Baby Shower

So a couple of weeks ago my friends and family threw us an amazing baby shower.

The threw it at my parents house and it was a gorgeous day; it was so special to have so many of the important people in my life celebrate our little man with us. We were so touched with the hard work that went into the party. There were alot of people there and everything was just so special, I loved it! Instead of a guest book they had alphabet coloring pages that they'll put into a book for the baby. The theme was birds and trees and Mama K outdid herself with handmade birdie garland and little birds and birdcages all around. The trees were easy since my parents live in the middle of nowhere!

just one picture of one of the strings of garland. Its hard to tell here but the picture frames are filled with my siblings and my wedding pictures and the one closest to the camera is the hubs and I.

One of my oldest friends, T, made the cake and it was soo delicious. Each slice had four layers filled with lemon curd and a marscapone cheese filling. It was soo delicious!!! I normally don't eat cake but I still drool thinking about that one!

Another friend Eminstiches made these awesome bird nest favors! They were so cute and tasty!

My siblings were in charge of the food and they didn't disappoint, I've never seen such a spread at a shower. There were other tables full of food as well.

We were completely floored by the generosity of our friends and family. I loved this onsie it says Mommy + Daddy = Me :)
It was such a great day celebrating Baby B and seeing friends old and new. I'm so thankful to have such wonderful people in our lives. We are so blessed.

The difference a year makes

It was a year ago today that we lost our first little angel. I vividly remember so much of that experience; physical pain, emotional pain, anger, hurt, grief. I know that God has done so much in me this year through that loss. It is weird to me to think that if it didn't happen I'd be holding a five month old baby right now. I'm technically full term right now and our little boy could make his arrival at any time. I know that I cherish this pregnancy more knowing that I'm blessed to be able to carry this little one. I really find it hard to complain about the normal pregnancy stuff because I'm just so happy to be pregnant. I do find myself talking about it a bit just because its whats going on but to be honest; I don't mind not sleeping, I don't mind the pelvic pain, I don't mind the doctors appointments and I don't mind the swelling. I'm so overjoyed to carry this little boy and will carry with me the memory of my first little one forever. I know that one thing he taught me was to be grateful for what I do have. I'm so grateful for both of my little ones, for my wonderful husband, incredible friends and family; we have so much.
The one thing I'd say to anyone going through that is to seek to see what you have learned. Seek to see the positives. When you go through something that hard sometimes it is easy to get sucked into bitterness and anger but that won't help you get through it. Take it easy on yourself though because you can't be suzie sunshine all the time, sometimes you just might need a good cry.

Nursery

So we're in our 37th week here and anxiously anticipating the birth of this little guy. I'm totally loving watching him moving around my belly though, I will miss having him inside of me. Things are definitely getting real; we have the nursery together, bags packed and carseat installed. When we left church on Sunday I realized that there are only a couple more times that we'll be leaving church and its just me and the hubs. The nursery is done, clothes are washed and put away, diapers are washed and put away. There are a few things left to do; like scrub the house and bake an insane amount of dinners and snacks.
Without further ado, here is a look at the nursery.
This is a look at the corner of the room; I love the crate that holds the books you can't see it but it the fabric has awesome numbers and letters in different fonts. The books were the wishing well at the shower, we really got some amazing books that I've been enjoying reading to Baby B already. I have some handmade things from when I was little the Strawberry Shortcake figures were made for me by my sister and there is a little duck finger puppet that my cousin made me. We've been calling this baby our lobster because thats how he looked in the ultrasound and there is a cute lobster hat from his Auntie and Uncle. I also love his Piggy Bank gifted from Eminstiches. Our quilt is also hung here, the theme of the nursery is birds and trees but its really just a loose theme.
I love this crazy mobile. Last Christmas I used some money I received to purchase some things for our nursery. This was before we found out we were pregnant and I was so happy to find out a few weeks later that we were expecting. The birdies are Christmas ornaments from Anthropologie, and I just really liked all the colors, a few of them have little shiny bits as well. Baby B will have a good amount to look at there!!
This is a pic of the shelf above the crib. The garland was decoration from my shower made by Mama K, the cute birdie print is from Mama K as well (you can't tell here but the birds totally match the ribbon from the mobile!). The cross is St. Brigids cross, if Baby B was a girl his name was going to be Brigid after this saint. The cross is made by weaving reeds from the River Shannon, to me its just a beautiful way of using God's creation to tell the story of redemption. The angel is hope, because we hoped and prayed for this little boy.
We received some really beautiful homemade goodies for Baby B; the Froggie was made for me by Eminstitches, this blanket was made by Granny Dirkey for Baby B. When he's born I'm going to be posting some more of the handmade goodies we received, I really do treasure the hard work that goes into those types of gifts.
I love this present that we received; its Baby B's name, meaning and a scripture (2nd Chronicles 16:9 "The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. "). My friend did the calligraphy herself and I love that its the first thing that we see when coming into the nursery.
here's a look into the room with the little toy basket and hamper at the base of the bed. I really like how the room turned out. We purposefully wanted it to be pretty gender neutral (in hopes of future little ones) and think we accomplished this. Every time I look around I see all the love that surrounds our family and Baby Ben; he is so blessed to have so many wonderful people in his life.