Weekend at Barney's

My mom and I flew down to CA last week to watch Amber's kids while she and Chris went to Oakland for a friend's wedding. Once Amber and Chris got back (they were just gone Thursday to Saturday) and the dust settled, we decided that it was a lot of fun. It wasn't so easy to see that amidst the chaos and craziness of keeping up with 3 kids all day long. I've only been back home one day and I already miss them. I did, however, get a full night's sleep last night and quite enjoyed it (I'm enjoying it while I can).

Ben, the youngest (just turned 1) became my constant companion, mostly because I look just like his mom. I'm sure that we were quite a sight walking around together: the 8-month-along pregnant woman carrying a one year old. People probably thought "bad planning, lady." I think for the next baby I will try to space them out a little more than that-it was a tiring few days.

CA was beautiful, and coming back to the cold weather in CO felt like we were going from spring back to winter. But CO is so beautiful in springtime, and it's just around the corner (right?!). I hope so.

Point of No Return

The other night in my birthing class we were talking about contractions-how to time them, how they correspond to different stages of labor, how to know when it's time to go to the hospital, etc. One husband raised his hand and asked when was the "point of no return." I think he meant: When do you know that the contractions aren't going to stop and you're definitely going to have the baby? But we all looked down at our huge bellies and someone said "you've already passed it man-no going back now."

The closer I get to having this baby, and the more I learn about HOW she's going to make her big entrance, I can't help but get nervous. But it's all very "natural," so I hear, and your body and the baby know what to do, so I just need to trust the process. We learned that labor is the only human process where pain isn't an indicator of something bad, or of a problem that needs to be fixed. Pain indicates how far along you are in labor. In Germany back in the 50's, women were given super strong drugs that completely knocked them (and the babies, by default) out during labor. Mother and baby would both wake up hours later and finally get to meet. While I don't plan to go quite that far to avoid labor pains, I do plan on getting an epidural. I know you have to plan for anything, so I'm being kind of open minded about going painkiller-free. We'll see how it goes (6 weeks and counting)!

Cute! Cute! Cute!

My Aunt Kathi is amazing! She came out this weekend and in just 2 days made this darling crib set for the baby. Here are the highlights to notice:

1. The crib skirt with the green ribbon edge and a pink "peekaboo" showing through.

2. the "k" pillow. I know it's not written in stone, but having it embroidered on a pillow is pretty permanent too. So it's official-her name is Kate Fay!

3. The bumpers made out of the cutest print EVER! The hot pink edging and bows add the perfect touch.

The Baby Shower

My Mom, Aunt Kathi, Aunt Kerri, and Grandma Bonnie threw me the most amazing baby shower this weekend! We played two fun games: the name game and "pin the diaper on the baby." With the name game, you get a name (we used famous mothers) pinned to your back and have to figure out who it is by asking other people yes or no questions. "Pin the diaper on the baby" is the baby shower version of a game my college roommate, Becca, made up for my sister's wedding shower called "pin the lips on the groom." To add a little of both Danny and me to the game, we used my baby picture for the head of the baby and used camo printed paper to make the diapers. It was such a fun night-thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

My sister-in-law, Bree, made this cute diaper cake for me. That's what 100 diapers looks like shaped into a 4-layer cake (that tidbit of information just might come in handy some day...)
My dad came up with the caption that we put in the thought bubble for the "pin the diaper on the baby" game: "My dad is tougher than your dad!"

From left to right: Aunt Kathi, Grandma, and Aunt Kerri, hard at work. They are a force of nature when they're doing projects, so I just stood back and took pictures.

Danny's mom and sisters were able to come up from Boulder for the event.

Here's the spread (from left to right): mini pink cheesecakes, mini cupcakes, chocolate-dipped pretzels, chocolate cake, and chocolate-dipped brownie bites on sticks. In the background is a lollipop tree, and then there's bowls of pink candy all around the table: M&M's, kisses, mints, jelly bellies, chewy gummies. It was all delicious, and oh-so stylish. The tablecloth is made from some drapes my grandma found for $5.