Archive for March, 2008

Oklahoma Baby Shower

Saturday, March 29th, 2008
Jen, Kelly and Mom hosted a shower for me in Oklahoma! I didn’t know about it until the week before.  It was so wonderful to get to do fun baby stuff with all my family and friends there =)   Don, Laura and Alli came all the way from Texas!!  And Jennie, Jessie, Scott and Nate came from Norman.  I have the best friends and family!!! 
I woke up early on Saturday =)  I didn’t want to eat breakfast because I knew Jen was bringing tons of food.  She made such wonderful things!  And, she had DONUTS custom made!  They were so cute, and delicious!  In the shape of baby carriages, bottles, and onesies.  She had heard all about my dreams of daylight donuts.  I had donuts four times in Oklahoma =)  So I am definitely satisfied that craving!  She made chicken salad, which I told everyone I don’t know why I never eat that.  It’s just like tuna fish salad except no fish!  Which really makes it perfect if you think about it =)  Kelly bought cake from Merritts, yummy!!  The bottom was german chocolate and the top was vanilla with lemon filling.  I shared my cake with Raegan =)  I had shared my ice cream the day before.  We got tcby and I had a medium, but I’m sure she ate half of mine… and then switched to helping Kelly!  The girl loves desserts =)
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Jessie and Scott got us closet organization tools.  They are awesome!!!  I told everyone about my closet dream =)  They say pregnant women get really vivid dreams, and this is one of my favorites.  I was putting the baby’s room together, and I had this absolutely gorgeous closet.  It was the size of the huge loft room in Mike and Kelly’s house, with shelves all around.  I kept organizing stuff and wondering why I had been so worried that I wouldn’t have room for everything!  It was so real it took me a minute to realize I didn’t have that closet!  Everyone laughed.  

Jennie and Gavin gave me just the most wonderful books!  Curious George, Winnie the Pooh, lots of classics that I want to collect so badly!  I love it!!!   They will be perfect on the shelf Dad and I built. 
Kelly and Raegan picked out a really cute outfit =)  Kelly hoped it wasn’t too girly =)  I don’t mind girly really, I was just hoping that her entire wardrobe wouldn’t be baby pink =)  Kelly said Raegan loved picking clothes for the baby =)  She liked looking at all the clothes I had gotten =)  We looked at each onesie and she’d say “stripes”  or “polka dots”  or “adorable.”  Mom says her favorite description is precious for stuff like that =)

Jen gave me my diaper bag and filled it with all sorts of useful stuff!!  She is so wonderful, she sent me websites with diaper bags when I told her I couldn’t find one I liked, and then at Babies R Us I found the perfect one, and she got it right then!!!  Of course I was totally surprised at the shower when I opened it =)  She got us pacifiers, teethers, and almost a whole medicine cabinet!  Such perfectly useful and wonderful things!  Plus a set of onesies that I absolutely adore =)  I think one of them may be a going home from the hospital onesie =)  We’ll see!

Mom gave us a gift certificate for our mattress.  I’m so excited!  I can’t wait to get the bed all put together!!!  Maybe I’ll be able to do it when I get back! 

Andrea asked me why there was just one toy on the registry.  She wanted to know if our child was going to grow up in a toyless sterile boring environment.  I told her I wanted people to pick their own toys if that’s what they wanted to get.  =)  She said I was a sadistic person for making her brave the gigantic baby store where there were babies everywhere.  She got me a cute soft farm book that has all kinds of textures and the one toy on our registry.

We did play one fun shower game, the ” don’t say baby” game.  I caught Kelly right after she finished explaining the rules =)  Kind of cheap =)  I lost my first clothespin during the opening of packages to great general amusement =)  I think Jen took that one =)  The kids had a blast playing with the clothespins. At one point Casey had around twenty of them!

The kids all had a blast =)  Barrett and Raegan helped me open my presents.  Raegan loved the pink tissue paper and the very soft lamb that Mimi got us.  (Mimi also sent us our swing!)  I didn’t think she was ever going to let that lamb go =)  Nate came too, and I think he enjoyed Mom’s playroom =)  He especially liked playing with the train set, which traumatized Barrett a bit.=) 
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Oklahoma Visit March 2008

Saturday, March 29th, 2008
I had an absolutely wonderful time in Oklahoma!  I went absolutely project crazy =)  My parents both encourage it =)  The first thing I did when I got there was build a beautiful bookshelf with Dad for the nursery!  I love how it turned out!  I’d seen one at pottery barn kids that was similar, but if I’d paid their outrageous price I would have wanted to paint it… and this way I got exactly what I wanted!  Plus, this way the baby will have something built by her Grandpa =)   I got to use the drill press, saw, and fun things like sanders, wood glue and caulk on the shelf.  Such fun!  Dad and I had a blast.  Later that visit Dad brought out all the baby toys Grandma Bair had made.  I brought Tilly the Turtle home with me =)  She was one of my favorites, I used to ride on her like a pony =)  We had fun looking through all my baby toys and clothes!
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 Mom and I went on a marathon of sewing!  We got so much done!!!  She bought enough fabric for six baby quilts =)  Six different ones!   We finished a Thomas the train fleece blanket for Barrett, and we finished a quilt for baby Brayden.  We cut out a pink and white princess quilt for Raegan.  The really incredible thing was, we cut out the entire Irish Chain quilt I wanted to make for my baby!  AND, Mom appliqued all thirteen butterflies for the squares!  Amazing!  Mom thinks it’s beautiful, and I’m so happy!  It’s even more amazing when you consider that I cut more than a thousand tiny squares, and we got them all sewed together.  And Mom worked so hard on the applique I almost felt like I had her in a sweat shop =)  At one point she worked so late her fingers went numb!  The thimble fell off her hand and she didn’t notice until she stabbed herself with the needle!  She’s already wanting to start another applique project though so I guess I didn’t traumatize her too much.  I adore the butterflies!  And I’m so grateful the top is all ready for me to quilt!!!
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I gave Andrea her quilt!!  I told her I was returning the bag she gave me her shower gift in, which I knew she liked, and she said ok… then realized the bag was heavy and she screamed in full Andrea Voice!  She went on, and on, she was so excited!  Then she was like, I’m making an absolute fool of myself in front of like… four people.  Oh, well, that’s ok then =)  She pulled it out so Mimi could see and found the pillowcase then =)  She said she could pretend to be a coordinated person then =)  And she liked the fuzzy backing =)  Yay
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As always one of my favorite part of visiting was getting to play with all my nieces and nephews!  Casey and Barrett spent the night at Mom’s one Saturday.  Barrett has started to say “My Chrissie, My Chrissie =)  So they fight over me a little =)  It makes me happy that Barrett likes me that much =)  He wanted to sit on my lap the entire time we were waiting at the restaurant, and while we watched several movies.  He was in a very snuggly mood.  At one point I had both of them in my lap =)  Barrett is still completely addicted to trains, which has taken a new and amusing turn.  He loves the bridges on his train tracks.  So he talks about them all the time, since he’s at the stage where he repeats himself a lot and talks constantly.  It would be fine… except when he says bridge it doesn’t come out right.  He says bitch.  Alli and I both took movies of that, and Don put him on youtube =)   It’s all Jen can do to keep a straight face when he does it =)  When she took him to see Horton Hears a Who, there’s this one scene where the elephant is walking across a bridge… and it starts to break…  He’d been quiet through the whole movie, but at that moment in full Barrett Voice, he shouts, “Oh, no, BITCH!!!  =)
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Raegan came over to play several times too =)  We have such fun, especially since she likes reading as much as I do!  In once sitting I read  Peter Rabbit twice and Jemima Puddleduck .  She insists on holding the books herself, and she turns each page so carefully!!   I read the whole book every time, and it’s like 50 pages!  And she probably would have kept going if Mike hadn’t said it was time to go home.  Carson was especially cute this visit too.  Kelly put him in his jumper swing thing, and he spun till he looked REALLY dizzy.  When we babysat for him he had taken benadryl, but he had more energy than we’d seen him have ever!  He actually played with me =)  It was such fun!  He’d smile and crawl around and grab my hair =)  He has a good grip!
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It also has to be said that on this visit I went completely crazy with eating.  I must have eaten Mexican food once a day for two and a half weeks.  That’s not to mention the donuts… lots of donuts.  =)  
 
Also in fun news, I got to go shopping with Mom and Jen at Babies R Us!  I got a present for my brand new great nephew Brayden!  I was so happy to get to meet him while I was in Tulsa!  He is adorable, and so tiny!!  Hopefully he’s put on some weight since I left.  It’s wonderful to see Brandon with him.  I actually got pictures of Brandon that he looked happy in and didn’t try to avoid.  It’s been a decade since he’s let me take a picture of him without scowling at me =)  
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I also enjoyed shopping for baby clothes with Mom and Jen =)  I finally made my first baby clothes purchases, a pretty yellow eyelet dress (I love eyelet, it’s so cute!)  and a onesie with cherries and strawberries on it.  They were so perfect!  It was so much fun to get to go shopping with them!  Mom and I of course discussed making baby clothes ourselves.  I tell you, it’s genetic =)