you are my sunshine

In July, my sister and mom threw me a baby shower for my Illinois friends and family. They really outdid themselves. The theme was “You are my sunshine” and everything was perfectly decorated and coordinated. Yellow pops of color, delicious spread of food, desserts and a cute guestbook. It was great to see my friends and their babies! Made me wish the next few weeks will fly by so I can get myself one of those cute things to dress up!

The guests signed sweet messages in my guestbook and wrote wishes for the baby.

They had a delicious spread of cobb salad fixings, pasta, and mini-BLT’s.

And had yummy sunshine lemonade and fizzy drinks.

And oh the desserts! Chocolate cake pops, coconut cupcakes, homemade candy popcorn and lemon bars!

3 of my friends brought their kiddos and it’s so fun to see how much they’ve grown and I got to meet little Eloise for the first time!

Everyone gave me wonderful gifts – lots of cute things to fill my nursery and little girl’s closet. This chick already has more clothes than I do!

It’s been great to get advice from all my friends – they’ve given me great tips on what to register for!

Everyone decorated a onesie for the baby – how creative!

Thank you so much to my sister and mom for hosting a beautiful baby shower! It was a really fun day!

babies and frog legs

In June, Drew’s sister threw us a joint baby shower with Drew’s cousin Annie and her husband Keith who are expecting their first baby a month before us. It was a great chance to get to Missouri to see family since we won’t be traveling for a while (and missing another cousin wedding in September.)

There were yummy cookies shaped like baby carriages and fried frog legs! I’d never had frog legs before, but they were delicious – tasted a lot like chicken!

Kari planned a game for Drew and I and Annie and Keith – it was more of a race. We had to race against Annie and Keith by diapering and clothing a doll, eating a jar of baby food and then Drew had to suck down a baby bottle full of beer.

I started with diapering the doll to show Drew how it’s done, then he had to undiaper and rediaper and cloth the doll.

Then we both scarfed down a little jar of baby food. It was fruit – not bad!

Then Drew tried sucking down the beer in a slow flow bottle and quickly decided to just down it without the lid, or else we would have been there all night.

We won!

We got a lot of nice loot for the baby and plenty of cute outfits!

Thanks family for the wonderful shower and all the great gifts!

how i wonder what you are

For the first time since I moved to Austin, I headed back to Chicago for a quick weekend to attend my friend Sara’s baby shower. It was great to see her and her growing belly (I can’t believe how much bigger it was 3 months later!) and my other girlfriends who attended. Of course, I also got to hang out with my mom and brother who are still in the area. It was weird to be chauffeured from the airport by my mom – I was always the airport chauffeur for family that came to Chicago. I was never in Chicago without my own car. I would have liked to spend more time, drive by our condo to see how it’s holding up, stop by my former place of employment and see people, but it was a very quick weekend. I hope to be back at the holidays!

Sara and her husband Brady are not finding out the gender of their baby ahead of time. So the girls who threw the shower did a great job by choosing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” as the theme. The decor and gifts complimented the theme perfectly. They even had star balloons tied to the mailbox!

They strung a line of onesies across the fireplace where the gifts were placed.

My friend Michelle made an ADORABLE diaper cake. I told her she should totally sell these on Etsy.

Diapers circled little vases of flowers on the tables and stars hung from the chandelier.

The food spread was nice and summery – fruits, cheeses, salad, chicken salad sandwiches, veggie pizza, and an apple tart pastry that my friend Jill made.

The cake was so adorable!

The mom-to-be was glowing and looked great!

Everyone was invited to decorate a onesie for the baby.

I kept mine simple with an iron-on elephant.

Michelle got a little more creative and made hers a Chicago Bears onesie with the butt saying “Packers Stink”. I doubt the daddy will allow it to be worn, being a die-hard Packers fan!

Everyone brought a book to give the baby. Naturally, I called up my sister and told her to send me some!

Sara got lots of awesome gifts. Just the gifts alone made me totally wish I had a reason to shop in the baby aisle – never mind that I can’t even look at a onesie without squealing. And don’t get me started on baby socks. I melt!

As if all the baby stuff was enough – there was also an actual baby in attendance! Sara’s friend Jamie recently had her second daughter. She was very well behaved the whole time.

After gifts, we took some pictures in the backyard. It was a HOT day in Chicago, but I’m used to the heat. Just kidding – I think it’s going to be a LONG time until I’m used to this kind of heat.

It’s so exciting that not only Sara is having a baby, but my other good friend Jill is ALSO expecting a baby!! Sara is due near the end of August and Jill is due in early December.

Sara had another friend there who is pregnant too – due any day now!!

Before we left, we all had to make a prediction for the sex of the baby, the birthdate, and weight and length. I guessed that she’ll be having a girl on her due date around 6 lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long. We’ll see if I’m right!

Can’t wait to get word of the birth – just a few weeks left!!! I’m hopeful I get to meet the baby at the holidays – along with Jill’s newborn!!