Baby shower (and crazy amounts of photos and pink)

So this past weekend, my mom and sister came to Georgia to throw us a baby shower.  Amazing, right?  They knew that at 34 weeks I wouldn't be able to travel to Ohio, but I never expected the support that we had.  We had family and friends come in from SEVEN states!  Holy love, right?  I was so overwhelmed with every one's support and generosity.  Baby girl is so set for when she enters the world (if her daddy and I are, is another question!)

Mom, dad and Kristen came in on Thursday night.  Friday we did some running around and just hung out until my cousins came in from Pennsylvania.  My mom's best friend's (and neighbors in Ohio) drove in as well and they stopped by to see the house on Friday too.

Then Saturday, Tom and I got up, enjoyed a nice long walk with Charlie, knowing that at 1:00, our house was going to be taken over with shower stuff.  It was awesome!

I will say, as apprehensive as I've been about having a little girl and all the pink that goes along with it, I couldn't help but smile at everything.  How can you not?  Okay, so ready for picture overload??? :)

My adorable mom and dad with some of the balloons

My sister and my mom made these chocolate lollipops

Tom surprised me with my favorite craving - iced sugar cookies and Chick-Fil-A lemonade

The awesome Costco cake.  Anyone else in love with these?

Nana-to-be and I

The bassinet and nursing pillow that one of my sister's friends gave us to borrow!

My sister and brother in law bought us a pack-n-play!

This should keep her occupied during floor time!

A portable swing

The homemade gifts from my family - my Aunt Jean made the blanket, my cousin Carolyn made her a stocking, my cousin Laurie made her the "A" and my mom actually cross stitched that picture for my cousin Anna when she was born, who gifted it to me now that she's grown.

Bath Stuff

Girl's clothes - too cute

Personalized gifts. And I'll quote "every Southern girl needs a personalized diaper cover". :)

This is the baby of a triathlete for sure

My mom and sister asked that people give us a book instead of a card which we loved... she has a good collection started on her bookcase!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sobbed when I got this.  My grandma bought this for Abigail 5 days before she passed away.  I will give it to her when she is older. :)

My friends Jenn and Matt made us a diaper bike.  Seriously.  It's awesome.

Okay, and then something awesome happened.  I haven't' talked much about the bombings in Boston and everything that went down with that.  It was horrifying and still makes me sick to think about.  I can't tell you how many times I've been at the finish line, waiting for my friends and loved ones.  It hit really close to home.  We had a lot of friends and family running that day and thankfully all were safe.  Tom's mom had finished about 10 minutes before everything went down and was close enough to the finish to see and hear it all.  To say it shook us up is an understatement.  Tom and I were very emotional that day, questioning society and wondering what kind of world we are bringing a little girl into.  I know that we can't shield her from all the bad in the world and that there is way more good than bad, but it's still hard.  So right around 3:30 as the news was breaking, UPS came with a big box addressed to Tom.  I had been putting packages aside knowing that they were probably shower gifts for the weekend, but since this was to Tom, I had him open it.    I couldn't see what it was when he opened it, but he looked at me with tears in his eyes.  It turns out that his old teammates got together and bought us a BOB Revolution jogging stroller, the handlebar console and a hippo toy from our registry as a congrats gift.  We were so incredibly touched by this for so many reasons - Tom is no longer with TNN, but his former athletes were so generous that that didn't phase them.  They are all crazy runners and triathletes so this couldn't be a better reminder of all of them. These are lifelong friends, and we know that.  So Tom now has a way to run with Abigail up the hills of Suwanee (because I will be totally making him do the hard work while we run together!)  It's way awesome!

I'm still, three days later, trying to wrap my hear around people's generosity.  If I every questioned whether or not Tom and I had a lot of love in our lives, Saturday confirmed that.  And what's even more amazing is that this little unborn child has so much love as well.  That's a very very amazing feeling. 

One lucky girl...

First, today's my birthday.  I don't usually make a big deal about my birthday, but it's funny that I've thought a lot about what a "birthday" really means, especially knowing that my little girl will have her birthday in June.  It makes me smile... I think it means a little more to me this year (maybe because my hormones are all wacky and I think about things too much, but whatever).  My hubby spoiled me rotten, especially when I opened this gem up. 

I've been eying it for a while now and he totally surprised me with it.  :) He also bought the baby some stuff which totally made me smile! And he took me to lunch for Chipotle, because I've totally been craving guacamole which I NEVER ate before I was pregnant.  I'm full and happy... what more can a pregnant lady want for her birthday???

So this past weekend I went to Ohio to visit the family.  Tom hasn't been back since he left in March and I haven't been back since my short trip in September.  I knew that the three days were going to fly by, as we had a lot planned, but I was excited.

We landed late Thursday night to a ground filled with white stuff.  Ugh... Ohio winters.  I'm not a huge fan.  It was pretty though, especially knowing that we could enjoy it for a few days and then be back to 60 degree temps. ;)  but holy crap my blood has thinned.  The frigid temps did me in - Friday I think the high was like 14 with a wind chill warning most of the day.  I think the warmest that it got the whole time we were there was in the mid 30's.

Friday, my sister came over (who looks freaking amazing by the way... she's a different person!) and we all trekked up to Noodles and Company.  A trip to Ohio wouldn't be complete without this bowl of amazingness. 

Yum!  From there we went to the new casino for a little penny slot action. The casino God's must have been mad at me as I couldn't win anything.  That got frustrating quickly.  Tom made out the best, putting $20 in the machines and walking out with over $70!  At least one of the 5 of us won.  That night we went to my sister's for pizza and for a little love with this guy... I would have puppy-napped him but I'm sure they would have missed him.

(Don't mind the duffus face... that's normal for me.)

Saturday I knew that my mom was hosting a little open house for Tom and I.  There are so many friends that I always want to see when I hit up Ohio and there just isn't enough time so she said that she would invite some people over from 2-5 and we could just say hi, they could check out the growing bump, etc.  People could come and go as they please.  It was a great plan.  She had sent out an invite a few weeks ago and sent me a copy.  It was cute and I was excited that most everyone could make it. :)  Saturday morning we were super lazy and I was downstairs talking to Tom as he was on the treadmill.  My dad yelled down that my sister was here.  I thought "okay, that's good".  I knew she was coming by for the day so I didn't think anything of it.  About a minute later, my dad came rushing down and said "I told you your sister was here".  Um... yeah, I get it.  I guess I didn't think it was a big deal.  I looked at Tom like I was confused and said that I better head upstairs and start getting ready for the get together.  I walked to the kitchen and my sister was standing there, with my mom, and a full out shower arrangement!  They had planned a surprise baby shower for me and all of my friends.  I totally lost it... like sobbing uncontrollably.  I'm not one for surprises usually (it might have something to do with me not being able to keep a secret), but I had no clue.  I guess my mom had actually sent out a different invite than what she showed me.  It was still going to be an open house, but they were all coming for our sweet little girl.  I literally cried for the next hour, getting ready.  I was shocked.

My friends started coming at 2 and I wish I had been better about getting pictures.  I know my sister did so hopefully I will get them from her soon.  We ended up having around 30 people there (hubbies and kids were invited too).  It was funny to see people's reaction to my bump as I haven't been posting pictures of it and all of these people knew that I was kind of anti-having-kids for much of my marriage thus far (getting pregnant was planned though... we had a change of heart this past summer about wanting a family). I had people there that I grew up with, friends that I've made through volunteering, blogging friends, triathlon friends, old neighbors, family.  It was awesome.  And everyone was so stinking generous... my little girl will never need to worry about not having clothes, that's for sure.  Everyone says it's too fun to buy baby girl clothes and I'll have to agree.   We got a few things from our registry which was awesome too... we're on our way to getting more prepared for this little one.  I literally had a permanent smile on my face the rest of the weekend.

One funny side story... I haven't told a ton of people our daughter's name.  We've had it chosen for a while and I was going to keep it a secret, but yeah, that didn't happen.  It wasn't that I wasn't telling people, I just hadn't really told a lot of people.  I knew that no one coming to the party had been told.  My mom put the cake on the table for the party and it was this:

I loved that this was kind of the way that my friends would find out her name.  So yes, our little girl's name will be Abigail and yes, we'll call her Abby. :)  Here are a few other pictures from the day before everyone got there.

Sunday we visited with Tom's mom and step dad, then left and caught up with his dad and step mom. It was a busy day.  Sunday night came too fast, as it was the last night with my family, but we just hung out watching the Superbowl, still in awe of every one's generosity from the weekend.

I can't thank my mom and sister enough for doing this for me.  They have both been so amazingly excited to meet Abigail and they pulled off a surprise that I never thought was possible.  I'm sure it's a little surreal to see their daughter/sister sporting a baby bump and I hope that they both know how incredibly blown away I was by what they did for us.  And my friends... it was great to see all of them and their little kiddos and I can't thank them enough for the thoughtful gifts that they bought for Abby.  She might have 4 more months to go before she blesses this world with her presence, but she's incredibly loved already!  That's a pretty cool feeling.

Finally, just because I haven't posted any bump pictures, I'll post one.  I've heard everything from "how many are in there" to "you are way bigger than I thought you would be" to "your doctors must be so happy with your weight gain because you look amazing".  I'm big.  I feel it.  But I'm happy.  This little girl is moving a shaking like crazy and I know that she's growing big and strong so that's all that matters.  This picture was taken today... 23 weeks.  I'm up 14 pounds total.