My Cup Runneth Over, Part Deux

So I've got about a billion pictures to show you from the baby shower yesterday.  Be forewarned, this is an enormously picture-heavy post. :)  Ok, now that we've gotten that out of the way -- I am so excited to show you all the fabulous stuff that everyone did for the shower!  Once again, I am just so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family who take the time and thoughtfulness to put something together just for me (and Sophie!)

Erica, Tracy, and Amy did such a great job hostessing.  The food was delicious - Honeybaked Ham with rolls, cinnamon apples, sweet tea and lemonade, crudites, hummus with pita chips, and CAKE!

No seriously, we had CAKE.  It was awesomely huge.  About half of it is still in my fridge (for now.... I intend to eat a piece every single day till I go into labor, if it lasts that long... :)

The guests all signed a special photo with well wishes.

I'm going to keep the purple pen with the photo, so all the grandparents can sign it when they come into town.

Steven bought lovely flowers the night before the shower.

And then Erica brought MORE gorgeous flowers!  I adore having fresh flowers in my house - I wish I would think to do this more often.

We even had balloons on the mailbox!

As you can plainly see, I am rather excited to be having this shower. (Also pictured - the Diaper Cake that Amy made for me!)

Tracy brought her sweet baby Charlotte (Charley for short); she was only six weeks old!  Sitting next to Tracy is Jaimy - she is going to start working with me at our office starting this coming week!

Steven came back right as the shower was wrapping up, and I introduced him to little Charley, and then I realized that she is as old as Sophie will be when I have to go back to work.  Hoo boy.  Not really ready for that realization yet....

My neighbor Tina and her 7-yr old daughter, Avary, came for the shower.  Avary was so very cute and helpful with all of my gifts.  Each one I opened, she wanted an explanation: "What's that?  What is it for? What does it do?"  (These questions got tricky when I opened things like breastfeeding pads and Lansinoh cream...)

It was so very fun to open all the presents - I was just smitten with everything.

As we were opening gifts, the doorbell rang and a Fed Ex arrived from Steven's mom and sister!

Grammie Steele made Sophie a prayer shawl blanket - I read the card to Avary, and she loved it.

 I will give you a better close up of what Jenny sent me later in the post.  I have such fabulously talented and crafty friends and family!

Mom sent some gifts in the mail from Janie&Jack - I'll show you close ups further down in this post.

So very cute!

Also, this must be my "look how cute!" face, because I think I made this face in every picture. (PS, the excellent photography was provided by Erica and her shiny new camera with the super fast shutter speed.  I have lens envy.)

Speaking of Erica, she had been telling me that she was making something special for the shower, and I secretly hoped that she might be sewing something fabulous.  And sure enough, I was totally blown away - this is the first quilt that she has ever made.  (She's an overachiever, clearly. :)

You can also see in this picture below the Bingo game that Amy organized - I partially played the game, but mostly just ate the Hershey's kisses... :)

So after all the guests departed, I took all of the gifts up to Sophie's room for their glamour shots.

Seriously, isn't this a stunning quilt? I just love it.

She did a freestyle quilting leaf pattern on the back - can you see it?  My fabric photography skills are somewhat lacking.

The fabrics and colors are so so perfect!

This is exactly what I imagined for Sophie's room - only better than I possibly could have done it.  I should apologize to Sophie because as of this moment, I have no intention of letting her put her grubby little mitts on it! :)  It's too pretty to let a baby drag it around the house!

Come to think of it, all of the handcrafted gifts I got are really too beautiful to be subjected to snotty noses and spit up!   Steven's sister Jenny made this gorgeous blanket for us - its cushy and wonderful!

I tried to take pics to show both sides of the blanket.

I probably crumpled it up like this carrying it from room to room for the best lighting. (Sorry Jenny!  It was beautifully ironed when I got it out of the box!)

Jenny also made me these fabulous diaper/burp cloths!  I love them!  (Shameless plug - Jenny sells some of her beautiful wares on Etsy as Motifdesigns.  Her main business is instrument polishing cloths, but I bet if you asked nicely, she'd make and sell you some of these beautiful burp cloths too!)

Here's our adorable clothes hamper, courtesy of my brother Matt and his wife Kristen.

My 4-yr old nephew Jay sent Sophie some hair bows, and....

Some jellies!  He also sent an adorable handwritten (hand-crayoned) card, which I am putting directly onto the fridge.

I realized that I never showed you the other hand-made items from my work shower, so here are a few blankets crocheted by the secretaries:

They are crocheted borders sewn onto a piece of flannel.

And they also made me one fully crocheted blanket - so pretty!

Sophie has gotten some fabulous books - here is her library to date:

And here are some close-ups of her Janie&Jack wardrobe, thanks to Nana and Pop Huff!

The littlest pumpkin!

This dress has yorkshire terriers embroidered onto it! Love!

And here's one with tiny poodles made from french knots!

A monkeys onesie!  With ruffle sleeves!

And, as we all know how much Sophie loves cupcakes:  my little cupcake!

Complete with cupcake socks!

And a precious white sweater with stripey pants!



And last but not least, a brown velour footie onesie that looks so comfortable, it makes me want to go buy a velour tracksuit for myself.

Steven especially appreciated this onesie.

Here's a closeup of the card that Grammie Steele sent with the prayer shawl.  Sophie is already being prayed over - I love that.

I managed to partially destroy Amy's beautiful diaper cake by moving it from one place to another, but here's the bottom two layers. 

I like the ribbons she picked out for it! So cute.

The cake was made from newborn and size one diapers.  I did not realize how tiny newborn butts must be.  Wow.



And as it turns out, I am surrounded by super crafty folks - my neighbor Tina made Sophie several personalized embroidered items!

One of my favorites?  The "take it up with my lawyer" bib.  This might be a daily wear...

It was also super precious to see a burp cloth that said "I will steele your heart!"  The second burp cloth says "Miss October."  We joked at the shower that Tina will revise it if Sophie doesn't wait that long... :)

Steven really loved getting to see Sophie's monogram on the tag blanket.  I love this idea - kids love the tags on clothing, so its a whole blanket with little tags sewn onto the sides for the baby to feel the different textures and shapes.

And she also made a sweet finger foods container and a sippy cup with Sophie's name and initial!

Doesn't it look so perfect paired with Jenny's blanket?

After I got it all unpacked, organized, and photographed, I realized that Sophie's little room is now complete.  I never thought the day would arrive.  We've come a long way from buying those cans of paint back in May or so....

And, just like clockwork, I started feeling some tiny contractions tonight.  Nothing huge, and nothing worth calling the doctor about.  I think part of me is just wishing her here as fast as possible.  It still seems so long till October, but I know its almost time!  Come on Sophie!  Everything is ready for you now!

My Cup Runneth Over

Well, Sophie and I are already blessed beyond measure, and the baby shower that I've actually KNOWN was coming isn't even HERE yet.  Holy cow of awesomeness.

My sweet family sent these gifts in the mail, and they all happened to arrive on the same day!  Our porch was overloaded with UPS packages -- Steven thought I'd gone on another yarn binge. :)



This picture is for my brother Matt and his wife Kristen -- look how pretty the wrapping is for the gift you sent!  I always wonder what the end result will look like from sending gifts online - now you know!

And my Mom sent us the most adorable personalized M&M's!

Aren't they adorable? They've taken up residence in the fridge for now (next to the Philly Cream Cheese, I will note -- two items of excellent healthful value . . .) but I have a feeling they won't last long in there.  I keep eyeing them hungrily...

About a month ago, my boss told me to be ready for a "case status update" meeting, since both myself and another attorney could potentially be out of the office simultaneously.  (She's going to Italy for 2 weeks.  I could be going to L&D.  Not quite the same level of relaxation, but I can deal.)  So, I dutifully prepared my case list and had it all nice and printed out for our meeting.  
We headed over to my favorite mexican restaurant to have our "case status" meeting over lunch, and then all of a sudden, Steven was there?  With some of the other partners from the firm?!  At first, my brain saw the Estates and Trusts attorney and thought: "Oh perhaps Steven has decided to get us a will done?"
Turns out, there was no case status meeting.

Instead, the sweet and generous folks at my office had decided to throw me a surprise baby shower!  (And of course they laughed at me for gearing up for this big status meeting... oh well.)


It was so very thoughtful of them and so unexpected.



And as you can see by the grin on my face, I was utterly gobsmacked and delighted.  (The presents filled up Steven's car.  It was craziness.)


So, here we are, thirty days away from the due date.  I'm feeling really good (although apparently I wear the same blue-and-white-striped shirt every Saturday...Gimme a break, I like this shirt...)  So we thought we'd give you a glimpse of all the fantastic baby gear that friends and family have gotten for us thus far.  Again, we are so so blessed and grateful.
(My Aunt Sandi specifically requested a picture of the pack-and-play, so here it is! It arrived safe and sound on the doorstep and it is super fabulous! Thank you!)

We put together most of the stuff today, which is why we decided to take a pic of it all grouped here in the foyer.  The stroller/carseat combo thing is so fun - I've been wheeling it around the house!  The folks at work chipped in and got us the car seat AND the high chair, and a dear friend who I used to work with got us the bouncy seat - I am thinking of putting it in my office for when Sophie visits!  

And, just for good measure, here's a 35-week (nearly nine months!) belly picture for you.  I think we're nearly ready for her to arrive!

I think I may spend the weekend writing thank yous...

Thank you friends and family - and I am so excited and in awe that there's still another shower yet to go!  Gosh we have really wonderful people in our life.  I am just tickled pink, you guys!