My WI Baby Shower & Trip Back Home

My 1st Baby Shower was this past Saturday, May 18th 2013.

My mom, her good friend my Auntie Becky & my Auntie Debi all hosted our Fairytale Brunch. It was absolutely beautiful! My Uncle Ray (who has been my dad's friend since they were Marines together before I was born) and Auntie Becky let us have the shower in their beautiful home. Their business does custom granite, so you can imagine how beautiful it was. It was perfect!

Flying back to WI was a bit interesting this time. It was unfortunate that on my flight there I was stuck in the middle seat between two very large men. One so large that he asked me, "Do you mind if I don't put the arm rest down?"...I didn't have a choice (and neither did he). He should have had two seats. So sad. He was the nicest man so I just dealt with it. Around the 2nd hour I regretted not asking to move. It was a packed flight. My leg/hip pain was almost unbearable by the time I got off the plane. I waddled my way through the airport and found my dad right away :) He was so funny when he hugged me, I've never had a more gentle hug in all my life. (I could tell he didn't want to squish my tummy). 

He treated me to some Culver's right away (Oh, how I miss Culvers!) and we headed to see the rest of my family. My mom and little siblings were so so happy to see me. Unfortunately, my brother Cody only stopped in for about 5 minutes while I was in WI. I did get to spend tons of time with the rest of my family and friends though! 

Thursday night we went to McDonald's because Cirrah and Caleb's school was doing a fundraiser there and Cirrah was so excited for me to meet her teacher : ) She love school! She does well, too. If you ask, she will tell you she is going to play in the WNBA so she is going to play in college which means she has to get only A's and B's now! (In 3rd grade...) I love it! 

Friday I spent time with my mom & Cylie doing some shopping and then we headed to Auntie Becky's to do some shower prep. I didn't do anything, but they did : ) 

Saturday morning we got up nice and early to get to her house by 9am to set up the shower. My dear friend, Jenna, came over to help early too so we got to spend some extra time together. 

The shower was absolutely beautiful, as I've said a ton of times. Everyone seemed to have a nice time. My mom said she wished that people would have been more into the games (me too because we played some fun ones) but that's okay. We received tons of clothes and handmade blankets. My grandmas gave us money so today Matt and I went out to Target and got a few things off of our registry. My cousin and aunt got us our Boba Wrap, Auntie Torri got us a baby carrier and Micky got us our bathtub. We had lots of lovely gifts for Lilly Belle. Jenna even got her an adorable outfit embroidered with her name "Lillian" for her 1st birthday outfit : ) My mom got us tons of our little stuff (bottles, bottle brush, etc.) It was so nice to see most of my family and my friends Micol & Jenna.

Micky made these adorable Onesie Cupcakes!

It is so much fun to see our names together as a family. It makes my heart so happy!

 
 My mom made the "Lilly Belle" photo album that is full of pictures of our journey to Lilly. The first page has a picture of Matt and I sitting in the "Lilly Belle" train at Disneyland which she is named after. Then there are the photos of Matt and I that we had taken to announce our pregnancy, and then all my bump photos and ultrasounds. I loved it! She spent so much time on everything!
She made that button frame too! She's going to keep it in their dining room and always put the latest pictures of  Lillian in it.

This was the table when people walked in. There were pink jelly beans (that my mom individually picked out of bags) hehe all in a bottle for people to guess how many. She had everyone sign the book, "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" as Lilly's guest book because that was my favorite book when I was little. So sweet. We also made a guessing chart for when Lilly will be born, how much she'll weigh, etc. My mom is keeping it so we can see who was the closest :)

My mom went overboard with all the favors :) She wanted everyone to be able to take something home. Everyone took like 3 things home!

These candles have a nice little saying on them about lighting the candle when I'm in labor to pray and think happy thoughts for me and Lilly Belle. 

She knows how important it is to me that I read to Lilly all the time and that she become a lover of books like I am. I already read her stories in the glider all the time. This saying she found is perfect :)

Jenna made this banner for Lillian's room. Matt said he will put it in her playroom since we just bought her name letters for her nursery : ) (He's in charge of the playroom so that was awesome of him. He said it keeps with his Adventureland section of the Disneyland playroom lol).

My Aunt Tish knit her this beautiful sweater, booties and headband. We decided we want her to wear it this fall with a white onesie and black leggings and take her pictures in the leaves! It will be so pretty.

My sisters and I :)

Lots and lots of clothes and blankets!

I love this picture. I might put it in a frame in Lilly's room. Both of her Great Grandmas! Grandma Hampe my Dad's mom on the left and Grandma Clark LaFond (she just got re-married) my Mom's mom on the right.

My Aunt Becky got her this adorable jacket! On top of letting us have the party at her house!

Two of my closest friends, Jenna & Micol. Jenna and I have been friends since Middle School and Micky and I since we were in grade school!

Hehe, Matt loves this picture of Cirrah. It was SO bright out.

One of my favorite pictures of me and my baby sister :) She is very excited to be an aunt and thinks it is very silly because she is only 10.

My mom and I. She's so excited to be a Nana!

27 weeks :) My legs were so swollen from flying. (could I be anymore pale?)

The food was delicious!!

Menu:

*Mini Spinach Quiches

*Mini Crab Quiches

*Ham & Swiss Quiche 

*Pigs in a Blanket with the syrup in adorable cupcake wrappers

*a baby carriage fruit salad crafted by my Uncle Scottie

*cookies with "L" and "Lilly" on them made by Micol

*the most beautiful cupcakes I've ever seen! (Thank you, Mom!) 

*Yogurt Bar!!! (Thanks, Mom!!) Vanilla Yogurt-fresh fruit-honey-granola-raisens

*we also had turkey and stuff that my Auntie Debi brought but I stayed away (no deli meat for this mama).

I was all over the breakfast items & yogurt bar. They were things I requested from Pinterest and I was so excited that my Auntie Becky made them. I also ate like 10 cookies that Micky made once I got back to my parents house. Yum! The cupcakes were a beautiful surprise that my mom told me about just like  a week before the shower. I didn't see them until the night before. She picked the most perfect ones! 

I saw these on Pinterest. My mom drank all these Frappacinos so that we could have the bottles at the shower. She got these adorable straws on Amazon too! I was so in love with these. She let me bring 4 of them home : ) 

My aunt Debi also made a ton of mason jars with skirts on them. You can see one of them in this picture by the orange juice :) She didn't know my mom had drank all those Frappacinos to get me all those bottles. I loved so much that my mom did that. She really does love me so so much.

We played lots of awesome games and activities.

"Don't Say Baby"
Guests were each given a Very Hungry Caterpillar to wear on their shirt. If anyone heard them say the word "baby" then they could take the clothespin from them. The person with the most at the end won. My 5 year old cousin had about 12 on her dress : ) Too cute.

"Daddy Knows Best"

My mom typed out a bunch of questions and had Matt answer them. I loved his answers so much and we matched on every single one. It was funny to hear what other people thought the answers would be.

"Lilly's Song"
Matt and I sing the song "Lilly Belle" by Frank Sinatra to Lilly all the time. My mom printed out the lyrics and left a bunch blank and the guests had to fill them in to what they thought they would be. Then we played the song to see if anyone had them right. I kept all the answer sheets for her scrapbook.

"Wishes for Lilly Belle"
Guests filled out cards with wishes for Lilly. They were all very sweet.

"Memory"

My mom filled a tray with baby goodies. She brought it out and let the guests look at it for 30 seconds. Then she took it away and they had to try to remember everything that was on the tray. I loved that game because I got to keep everything from the tray ; )

"What's in the Bag?"

Mom filled white paper bags with baby items (again that I got to take home!!) And the guests had to feel the bags to try to guess what the items were. They could shake the bag, scrunch it up..do anything except look, to try to figure out what the items were.

The shower was great! I am so so thankful for my mom and aunts for all the time and work they spent on everything. My mom put her whole heart into every detail. It was wonderful and I could not have dreamt of anything better. Just because of all the love that was put into every single detail there. It was so incredibly special. Lilly is one lucky girl! 

Saturday night, I went out to dinner with Micol and it was so so great to spend some girl time together, I miss her so much!

Sunday morning we went to my cousins confirmation party. 

Sunday was really hard. I cried twice saying goodbye to my family. They won't see me again until Lilly is born and it really hit me while I was home. I think I push my family away a lot because it makes it easier for me to live so far away. This weekend I really just enjoyed every second with them but then on Sunday when it was time to go...I had the hardest time. I'm still feeling it now and it's Tuesday. I called my dad (and talked to him) 5 x's today. My dad took me to the airport alone because it's 2.5 hours away. I had to say goodbye to my mom and siblings before then. Caleb started crying and then I lost it. He hugged me and wasn't letting go so then I got so so so sad. Then my mom almost started so I said "No, no crying, we're not going to cry." So then my mom and I had a good hug with no tears :) Cylie hugged me twice and Cirrah gave me the biggest hug. The kids and my parents loved getting to feel Lillian move this weekend. She gave them some awesome kicks. She's going to love spending time with them. She's going to be spoiled rotten. 

When my dad got me to security at the airport I was crying and my dad looked so so sad as I walked away. It was harder than usual because I know for the rest of my life they will never see me like this ever again. I will always be their little girl, but I'll also have my own little girl. Theres really no transition for us as a family because the next time they see me will be when my parents are here to meet Baby Lillian after she's born. I wish we lived a little closer. It's hard.

My parents got to feel Lilly kick a lot!

It was a wonderful trip and I hope I get to see my mom before Lilly's born. She was going to come here in June but now because we didn't really get anything from our registry at the shower, she may use that money to get us some things we need. We'll see. We had such a good time together. No fighting the whole weekend, just fun together. I miss them so so much. 

Okay, I have to stop writing now or I'll cry again. 

Great trip, beautiful Baby Shower : ) 

Thankfully with my job, Lilly and I can spend lots of summer time with my family. The kids are getting older now so the yelling and craziness is less and less at their house each time I go back home. They are already looking forward to the day when Lilly will spend weeks in the summer with her WI Nana & Papa. My dad made me promise : ) Matt and I agree that it will be fun for her to do that and that it will be so good for my parents to get to spend time with her. We'll miss her, but not like they will all the time.