Kati's Baby Shower!

Yesterday Mom, Elizabeth (Kati's SIL), and I threw Kati's baby shower! It was really fun! Kati and Nate are decorating the room with lavender as well as butterflies and flowers, so we kept to that theme for the shower.

Welcome banner

We played several different games - the nursery rhyme game (fill in the blanks), the basket game (they get to look and then have to write as many items down as they can remember), and my favorite, the "When Will My Water Break" game? We froze little babies in glasses and each player had to write down the time she thought her water would break (the ice around the baby melted). It was a fun twist to the normal game where people try to melt theirs the fastest - there was some serious strategy going on!

Frozen Babies

Kati & Her Loot!

One Of The Quilts Mom Made Kati

Now for the people shots:

Mom, Kati, & I

Dad, Kati, & Aunt Sandi

Me, Mom, Kati, Cyndy, & Elizabeth

The weather was absolutely beautiful and I think everyone had fun! Another event that went off without a hitch! I swear, my friends and family are giving me lots of event planning practice with all these babies and weddings! :)

Babies!

No, I'm not pregnant.

My sister, however, is. And after a lot of anticipation, we finally found out that Mike and I are going to have a brand new baby niece in December! I was lucky enough to get two nieces and four nephews when I married Mike, but this will be the first niece that I get to squish love from birth!

In other baby news, look what I found just outside our living room door... note the little beak to the left of the big bird on the left. They are so cute and both of them sat their for their photograph!

Mama & Papa Bird

I love having birds nest around the house... the poop gets annoying, but I can't bring myself to mess up the nests. It's so cute to hear the babies chirping for food!

So far sabbatical is going really well. I could get used to the life of leisure! I love going to the pool in the morning (9-10am) and getting a good swim in without a ton of people there. And I've now started a couple of the around the house projects I want to get done. Shadow is definitely a happy pup too - he's been laying around helping while I work.

Life is good!

New Life!

The last few weeks have been rough (bad runs, feeling yucky, lots of stress) but yesterday I got to be a part of something absolutely amazing.

Last night at 8:52pm, my best friend Brigitte and her husband Dan welcomed their first baby into the world. Aspen Nicole Porter was about three weeks early, weighed in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces and was 19 inches long. I had the opportunity to wait with 10 of Brigitte and Dan's closest friends and family while Brigitte did her thing. We pretty much took over the waiting room (thank goodness that no one else was having a baby at the same time!) and kept each other company for the wait.

Finally, it was time! We had to go into the delivery room in shifts - apparently they're not used to the kind of entourage that Brigitte has. Brigitte looked absolutely amazing (seriously, when does she ever not?!) and Dan was holding the baby, looking every part the proud papa. They were both looking as happy as I've ever seen them!

Me Holding Baby Aspen

Brigitte has posted some beautiful pictures on her Facebook page - go check them out if you haven't already!

I'm so happy I got to be a part of one of the best days of my best friend's life... it was such a wonderful event! This was the first brand new newborn I've held and I could have snuggled her for days!

Congratulations Brigitte and Dan!