I'm so grateful to have friends and family that were willing to throw and attend a baby shower for Riley this past weekend. My best friend, her mom, my mom and Alan's mom got together to put this shower together. I got some great gifts and fun family time! Riley is so lucky!
My bestie
My mom
My sister
My Mother in Law
My 3rd mom
Yummy
Cupcakes
(Riley is spelled out on the bottom ones)
Favors
We played some fun games
Alan brought Madison over to see everyone at the end of the shower..
The year flew by! going to be hard to beat 2011 in the happiness department! Lots of changes happened this year! Here's some of the milestones in order as they happened throughout the year...
Going from this...
..to this.
Going from 117 lbs pre-pregnancy to 110 in the first 3 months to 132 at 9 months was quite the adjustment! Finding maternity clothes that were my size was quite the chore too! I did manage to find some, though by September I looked like I was about to explode!
Going to Vermont in March. Other than having to fly on not one, but 2 planes(4 actually) to get there and back, we both loved Vermont. Alan had a business trip and I took advantage of that and tagged along. We stayed in Manchester but traveled to Burlington to do some shopping and visit the Ben & Jerry's factory. A tad boring but we did get to sample some ice cream. If you plan to go, go during the week when they are in production. That would have been interesting to see. We have recently joked about having a Fall house in Vermont. If I'm ever brave enough to get on a plane again, I would love to go back in the Fall. I can imagine it's just beautiful! And we promise next time to let our friend Brad know we are there.
Finding out in April that we were having a girl! We both had a feeling from the beginning that she was a girl and seeing it verified was such an emotional moment. I didn't really realize how much I wanted a daughter until they told us we were having a girl! We kept going back and forth with the names Madison and Riley and once we saw her beautiful picture, we knew she was a Madison!
Also, getting our house painted was in April. We kept putting it off and finally after 3 years, we finally committed! I'm so glad we did! It's made a huge difference. I still have not decorated the walls like I want but it's good for now. See all of the wall colors here but here is the living room painted in Sherwin Williams Grassland. It's a sage green, since you can't tell by the picture.
Alan's work threw us a huge baby shower in June. I mean, Madison is 4 months old and I have yet to buy a pack of diapers.. We were so blessed to get so much stuff!
Our baby shower in July given by my best friend Amanda, her mom, my mom and Alan's mom. We had a lot of fun and I got more great, much needed things! I'm so lucky to have such good friends and family!
Finishing Madison's room in July. This seemed to take for.ev.er. but we did it and love it! The tree pulled it all together and hopefully she will like the color when she gets older so we don't have to paint it every time she changes what cartoon character she's into at the time!
Quitting my job in August to be a stay at home mom and wife was the easiest and hardest thing I had done in a long time! We both knew that's what we wanted, even before getting pregnant, but telling my friends of 7 years and the greatest boss that I was leaving was hard! Not getting up and going through the motion of that work routine was an adjustment. We are so blessed to be able to let me stay home and I love spending my days with Madi and I love seeing all of her firsts firsthand.
Also in August was a not so pleasant thing- Wilma's accident. She got hit by a truck and broke her front leg. She had an external fixture for 3 months and is back to normal! We are not letting her play hard for a few more months just to be on the safe side. I didn't blog about it but she had surgery last week to remove a knot on her chest. She's had it for years but our vet decided it was best to go ahead and remove it. She is doing just fine but now has to wear that horrible e-collar again!
And of course, September was a fantastic month! Our sweet Madison was born! Lots of major changes from here on out! She has brought so much joy, laughter, smiles and exhaustion! :) Bringing her home from the hospital on our 5 year anniversary was the best gift ever! She has changed our life for the better and seeing her and Alan playing has made my love for him grow bigger. I thought I loved him as much as I could but I was wrong!
Our 5 year wedding anniversary in September. As mentioned above, we got to bring Madi home that day and it was such an emotional ride home! I think between the happiness of bringing her home, happiness of it being our anniversary, exhaustion from lack of sleep at the hospital(boy were we in for a rude awakening when we got home!), confusion of what to do when we did get her home and the reality of "Oh my God, we have a child!", we cried the entire ride home-about 20 minutes. Being married to my best friend for 5 years has been great and now sharing the joys of parenthood with him make things even better! Love you babe!
Madison's first rollover in November! Just proves that our little girl is growing up so fast! Excuse the cheesy mommy 'yays' :)
Wilma's removal of her fixture was in November also. This was a big day for everybody! Madison got to spend a few hours with her Grandma(my mom), Alan and I got to go to eat alone(for the 2nd time) and of course Wilma came home without her fixture! We were so thrilled to bring her home without it!
Madison's 1st Christmas! She loves all the things everyone got for her! Already looking forward to this year's Christmas! A baby brings a different kind of joy at Christmastime.
Also in December, my dad passed away. It was and has been a trying time for my whole family but we are dealing with it. At least he isn't in pain anymore.
Hopefully 2012 will be a great year for us! I am anxiously awaiting all of Madison's firsts this year.. Sitting up, standing, walking, tooth, word.. Wow. This is going to be a great year! Hopefully Wilma will have a less stressful year and can get completely back to normal! Cheers to 2012!
From the day I told her I was pregnant, my best friend Amanda(to my right) started talking about throwing me a shower. She was so excited to plan this and kept everything a secret from me! My mom, Alan's mom and Amanda's mom all helped her so much with getting and planning things and helping put together and clean up everything. Here I am with all the hostesses!
(L to R)My mom, me, Amanda, Alan's mom, Amanda's mom
My diaper 'cake'. Taking it apart, it seemed to have 100 diapers on it! Much needed and so cute!
Me and Alan
Some of my wonderful gifts! Clothes, blankets, diaper bag, bottle warmer, carrier, and everyone signed the little white bear at the shower.
My other gifts! My nursing pillow, diapers & wipes, picture frames, car mirror, bottles, pacifiers, books, changing table organizer, bibs, hangers, towels, bath products, gift cards, cash and a few baskets. We also got our stroller/car seat combo and pack n play(playpen). I may have forgot to list something but it's been a week and I have a serious case of pregnancy brain. Forgive me if I forgot to list something!The shower turned out beautiful and I appreciate everyone that took time out of their day to help me celebrate our little angel :) It means so much to me that you all came!
And to all the hostesses of the shower-thank ya'll so much for your time, money and energy spent on putting this shower together. Our little girl is so loved and we see it even more through things like this. The details were perfect! Alan and I are so thankful! Love you all so much!
Alan's work had a huge shower for us yesterday at his work. We are overwhelmed with all of our gifts we got! Here's a pic of all the presents after we opened them. It took up 2 cafeteria tables. It also filled up my car and part of Alan's car!
A picture of us in front of the presents.
When we got home, I seperated all the gifts out into similar items. There wasn't an inch of floor showing until I started putting the items into baskets. Here's the breakdown of our nice presents:
Right stack is all diapers. 2 stacks beside those are all wipes! White wicker basket is full of bibs, pacifiers, bottles, bottle brushes, grooming kit and a healthcare kit. The pink bathtub is full of bathroom and diapering supplies like towels, washcloths, diaper cream, lotions, shampoos, body wash and bath toys
Sign made my Kathy V. It has Alan's picture, Madison's ultrasound and my picture.
Lots and lots of clothes! Probably 20 outfits total!
White basket full of toys, teethers and books. Her belly play mat, bouncer, crib wedge and bassinet/rocker.
Car & feeding items: Car seat support, mirrors, sun shades, water, bottle drying rack, spoon and bowls.
Frames
Baby memory book on the left and a snow cone machine with Cherry syrup to help me make it through the hot summer! I've already had a snow cone yesterday and today.
White laundry basket is full of toys, teethers and books. You can also see her bouncer, booster seat and the beige canvas tote is full of blankets and sheets
We also got lots of gift cards and cash, which is much needed to get those things that are left on our registry and items we will need after she comes. Thank you everyone so much for everything you did. We are so grateful and our little girl is so blessed to have you all in her life.
Her bedding also came in yesterday so I got it washed and ironed and put on her bed! Her crib is complete! I love it! It's so girly!
