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!

Brigitte's Baby Shower

Yesterday we threw Brigitte's baby shower. Seriously, Brigitte has to be the cutest pregnant woman ever. She's like all belly and of course has the cutest clothes ever. I think her preggo clothes look cuter than my regular clothes!



They're naming their baby Aspen, so Alyse made a really cute banner to welcome her:

Welcome Aspen!

Alyse, Michele and I put the party together - we wanted to do mini everything, so we made little tea sandwiches, individual 7 layer dip cups, veggies cut in ranch dressing and a bunch of bite sized desserts. Michele tells me that she heard they're doing that sort of dinner at the Oscars this year - we're trendsetters!



Mini Seven Layer Dips



Individual Veggie Dip Cups

We played some of the traditional games (bingo during presents) and then a really fun version of "forbidden words". Like we do at the Hullaballo, we had a list of words you couldn't say (Aspen, baby, mom, labor, and cute). Each person had a clothespin with a diaper on it and you would steal clothespins when you heard someone say that word. At the end, you opened the diapers and scratched off the poo (think of lottery scratchers). The people that had smiley faces got prizes.

My mom made Aspen a super cute quilt and little sweater:



Mom's Quilt

Cutest. Sweater. Ever.

There were lots of oohs and ahhs when these got opened! The shower was a lot of fun, but I was exhausted by the time I got home! Mike was working the Cameron Park Crab Feed, so I had the house to myself. I had ordered the latest Twilight movie via Netflix, so I watched that and then got caught up on my chick shows ("Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice"). Today is our super Sunday day of rest - it's much needed after the very busy last week!

Rum

Rum is no longer my friend.

Ugh.

So I went out last night with Brigitte and company... it was a friend of a friend's graduation party. We knew the bartender and got the hookup on drinks. Brig and I had a lot of rum. At the time it seemed like a good idea, however, this morning, not so much. In fact, I felt like my head was going to implode. That's right, implode, not explode. Ouch. I didn't actually get up until 10:45 (which is super late for me) and I'm still feeling the pain. I don't think Brig has actually been able to eat yet.

However, we are cute drunks:


And apparently, I don't really like the taste of rum, but Brig is ok with it:


Things only got better from there...

Seriously, though, it was a really fun night - it's been a long time since Brig and I partied it up. :)
I will be spending the rest of today relaxing and then will sing at church. Always good to follow a night of drinking up with a little mass.
Peace.