I just hit the 24 week mark. Which is funny because with the twins I kept gunning for 24 weeks as my first goal (since that's the week of some increment of viability) and with this pregnancy I had to look at a calendar to remember how far along I am. I never know how many weeks have gone by, but I feel like I've been pregnant FOR-EV-ERRRRRR.
Twenty four weeks was a multiples pregnancy milestone and it also marked the week of my surprise baby shower. I realized that
somehow I never wrote about the amazing shower my friends threw me. So it seemed apropos to chronicle it now given the coincidental timing.
If you know me at all, you know that I am
a bit of a control freak with a tendency to be nosy observant and attentive, so it's pretty hard to get anything by me. Especially surprises. But my husband and my best friend managed to pull off a surprise baby shower that I never saw coming. The husband still jokes today that if I ever tracked his phone calls or followed him around I would have thought he was having an affair with my BFF, ha.
{ the invite }
The shower was tasteful and beautiful. Exactly what I would have wanted if I planned it myself. No kitschy games, no guesses about my weight or waist size, just adorable (non-baby!) decorations, delicious food and wonderful people. I'm a lucky girl.
Joe lured me to my friend Nicole's house under the guise of my birthday. I turned 32 the year that the kids were born and my birthday was the week after the shower. We planned to celebrate my birthday over the weekend since my birthday is the end of the sales quarter, which usually means I don't see my husband at all that day.
The plan, as I knew it was we were going somewhere special to celebrate followed by dinner out. On our way to my birthday outing Joe turned before we got to the highway. I looked at him confused by the route he had elected to take, mainly because my husband is the king of backroad shortcuts that add 15 minutes to a trip and he was really antsy about getting to our outing on time. When I questioned him about where we were going he told me that he had my birthday present stored at Nic's house because he didn't want me to find it and we needed to go pick it up.
We pulled into her driveway and I planned to just sit in the car while he ran inside, but he asked me to go inside and chat with her for a few minutes because the "box was so big, seeing it would give away what was inside". At this point I was kind of annoyed, mainly because he had hurried me along while I was getting ready. I remember thinking, 'I needed to rush putting on makeup but I have time to talk!? Sheesh.'
Little did I know...
Inside Nicole and a group of my friends and my mother in law were waiting to greet me. Shock and awe is an understatement. I couldn't believe these people where here...
for me. Nicole is one of those party put-togetherers that makes things look effortless. All of the decorations she DIY'd and everything was so beautiful and thoughtful. She's a keeper.
She ordered catering from our favorite local market and cafe where we (back in the good ole days, before children) used to have four hour brunches. The food was amazing.
Our dear friend Rebecca who is an amazingly talented graphic designer (check her out
here) made adorable little favor boxes and tags which held chocolate covered gummy bears. I was a chocolate covered gummy bear virgin before this party. If you have never had one, do yourself a favor and get some. Now.
And just when I had finally dried my tears, greeted everyone and settled in to party with my dear friends there was a knock at the door. I turned to find my sister standing in Nicole's living room. Joe flew her in from Florida to be at my shower. And at that moment, everything I wanted for my baby shower had come true and everyone that I love was in that room. There are few times in my life that I can remember being that happy.
{ the whole crew }
We had lunch and chatted and then came the part where we opened gifts. Now let me just say that his part was hard for me. Because my friends, at that point, sat in two camps -- those of us that couldn't have kids and those of us who weren't even close to having kids (or caring!) And while I love a good party, being the focus like that makes me a little uncomfortable. So in just about every gift opening photo I'm making some god awful funny face since I was trying to crack jokes to take the attention off of all the gifting.
Silly girl. Anyway, my friends were beyond generous in both their time and their gifting. And I was so overwhelmed by their kindness, love and excitement for our miracle babies.
That shower was truly one of the happiest, most memorable days of my life. I felt so loved. So, so loved. There really is no better feeling in the world than that.
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