Still Messy...Must Need Another Shower!

Last weekend my friend, Amanda, and the church chicks (hey, that could be a new musical group!) hosted another fabulous shower for us. What hostesses they are - with a variety of talents! Andi made BEAUTIFUL flower arrangements, Steve (Mandy's husband) made a cute guest book tree that is going to be hung up in Caden's room, Amanda created a hilarious game (see below), and a bunch of church ladies all pitched in to provide food. It was a recipe for fun, fun, fun!

Amanda created a "Training Academy" game for us to participate in. She decided that since I was a Princess, I needed some training before I could become the mother of a boy. We all got into teams of 5 and went through our stations - diapering, first aid, ESPN Zone, Lego building, and sound effects. I am sad to say that my team did not win, but we did have a good showing. I'm pretty sure that the winning team bribed Noah and Eli (the Lego rocket judges) and that is how they won, but I can't prove that yet...

Again, people were so generous with their love and their gifts. I even convinced Jeremy to come for a little while. He was not overly excited to attend a "chick event", but he too is grateful to everyone for their generosity and wanted to show his appreciation too. This was his first baby shower - he was a little overwhelmed, and spent most of the time playing with the kids, but he was a great sport!

Wow, it looks like a baby has taken over our house, but we still have to wait. The other night JZ said, "I'm just ready for him to get here." All the stuff has really began making us anxious. At the beginning, 9 months felt like such a short time. We wondered if we would be ready by then. Now, with 9ish weeks left to go, we're feeling like 9 months is FOREVER.

I have also decided that Baby Caden is coming straight out of the womb and going into time out. He is an active (a.k.a. naughty) little friend, that is for sure! I must rock him to sleep as I move through the day, but come night time - it is Dance Party USA in my belly! His favorite time of day appears to be around 4 AM. The other night, he was awake and dancing from 4-5 AM, so I am one tired gal these days. I appreciate him letting me know that he is alive and doing well in there, but possibly he could do it a little earlier in the day. Just a thought.

Here are a few fun pics of the church shower at Mandy's house

30 weeks - ready for the shower!

Here we are at the diapering station. I learned some valuable information!

The crying children at the First Aid station. We had to find their "boo-boos", but band-aids on them, and kiss it better.

Building our rockets

Caden's autograph tree!

Showers of Love

Last weekend my dear friends April, Kelly, and Megan hosted an amazing baby shower for me. The girls worked so hard to make it special for me. They even got JZ involved. They asked him baby themed questions and videotaped his responses. It was hysterical! Apparently Caden is going to be "very athletic" and will be crawling by three months, he's "budgeting $14,000" for the first year of his life (excuse me?!?), and sleeping will not be a problem because we'll just put him in one of those "swing thingys with his arm above his head" (pretty sure he's talking about swadling.). All of this while wearing his I Love Lindsey t-shirt. It was priceless!

I could not get over how EXTREMELY generous our friends and family were. This will be one loved (and well-dressed) little friend. We are so grateful for everyone's generosity - you are amazing! After it was over, Jeremy's mom, Donna, loaded all of the gifts up in her truck (my mom and I were talking...), drove them over to our house (again, we were still talking...) and unloaded all of them into the living room (about that time we decided it was probably safe for us to go home). By the time I got home, she had laid everything out and organized it like Babies R Us. There was a personal care section, clothes section, big items section... you get the idea. When I saw it laid out so I could really look at it, I was so overwhelmed. It really looked like a store in our living room! When JZ finally got home from a successful American Cancer Society ski-athon day, he dragged himself into the house and was met with the gifts. He was a total deer in the headlights. He just stood there with this bewildered look on his face. It was too funny! We spent Sunday organizing (sort of) and putting our new toys together. It was better than Christmas!

The onesie says, "I Love My Mommy"

Is that my living room or Babies R Us? Holy smokes!

The day after - Daddy trying to figure out how the Diaper Genie works

It's a good thing we have Curious George. He tried out all of the gadgets for us. Here he is ready to go for a car ride.

The generosity of our friends and family has really made me start thinking. Jeremy and I often say how lucky we are to have such kind, loyal, loving, and caring people in our lives. We just have neat friends and family! As was demonstrated this last weekend, they are generous, and we are grateful. They have always supported and loved us, and for that, we are also grateful. Now, we are able to appreciate them even more. It is one thing to love us. It is a whole other ballgame to love our child. My friend, Amanda, often says, "Thanks for loving my kids." I always thought, "They're cute, smart, and fun to be around. Why wouldn't I love them?" I now get it. The idea of people loving our child - one that no one has even met yet, but just based on his gene pool is destined to be calm and well-mannered (!) - is indescribable. It is a better gift than any car seat, stroller, or swing we could have ever received (although we love those too!). Thank you, thank you, thank you, we are blessed!

Oh Happy Day!

Yeah! The bathroom is now complete. The pictures just don't do it justice, but it is soooo cute (I can say that because I did NOTHING). It rivals the nursery on the adorabilty scale! Check it out...

My favorite part is right at the edge of the door. JZ carved "Caden Z" into the mud between the first tile and the doorway. It is covered up by the metal thingy at the edge of the door (kick plate?!?) but we will always know it's there!

My poor hubby deserves a medal for his hard work. Not only has he been spending every spare moment on the bathroom and nursery, but he has also had to travel a LOT for work. He is burning the candle at both ends and I am not much help. I am so grateful that he is ready, willing, and able to take my vision and run with it. I am also so glad that he is very good at home improvement projects and that he kinda likes them! For that reason alone, I think I'll keep him!

Next!

The next phase of Operation Prepare for Caden that needs to be completed is the guest bathroom upstairs. We have decided on a a Dr. Seuss "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" theme. We decided to paint the bathroom Liquid Blue - and boy is it blue. Bright blue. JZ is not so sure about the bright blue walls, but I love them! He also decided now would be a good time to put in some tile (easy clean up if you know what I mean!).

My parents came in last Tues. and we immediately put my dad to work painting and tiling. We did give him one day off to go skiing for his good behavior.

Papa painting the BRIGHT blue walls

The tile is down and ready to be grouted

I can't wait until it is all finished - shouldn't be too much longer now. I'll post more pictures when the towels, shower curtain, etc. are up. Love it!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We spent our day "nesting" - moving furniture, finding bathroom paint colors, and getting the bathroom ready for the overhaul. How romantic! JZ did sport his new Valentine's Day gift...isn't he cute?!?

I think this just says it all!

Happy 31th!

My how things have changed! A year ago, we celebrated by 30th birthday with a big 80's blowout.

Glossing it up in my 80's gear!

This year was just as wonderful, but a little bit more low-key. On Saturday JZ and I went to see the musical Chicago in downtown Denver. It rocked (but it is quite burlesquey - don't take your young children to see it)! Then we went to dinner at the Capital Grill - yummy! The best part was that we went to a matinee performance, had dinner at 5:00 and were home a little after 7. A perfect pregnancy evening!

26 weeks - heading out to celebrate my 31st birthday. Whoa belly!!

On Sunday we had a great lunch with Jer's family and then they came over to check out the nursery and have cake. That evening our super friends, Team Poulit, hosted my birthday dinner...then the nastiness set in. I unfortunately came down with a yucky stomach bug. I ended up staying home from school Monday and milking it for all it was worth. I keep wondering when JZ is going to get tired of taking care of me. I owe him big time (although I am carrying his child, I think it's a fair trade)!

Thanks to everyone for all of the calls, cards, and good wishes. I am grateful for such a wonderful support system. It's hard to believe how much things have changed in a year, and I just can't help but think of how much things are going to change this next year. Can you guess what I wished for when I blew out my candles?!?

Jungle Babies

Today I got to open an early birthday present from my parents (the box has been here for over a week - I did pretty well!). I'm so glad that I did because inside was the bedding for the nursery!

We immediately went upstairs to put it up. Although everything is going to have to come back down so that I can wash and iron it, we couldn't wait to see if everything matched. It's perfect and we're so excited!! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Belle, however, is not loving the new stuff. She knows something is up. This morning she was cuddling with me and the baby kicked her. Watch out, there's a new baby moving into our family...

She decided to hide behind the chair instead of helping.