Baby Showers Galore!

Oh my! I was blessed with a plethora of baby showers! Our baby will want for nothing, thanks to my wonderful co-workers, friends, and family. I'll share some picture highlights. But I don't yet have pictures from our last shower with Gerrit's family--which was so great. :) My family also came bearing gifts while they were here for Easter and I don't have pictures of that. Gerrit and I feel very loved by all.

My after-school co-workers threw a dinner shower. It was colorful and loud--just like they are! Co-workers who are reading this: You know it's true and you know I love you. :)

Co-hostess Sally made this sign!

Everyone loves a Boppy! (Co-hostess Melissa is in the background)

Me and Co-hostess Kim.

I also had a joint baby shower with a co-worker at school. We are due about a month apart and it's been great to celebrate, complain, and bounce questions off each other (Is this normal? Are you going through this?). We both felt very loved by the faculty and staff at school. One of our co-workers has a gift (and business) for making cakes! She made the one in the picture. It was delicious and diabetic friendly. :)
Finally, my dearly loved Renovation Church house group ladies threw a shower. They've been a wonderful support throughout the pregnancy with their excitement, prayers, and advice. My friend, Lindsay, took the pictures.

Some of the ladies The presents!Melinda, Me, Evie, and Jordan.
After the shower, Evie, took some maternity pictures for Gerrit and I. Head over to her photography blog if you would like to see some of them!

I can't thank everyone enough for the amazing showers. We are so appreciative. Our little girl is set with all the necessities for her arrival. And she definitely has more clothes than I do (better looking ones, I might add! Not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous). Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Updates

I really want to blog about all the wonderful baby showers I had, nesting instincts, and the days to come. But where is the time? I know. I know. There will be even less time when the baby comes. I'll do my best to blog soon. No promises. The Bean could come at anytime now! EEEEEK! I'm still here though and we're still waiting. We'll keep you posted!

Baby Shower #1

My amazing bosom buddies threw me my first baby shower this weekend. I can't believe how great it was (actually, I can believe it. They're pretty crazy good at what they do). I stole pictures from Jess and Mandy. They get the credit.

The Hostesses: Jess and Rachel (who opened their townhouse for the occasion) and Mandy who flew from afar to be here!

The food and decorations...made with love.

I have to tell you about these paper flowers. Jess took vintage childrens' books and folded them into flowers. Then Jess and Rachel grew real wheat grass in glasses and "planted" the flowers in them. Amazing!

These shoes were handmade (!!!) by Jess and Rachel's mom, Deb. Could they be any cuter? What a diva this baby will be!All the "showerers" (minus Mandy's mom, Kay, who took the picture). I love them all!

The "Seven" minus Brittany (who couldn't be there because she is being a missionary in Ukraine. I guess we'll let her off the hook. She was very missed, but she was with us in spirit and in the button decorations!)

With all the preciousness of the day, there had to be a little silliness, too. Here are Mel and Jess modeling the Bumbo chair (hopefully the baby will use it correctly)!

Molly and Tara's present had this extra large bow on it. Mandy said, "You know that's ending up on your belly at some point, right?" And so, it did.

I can't tell you how blessed I felt that day; and how I feel to have these women in my life. I hope the Bean is influenced by every one of them!

Inappropriate Question of the Day

Co-Worker (pushing the hair off MY forehead): Oh...are you breaking out like that because you're pregnant?

.....Yeah....I've never felt so beautiful.....

Sinful

Why...

...are all...

...the wonderful foods in life...

...so very, very...

...naughty?

These foods are on my post-pregnancy wish list. It's an ever-growing list. Forgive me for having such wicked thoughts.

Discipline

I'm quickly learning that I don't have it! After failing my glucose tests, I learned last week that I have gestational diabetes (meaning, it should go away when the baby comes). It's a common problem for pregnant women to have, but a bummer nonetheless. I have reluctantly started a carb-counting diet. Basically, I have to cut all the fun out of eating. Cravings for naughty foods have never been so strong. And I know they aren't pregnancy cravings. They are just "I've-been-told-no-and-now-I-want-what-I-can't-have" cravings. I normally don't think about food much; now, thoughts of food consume my brain!!!! I can smell fast food at stop lights. There are entire aisles at the grocery store that need to be avoided now.

Of course, the benefits of following the diet are a healthier baby and a healthier me. If I don't keep my blood sugar at a healthy level she could be born with wacky blood sugar, too. AND she could be born large. No thanks. I would like a normal-sized baby, please and thank you. So, pray that I can stay disciplined on this carb-counting, no fun or frills diet! We want the Bean born healthy. :)

I am now 30 weeks pregnant. CRAZY! Gerrit and I are taking on cleaning projects to make room for Bean. Hopefully, she can be welcomed into an organized home. That's the news in our house. Here's my 30-weeks picture:

Happy Monday!

Challenge Day 18 and Some Banter

Welp, it's been awhile, so I feel like I should write something. I've really dragged this photo challenge out. Sorry folks. But here is:

A Photo of One of Your Classes

Obviously, this isn't a picture of one of my classes. However, it is a photo of my first day of my Junior Year in high school. My grandpa was visiting at that time and this may be the only picture I have of the two of us together. He passed away the next summer and I wish I remembered more of this visit. I do have little tidbits of memories of him. The clearest is of him reading the newspaper whenever he came to visit. He would devour each section and then turn to me and say, "Well Cassie, I guess you'll be wanting to read the 'technicals' now." Then he would hand me the comics. I have no idea why he called them that, but I still think about that each time I read the comics. :)

Besides being pregnant, there's not a whole lot going on in our household. We're trying to clear out the office space to make room for baby stuff. As my due date draws nearer, my feelings about this whole experience are getting stronger. I'm absolutely grateful for this pregnancy. We're excited to meet our little girl.

But I'm going to be honest.

Ready?

I do NOT like actually being pregnant. It's the weirdest, most uncomfortable thing my body and mind have ever been through....and my pregnancy is normal! It's not even complicated! I have nothing to complain about! But I certainly find plenty.

I also find it humorous how people react to pregnant women. Apparently, social norms do not apply when conversing with me, a pregnant woman. Suddenly....

• It's perfectly acceptable to comment on my body. Example: Wow, you look big today.
  
• Co-workers can ask personal questions and then give advice with no prior personal conversations in our history. Example: How many times have you gone to the bathroom today?

• Sharing a terrible birth and labor story is offered as a comfort, because what I'll go through could NEVER be as bad as that. I won't scar your mind with the examples I've been given. Glass-half-empty comments are the new optimism. Example: Oh, you aren't sleeping well? Your back hurts? Just you wait....it's only gonna get worse.
  
• Commenting on the food I eat is no longer seen as rude. Example: You're eating for two, so I guess it's okay for you to eat SO much.
  Example 2: You didn't finish everything on your tray. You really should eat more now that you're eating for two.
  

I, for one, don't understand where this new social openness comes from. It's fascinating. But it comes with the territory, I suppose. I'll just smile and nod and tell them THEY look really big today, too. :)