the turkey pinwheels, cheese and crackers, fruit, and Crystal Light. I mulled over what to do for favors for a long time and just decided on a bag of sweet treats with the tag reading, "All the sweet things a baby brings..."

We decorated with balloons, streamers, baby feet confetti (which Jody helped me punch out), and my favorite part, the clotheslines hung with onesies and my maternity photos. We had the shower in my community's clubhouse which I had never been in before and it worked out perfectly. We played Guess Mama's Belly Size, Baby Items Price is Right, Trivia about Mom-to-Be, and Guess the Celebrity Baby. Jamie even had Guess the Baby Food but we ended up not having enough time to play it, though I still tasted a few of them to see if I could tell what they were. Mallory was definitely showered with love that day and received lots of wonderful gifts. She got more clothes in that one day than I think I have in my whole closet, and of course they are all adorable outfits! Girl clothing is so much more fun than boy clothing. I felt so blessed that day to be surrounded by family and friends who have shown nothing but love and support throughout this journey. And I know there were others that couldn't make it that day that wished they could have been, and I missed them greatly but I know they were there in spirit.

At the end of the day, I was so incredibly happy with how everything turned out. The anticipation of planning was all worth it in the end. Now that Mallory has been showered with love with a baby shower I can now focus all of my excitement on waiting for her arrival. Of course there are still things that I need to get done around the house before she gets here though I don't think we'll ever be completely ready. I'm thisclose to being done with her nursery; I just have a couple of paintings that I want to do and a mobile that I need to make. I'm striving to have those things done before the end of the month so I can use my last month to just relax before she gets here. I'm betting that I won't make it to my due date anyway, so I don't think I'll have too much time on my hands anyway.

Thank you again to all who made my baby shower a memory that I'll never forget!