Baby Monsoon

Completely unintended 3 month blogging break now coming to an end!

Although I always knew I would feel completely, totally supported and loved by our family and friends throughout this pregnancy, I never expected to be thrown a shower of any kind.  At the beginning of my second trimester, we moved across the country to Las Vegas where we didn't know a single soul, far from our loved ones, so logistically, having a shower would just never work out!  [And that's okay!  It's what we signed up for when we became a military family and technology always makes those distances shrink!].

However, we have been overwhelmed and blessed over and over again by the creative and surprising ways that the people we love have found to celebrate us and our growing family!  Not only have we been thrown one shower, but three - it's raining, storming, monsooning baby stuff up in here, y'all!

Shower #1:  Double Surprise from Besties

We went low-key for our annual Girls Trip (#5!) this year.  Of the five of us, two of us are preg (Julie is due just a week apart from me!), so we stayed at a relative's gigantic mansion in Phoenix and lived in the pool for three days.  On our last morning there, Kendra, Rachel, and Jo threw us the most spectacular, precious, and amazing shower that was completely unexpected (I'm still baffled at how they managed to transport all the decorations and presents without either of us realizing!).

Full-on decorations, baby shower games, brunch, the sweetest video message they recorded for us, tons of presents - it was all there, and Julie and I basically felt like mama goddesses.  It was incredibly special and incredibly wonderful.  Thank you, Jo, Rach, & Ken!

Preg buddies.

Three of these bumps are fake...

Shower hostesses/best friends

Shower #2:  Boy/Girl Sailor Shower

When we moved here, we didn't quite know what to expect or what our new military life would be like.  We quickly learned that being in that same boat of uncertainty with everyone else creates really quick, really close friendships!  In a matter of weeks, we found great friends in Scott's co-workers and their spouses, and two of the other wives, Jill and Ruth, threw us a couples baby shower!  These girls went all out with a nautical-themed party, complete with homemade shrimp po'boys, nautical decorations everywhere you looked, sailing flags and anchors and seashells and boats!  It was a really fantastic, casual night - we are so blessed to be part of this group of people.  Thank you, Jill and Ruth!

Nautical everywhere!

Stack of loot.

Tag-teaming the opening of gifts.

Wives' club!  (By the way, in the next month the baby count among us is going to go from 2 to FIVE!)

Baby mama, baby daddy

Shower #3:  Long Distance and Long Term!

As if all that wasn't overwhelming enough, my sister Kelsey also orchestrated a totally ingenious way for us to feel celebrated by all our long-distance loved ones:  She separated a huge list of recipients into 6 groups, and sent out this invitation to all of them, assigning a different week to each:

 

In other words, we're spending the last 6 weeks of this pregnancy get cards and notes and e-mails and gifts in the mail from all different groups of people from our lives!  How much fun is that?!  I'll tell you:  insanely fun.  Almost every day brings something new in the mail and it's a constant, daily reminder of the amount of support and love we have coming to us from all over.  It's at once reassuring and delightful and humbling.  We love it.  Thanks, Sister!