Tea Party

A couple weekends ago my work friends threw me a mini baby shower at a local tea house.  

I had never actually been to a real tea shop and gotten tea service.  They really do serve those mini sandwiches with the crusts cut off!  The food was really great - especially the quiche and the raspberry tart.

We had a great time, and I really appreciated them taking me out to celebrate.

My last day of work is tomorrow, and I'm sad to say goodbye to the good friends I've made.  I'll obviously be able to chat with them and occasionally see them, but it won't be the same.  Nothing like a shared experience - especially an occasionally difficult one - to bring people together.

Martha brought her daughter to the shower (hence the ice cream sundae for dessert), and it was great to see a seven year old enjoy hanging out with her mom and sitting patiently for a couple hours.  Lots of times when I hang out with kiddos it's hard to imagine being surrounded by the craziness, but occasionally I spot a  rare moment of quiet from a good kid, and it makes it all seem a bit more doable.  I think I have a few years to wait until anyone sees my daughter and thinks she's a saint, though!

The Last of the Arianna Pics

I've got a few more Arianna pictures in my arsenal, and I figured it was high time I shared them with you.  Who wouldn't want to see more pictures of this little cutie?  I'm so glad I snapped a few pictures of Arianna and her Uncle John, as they became good buds over the weekend.

Anika, Arianna, and I went to the San Jose Children's Museum where Little A spent lots of time at the water table.

Some of the older kids were a bit on the splashy side, but Arianna didn't mind a bit.

By the end of water table time, almost her entire clothes and clearly her entire head of hair were sopping wet.  Shows that she was having a great time.

At the Clifford exhibit, Arianna did a great job cleaning up Clifford's bones, but much preferred the slide down Clifford's tail.

Anika and Arianna were great house guests, and we've been so lonely since they left.

I can't wait to see Arianna and Anika in a few months and watch Arianna and my daughter become best pals.  Everyone needs a good role model!

34 Weeks!

I'm 34 weeks now, and things are starting to get real.  We have selected our daughter's pediatrician and learned infant CPR this week.  Tomorrow we're taking "Baby Care" class, which I assume has something to do with changing diapers.

We had our last regularly scheduled ultrasound today, and Baby Girl is head-down like she should be.  Nice that she is obedient from the get-go.  The doctor measured her a bit and said that she had long legs - lucky gal!  We got to see her essentially suck on her fist, and the doctor proclaimed we won't need a pacifier.  Ha!  She still looks like a girl too, which is good since any son we have would be clothed exclusively in pink and purple at this point.  She barely kept still long enough for us to see what the doctor was pointing at.  Overall, she looks healthy and everything is going well.  Only a matter of weeks until we get to meet her!

Showered with Gifts and Love

At the baby shower, the guests got to play BINGO while I opened presents.  Anika made BINGO cards with the type of presents she knew I would receive, and everyone got to keep track of all my goodies while vying for the prize!  (Melissa ended up getting BINGO and won a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey - ha!!)

Natalie knew how much I loved Janie & Jack clothes, and got us an adorable matching outfit (you should see the cardigan!).

Joyce got us an Ergo baby carrier that I plan to strap on John whenever we are out and about.  (Okay, I might wear it sometimes too.)

Martha picked us all kinds of goodies a mother of two knew we would need.

My Aunt Ginny sent us amazing handmade-in-Indiana dresses for our little girl.

Melissa supplied us with some adorable cloth diapers.  Yes, I am going to attempt to cloth diaper.  Wish me luck!

Heather came from L.A. equipped with only the most stylish baby garb for our little one.

Kate found an adorable bird mobile and a cupcake book.  Apparently her mom (or "mum" as she says) was like my mom, and had a cake book that the kids were allowed to choose their own birthday cake from each year. Now that cupcakes are so popular, a cupcake book seemed just the thing!

How did Anika know how much I would love a doggie children's book?  :)

She got us all kinds of goodies, including a sleeper and a beautiful Christmas dress!

I can't thank Natalie and Anika enough for the lovely shower.  It was such a wonderful afternoon to be surrounded by friends who are all so excited to meet our baby girl.  I will be 34 weeks tomorrow, so we are getting close!

Best Baby Shower

Anika and Natalie threw me a beautiful alphabet-themed shower last weekend, complete with flash card decorations.  P is for peas and Q is for queen.  Just in case you didn't know!

Natalie made the most incredible spread of food, and everyone couldn't stop eating it.  I may or may not have had seconds and then thirds.

Heather, Anika, and I decorated the ABC cookies the morning before the party.  The ziploc bag method worked pretty well, actually.

These blocks made for a great decoration, and will be one of our daughter's first toys.  Might be a few weeks till she is advanced enough to understand how to play with blocks, though.

Starburst jelly beans - my favorite - for a party favor.  Luckily for me, I got to take home all the leftovers.  If you are interested in green jelly beans, I have plenty to share.  The pinks are all mine, though.

We all played a game where we matched celebrity moms to their adorable celebrity tikes.  The winner got 8 out of 11 right.  Some other guests got about 2 right.  They must not read Suri's Burn Book!

Then everyone spent some time creating an alphabet book for our daughter.  Joyce and Kate created especially amazing pages.

Pretty cool to think all my friends will help our daughter learn her letters.

Arianna was the prettiest gal in attendance, and enjoyed the festivities with the rest of us.  Scrapbooking was not as much fun to her as eating cupcakes, but not much compares to eating cupcakes.

Thanks so much to Natalie and Anika for such a beautiful shower!

Arianna Eating Food

I have two very long posts lined up to describe my awesome baby shower, but for now let's look at cute photos of Arianna.

Specifically, photos of Arianna eating.

I'm not sure why I took so many photos at mealtime.

Perhaps because Arianna is so cute then.

Or perhaps because she sits still for a moment, which leads to easier photographing.

Someone enjoyed her first In N Out experience.

I was obviously particularly enthused by her yogurt eating skills.

Hopefully I'm not the only one who enjoys photos of babies eating.  In about a year you will probably be seeing a whole lot more of these - except it'll be my little one sitting in this high chair.  I'm just hoping my daughter is half this cute.