California Shower

 I remember the exact moment that Rhea told me she wanted to throw me a baby shower- I had just told her I was pregnant- and that was the first thing out of her mouth! I was still trying to wrap my mind heart around the fact that I was going to have a BABY shower... Then try and wrap my heart around a friend wanting to throw me a shower. My heart was overwhelmed then and still is.

Me and Rhea

Rhea and I met on my wedding day- Her husband Ty a groomsman in our wedding. While we didn't really get a chance to know each other that day, we became fast friends when Caleb and I moved to California. Rhea is originally from Washington--just like me--so naturally we are both sweet northwestern girls. But it's more then that. Rhea feels like home to me. Although I have only been close to Rhea for a year, it feels like I have known her forever. Both Caleb and I are so grateful that I found such a sweet friend in Rhea. It has made my move to California that much better! 

Um, also, did I mention that she was 8 1/2 months pregnant throwing me an incredible shower? She has the most stunning home...Situated atop a canyon in San Juan Capistrano. Here are some pics of the place...

Formal Living room

Yummy foods!

Treats

Jack Thomas

AMAZING Sandwiches

Perfect cupcakes

Treats and drinks

SO thoughtful!

AMAZING

SO thoughtful!

I was so honored to have so many wonderful friends come to my shower. I can't believe I have only lived here for a year and had so many fabulous friends join me in celebrating this miracle!

Some of my vball girlies

I see you T-fly

Gifts.

Adorable Whale blanket!

Even sweeter that a Bruin got me a USC onsie!

First pair of Nike's!

My cousin Kelsey came wearing one of Mother's skirts. I just loved having her in the room with a little piece of my kimi there.

Cousin Kelsey

One of my very best friends Tera Anderson came in from Las vegas... I love my friend Tera- She fit right in with all my California friends... And they all thought she was as fabulous!

Tera

The other two out of staters were my Mother in Law and my Grandmother in Law, who is about to be 90! They both flew out for the weekend to be at the shower and even had time to stay and hear Caleb preach on Sunday morning. It was so sweet to have both of them there!

Gma Geedee and Gina

Hey there is a boy!

My sweet friend Amber managed to take pictures and take care of her baby boy the whole day! I'm grateful she took pictures to capture the day!

Amber

Nancy and Gina

Carrie

Torry

Heather

Kailyn

Some of my Mariner's girls

 I was so bummed I forgot to get a huge group picture of everyone there!  It was so fun to have so many fun friends together celebrating this sweet babe!

After the shower, the Mattson clan, Caleb and I all hung out and watched as Shepard Mattson delighted in all of the trash. Yep I said Trash. This sweet almost 3 year old is absolutely obsessed with Sanitation. Dump trucks/ trash piles/ trash...  Lucky for him there was a huge bag full of tissue and ribbons to move around and lay on. :) It made me so excited to have a baby boy!

Shepard's bag 'o' trash

Along with the trash, Shepard got to let all the balloon's go. It was the perfect end to the perfect shower. Thank you Ty and Rhea for throwing me such a sweet shower!

28 weeks

Third trimester, I can't believe it. 27 weeks marked the first time a stranger asked me when I was due- I'm pregnant and people are noticing! Up until then I would tell people and they would say- Oh you are? Which is fine and dandy for some girls... But, I've been so excited about being pregnant that I wanted people to notice at week 6. I think I "popped" during week 27.

As you see I wrote about my beautiful showers in Washington and I am so excited to write and share about my California shower. I delighted in opening gifts, but more importantly for me... I loved celebrating this little miracle in my tummy with friends and family. One of the good things that infertility gave me is perspective. People are WAY more important then gifts! Which is partly why I still LOVE to write thank you notes. It's fun for me to thank people for celebrating with me and lavishing our baby with gifts! My mother taught me from such a young age to write thank you notes. As soon as I could write my name... I was writing it on a thank you note. As soon as I could write a sentence... My mom saw it fit for me to write the thank you note. As soon as my teacher's taught me how to write an address, My mom had me writing and addressing my thank you notes. NOW, I didn't always love writing thank you notes. As a young girl I thought it was boring and really time consuming. So one year for Christmas circa 7 years old, I concocted a plan to expedite my thank you notes... I figured if I had my thank you notes done that night I wouldn't have to write the addresses on my thank you notes the next day- my least favorite part. So Unbeknownst to my parents, I came to Christmas with my thank you notes in hand. I even took the time to pre-write everything in the note except the gift I recieved. You can imagine everyone's surprise as we began opening gifts... I open a gift, pull out my thank you note, write down what I received, put said note in envelope and write the name of the gift giver on the note, Lick and seal the envelope and promptly walk over to the gift giver and hand them their thank you note. It was adorable. Times have changed, I now delight in writing thank you notes. It is no longer a pain- it's a joy. The simple act of being thankful shifts our focuses off of ourselves and onto others. It also reminds me of how blessed I am and loved I am. There is much to be thankful for in our lives.

You might be thinking, it's easy to be thankful when everything is going great for you. My husband always challenges me when I'm down to list the things I am grateful for and it shifts my attitude. I am in a season of abundant blessings- my prayer is to remain as thankful as I am right now with much as when I am down and have little.

28 weeks

Baby Size- Small cabbage, 17 inches, 2.9 pounds
Working out- Not really happening. I'm not sure if I'm not getting enough blood circulating to my legs or perhaps too much relaxant in my body but it has made working out down-right impossible. It's the strangest feeling... like my legs are going to fall off, my pelvis is going to explode, I get a cold sweat and feel like I'm going to throw up. Part of the problem could be blood sugar.
Blood sugar?- I passed my glucose test! :) thank god, that was disgusting.
Weight gain- 22 pounds. AND I want to note that I am so grateful for this baby that I don't even care about you back fat- I see you.
Cravings- Spiced apple cider, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, golden beets, Greenleaf, bananas, soup.
Nursery- Coming together. Grateful for my sweet friends Monica and Danielle for organizing all the baby clothes in the dresser- pictures to come! :) Side note: Miss Emma cat thinks this is her new bedroom. She literally comes out only to eat and go to the bathroom- and sprints back in to lay down in the room. She is just breaking in the room for Jack! :)
Aches and Pains- My ribs hurt. they are expanding and it hurts. I have terrible heartburn- baby must be growing a full head of hair.

baby growth.

Washington Showers- pun intended

I traveled up to Washington the first weekend of November, which I must say is a beautiful time to visit! Trees have all changed colors, the crispness in the air, I managed not to get too rained on, AND, best of all, it finally felt right to have my pumpkin spice latte! Don't get me wrong, I love the California weather. But I never feel right having a hot pumpkin-flavored-coffee when it's 85 degrees out.

As I got off the plane with my little baby bump that I could now see- I began to tear up. My friends and family who have prayed for this baby for over three years now get to see this little miracle in my tummy- AMAZING! Friday was a whirlwind with Shavon- I grilled her on how to be a mom while we looked for her wedding dress. We did not find her dress, but we did laugh and have SO much fun together. After dinner she drove me out to Uncle Jack's and Auntie Cindy's house, it was so fun to see them and catch up on their recent trip to Croatia.

Saturday was a fun day celebrating Shavon. Some of her closest friends and I went wine tasting and then had dinner in Bellevue- DONT worry, I was the designated giggle maker-- I mean driver. If you haven't been wine tasting in Woodinville, you should! It is absolutely beautiful up there! We spent the night in Bellevue.

Sunday, I quickly got ready and headed down to Gig Harbor for my first shower! My first BABY shower! My sweet friend Tracie and I are both pregnant so our work friends threw us a joint shower. I sure love my Trix and had so much fun having a shower together (bad pun)! As many of you know, your co-workers know you better then almost anyone-- and having worked at the Tides for 7 years, it was SO special to celebrate with my girls. I cried when I walked in--- showing off my baby bump. These girls have cleaned my tears after multiple failed IUI's and found ways to make me smile. My friend Coco made all the yummy food... Here are some pics from the special day.

yummy foods!

Coco- the amazing Coco

Trix and I with our robot onsies

Handmade robot onsies. PERFECT!

Tracie and I were over-the-top showered with love! Jack got lots of cool stuff! :) I went straight from there back up to Auntie Cindy's where I was having my next shower. :) I arrived to a house perfectly decorated!

Nautical themed...

Perfection!

Perfect backdrop for a shower!

Cake by April

 

 

 

I was so honored to find out that a work friend of my mom's wanted to make me a cake for my shower. The story goes that my mother won a specialty cake (made by April) in a raffle but passed away before she claimed her cake. April wanted to honor Kimi and make ME the cake! How sweet is that?

Gma Pat, me and Auntie Cindy

Auntie Karen, Me, Auntie Cindy

Most everyone- some people left already

Laura, Deb and LOOK at that BUMP!

My Aunts and Gma worked so hard to make such a special shower for me. There was delicious food, and LOTS of love! There was so many good friends and family there to celebrate this little babe... And my sweet Kimi was definitely there in spirit. Baby Jack was spoiled and I delighted in a room full of women whom had supported me throughout my infertility and now supporting my baby! No gift greater than love!

I know you aren't supposed to have favorite gifts- but I did. They were from my mother. The first gift- and biggest surprise was from April (kimi's co-worker/cakemaker). The card said... "Your mother made this for my son in 1988 and I wanted you to have it." I LOST it. Paralyzed, it took me a few minutes to even look at the gift. The room went silent, and I heard people say my mom's name. Everyone knew that it had to be something from her. I collected myself enough to pull out the most perfect baby sweater. I passed it around for everyone to see. I couldn't imagine a sweeter gift.

My kimi sweater.

The next gift... I knew it was coming but was too scared to open it at the party. So after most people left, I opened the gift from my Aunt Karen. It was a baby quilt my mother had started before she passed but hadn't finished. Aunty Karen put the binding on and had it quilted. It was so sweet!

Finished product.

Kimi and I with the quilt. I might have sewn the borders?!

OK- I guess I can have one little other favorite gift. It's the snoopy sweater my GRANDPA made and no, I didn't mean my grandma... My grandpa Jake makes these snoopy sweaters and auctions them off. Lot's of cousins and other babes I know have a snoopy sweater and I was so excited that baby Jack got one too. There is a little tag on the inside that says- "Homemade by Jake" A sweater knit by Jack's namesake... perfect. Gma made a hat to match it! Treasures!

There you have it... A Washington shower never felt so good!  The next day and a half was filled with family time and a sweet visit from my dad and Kathy from Eastern Washington.

26 weeks

26 weeks and feeling great... We have unloaded Christmas at Tuvalu and I am already in the spirit. I can't wait to get our tree up! I'm getting ready to head up to Washington for my baby shower and a girls night with Shavon... Should be a fun but busy weekend!

Movements- Lots more these days, Caleb can easily feel the movements! :)
Weight Gain- 18 pds... Feeling the weight too! Im definitely retaining water, my legs are like tree stumps when I get home from work.
Cravings- Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Aversions- Same old same old! chicken sounds gross, same with asian.
Aches and Pains- Heartburn, metal taste in my mouth.