Baby Showers!

I think we have finally had our last baby shower - and none too soon for that matter (12 days before her due date!). We had 4 total - one in TX, one at my work, one with Eric's immediate co-workers, and one with Eric's not so immediate coworkers. Below are descriptions of each one (warning - this is a loooong post! Maybe I shouldn't have saved up writing about them...)

TX Shower
Thrown by Katie Wallace, my mom, and my grandmother
in New Braunfels at Grandma's church
with our friends and family that live in TX.

This one is where we raked in most of Kayla's clothes, several blankets including a handmade quilt, a few toys, bath items, and diapers (I held up those little newborn diapers and nearly cried they were so small!). Since it was in TX - all the ladies that I don't get to see regularly were there. It was great to see everyone and be able to get everyone in the same room, even my Aunt from Connecticut came down (though not specifically for the shower - but she did arrange the visit to coincide). We played a couple guessing games (like how big around I was - why I agreed to that I'll never know) and when Kayla will actually make her appearance (the winner of that is still TBD obviously) and a game where they had to guess the nursery rhyme - which was way harder than it sounds. And my favorite was baby pictionary where we used quotes, movie titles, and song titles as the "clue" each person had to draw (And I have to say - who doesn’t know the quote “No body puts baby in a corner” is from Dirty Dancing? Apparently Amanda – She doesn’t know what she’s missing!). Fun times! I am thankful to everyone who was able to come (and to those who couldn't make it but sent gifts anyway) and all that they provided for Ms. Kayla - she will certainly be spoiled!

Eric's Project Shower
Thrown by Diane
in Irwindale,CA at Callahan's Bar
with Eric's coworkers on his current project.

Since Eric's co-workers know him very well they decided that the best shower they could throw for him was a Happy Hour shower! So, we all met up at the local watering hole and (they) had a few drinks, gave us a cash gift and homemade card, and exchanged lots of fun/interesting/scary parenting stories! It was very low key and relaxed, just like Eric, and he very much appreciated that.

Katie's Work Shower
Thrown by my co-workers Christine, Ann, and Virginia
in Los Angeles in district offices
with my co-workers.

My co-workers were not at all phased by the fact that we had to have this shower on our 1 hour lunch break - they were determined to have a full-on traditional baby shower complete with games, snacks, a cake, and gifts. We again played the nursery rhyme guessing game but the main event was having 3 guys get up in front of everyone and attempt to drink apple juice from a baby bottle. Eddie kept trying to squeeze the bottle to get it to come out, Norik drank it like he was drinking from a different kind of bottle, and Hector bit a hole in the nipple and was the only one to finish his off. It was really very funny to watch and they were good sports about it. This time around Kayla managed to get some cute little bibs, a gigantic box of diapers, some more cute clothes (b/c really - who can resist) and a few more toys and bath items along with 2 more handmade blankets. I was so thankful for everything - that isn't normally how showers are done at work so I wasn't expecting as much as was given. We really do know how to celebrate (or at least eat) on this project!

Eric's Departmental Shower
Thrown by Kathy (Eric's boss) and Tammy his co-worker
in Irwindale, CA at their Irwindale office
with his departmental co-workers.

Tammy emailed me back in December and asked if it'd be okay to have a surprise shower for Eric in January. I warned her that he was going to be embarrassed but that he'd be okay as long as there weren't any cheezy baby shower games. So today, after a quick staff meeting, they told Eric they were having lunch and when he walked in he saw the food, then the very pink and very girly decorations and realized what was going on. He was in the room for at least 30-45 seconds before he realized that I was there - and he was standing right next to me! Man he's oblivious! But very surprised (yet again!). He's a good sport though and even did the opening of the gifts, which I'm sure really embarrassed him. But I enjoyed it. :) They were so nice to actually provide a full on catered lunch of Mexican food, along with a cake and some nice presents - like the swing and the bathtub that we still needed. And, lucky us, they gave us a swing that plugs in rather than runs on batteries so that will be really nice (b/c those C and D batteries are super expensive!). Because these folks don't know each other really well, as they are spread out all over southern CA on various projects in various offices, it was really sweet of them to do this for Eric. He didn't want to make a big deal out of this but his co-workers (whether they know him well or not) really like him and like to work with him so they weren't going to let him get off without some celebrations. We are both thankful he works with such great (and generous) folks.

And that folks is the end of the showers. Now it's my turn to go on a shopping spree at Babies R Us and Target to get some final things that we'll need soon. At least both stores give us a 10% discount to finish up our registry so that helps (a little).

So, to everyone who has started Kayla out on her spoiled journey we call life, we are grateful and appreciative. We definitely couldn't have done this all on our own. And we're so glad that everyone appears to be as excited about this new little life as we are. It's going to be a fun adventure!