32 Week Recap: Baby Shower Time!!

OK.  Let's get something straight.  The next person that refers to me as "Waddles" will be immediately kicked in the crotch, without apology, just so they know how it feels every single time I take a step.  Now that the warning is out of the way, let's proceed with the blog, shall we?

This week was REALLY exhausting.  Perhaps the most exhausting of my pregnancy, other than the week that we moved.  Every spare minute of the first part of the week was spent getting the nursery finished and putting the finishing touches on some parts of the house that I wanted ready before the baby shower.  The rest of the week was spent getting everything ready for the shower. 
Now, I realize that I may be crazy for wanting the shower at my house.  My momma and about 5 friends warned me that I was borderline nuts.  However, we never had a housewarming party and I wanted to show off our new place and the nursery to my friends and family!  So I put Drew to MAJOR work.  He hung curtains, he hung blinds, he assembled a coffee table, a side table and a book shelf for the nursery.  He also hung shelves (failed to anchor the 2 he hung in the dining room, so shelf 1 fell while I was decorating it, resulting in the demise of a dessert plate I got as a wedding gift, and shelf 2 fell in the middle of the night around 3:30am, which resulted in a glass hurricane vase also meeting it's demise, as well as almost putting me in pre-term labor and giving Drew a heart attack to have been woken to the sound of glass shattering).  Good times.  There was a lot of cussing, a lot of irritation and a few tears from me being emotional and stressed, but I can happily report we made it out unscathed, still in love, and our house is as decorated as it's gonna get for the time being AND the nursery is finally COMPLETE!!!  (Pics to come). 

Momma came to town Thursday and we did a little prelim prep work for the shower.  But Friday's when it got crazy.  Mandy came over and we were all running around the house like lunatics.  I don't even think I took a shower or ate anything (dont tell Dr Belle) until about 3pm that afternoon.  The best part about Friday was that my cousin, Karen, came to town!!!  It's always such a great time when we get together.  We're more like sisters than cousins and I'm pretty sure we're cracked from the same mold.  We went to the Wine Shop for dinner, then to Target for some last minute shower shopping, then home.  Now, usually this is about the time we drink wine, which we run out of, so we move to beer, and we're up until all hours of the night talking and laughing and singing and catching up.  But, given my 8mo pregnant state, I was only able to hang until about 1am, which I think is pretty impressive!!  Thankfully, my replacement came in the form of my beloved husband, who had been golfing all afternoon, and was in the perfect state to accept such a challenge as keeping up with Karen.  Which he did - until about 4:30am.  Lord only knows what they talked about, but I can promise you one thing - I doubt he'll be trying to out-party her again any time soon.  Ha.

2 peas in a very chic and fun-filled pod.

Saturday finally approached and it was SHOWER DAY!!  The shower didn't start until 3pm, but the first part of the day flew by!  Mandy and Dana and Shavon (my lovely hostess') came early to help, and thank God they did because without everyone chipping in I doubt we could have gotten it all ready in time.  Then guests started arriving.  And they kept arriving.  There were SO many people there!!  My house was FULL and so was my heart, from all of the love and support for me and my baby boy that everyone gave by coming.  We mingled, ate, opened gifts, and had a great time!  Once again, I'm beyond blessed with the most amazing family and friends anyone could ever ask for and I wouldn't trade any of them for anything in this world.  I can't wait to introduce Cohen to all of these incredible people!!

The most beautiful women I know.

Sunday was a great day as well.  I was worn out from all of the hustle and bustle from the day before, but there was no time to even think about it because we had our maternity photo shoot that afternoon!!  We met up with our photographer, Wendy Gray, downtown and after an hour and 3 separate locations, we had about all we could stand of the 100* heat and the blazing sun.  Here's one of the pictures that momma took on her phone, but as soon as I get the final proofs of all of them, I'll be sure to put them in a blog as well!! 

We did a few Ohio State pics to make daddy happy.

It was an incredibly busy and tiring week, but shower's over, pictures are done, and now all I really have to cross off my list is our prenatal classes in a few weeks.  Until then, I'll be asleep - wake me up on Aug 11 so I'm not late for my class...

WEEK 32 CRAVINGS:  And I digress.  Back to the frozen grapes craving of month 3 or 4.  They're just so dang good - and so freaking cold.  And healthier than a popsicle. 

WEEK 32 "Dose of Daddy":  As I mentioned a few months ago, we were so blessed when Drew began a new job at Mazzella Lifting Technologies.  It was something we'd been praying about for awhile and it was so exciting when he was officall offered the position.  This job got him out of the overworked and underpaid employee plan at his previous company and allows Drew to work from home most of the time.  This is awesome for him, as it provides him sort of a reward for years of getting up at 5am and not coming home until well after dark.  Awesome for him.  However, this also provides me with the task of having to hurl my orca-whale of a tail out of bed and propel myself to the bathroom to get ready and out the door to my 8-hour in an actual office job.  I can't honestly say it would be any less irritating for me to face this daily, daunting situation not being pregnant.  However, I can totally say that being pregnant does seem to make it a little more frustrating, as I head out the door, using every ounce of energy I have before I even back out of the driveway, while my husband (and cat) are snoring and drooling their way through the 8am hour.  I'm proud of him beyond words - and I'm happy that he can take advantage of being able to reap the benefits that come with his new job.  But I have to be honest - it takes every ounce of self control to kiss him goodbye gently on the forehead every morning when I leave, rather than flick him on the forehead like I really want to do.

My view every weekday morning.

WEEK 32 "To Remembers":  The phrase 'all because two people fell in love'.  I mentioned my beloved Papaw a few weeks ago in my Fathers Day post, but I can't really mention him without giving credit to my Mamaw, the person who makes him who he is.  I have never seen 2 people set a better example of what true love is.  They've always shown that love to us grandchildren and it's so obvious, even to perfect strangers that pass them on the street or see them eating together out in public.  This love has become even more apparent lately, as Papaw's health really started fading.  The tender love and care and insurmountable patience she shows him is one of the most inspiring things I've ever witnessed with my own eyes.  Momma was talking the other day about how they have always talked for an hour or so when they go to bed at night.  They talk about their day, about their kids, about us grandkids.  And even now, 62 years later, every night when they go to bed, Mamaw talks to Papaw as if nothing has changed and as if he's able to communicate right back to her.  It's amazing.  And such a demonstration of the love they share.  In today's world, where the divorce rate is 50/50, it's so refreshing to see them still so much in love.  And it's a constant reminder that I'm blessed to have, that real love exists and can really last forever.  It's better than any love story I've ever seen in a movie or read about in a book.  And the best part is that it's so real.  It's such a blessing.  And my momma, my aunts and uncle, me and my cousins, and this beautiful baby I'm carrying wouldn't be possible without these two people, that fell in love...and still are.

Me, Cohen, and Mamaw.