Baby Shower! (Sprinkle...)

I googled baby shower cake disasters and that wasn't even the worst one that came up! The first one was so inappropriate I felt uncomfortable even posting it on facebook. That is a CAKE. Yes, a cake to eat. Moving on....

My sweet playgroup friends had a dinner for two of us that are having babies. I could kick myself for not getting a pic of all of us!! It was such a fun night! After my wedding showers, I vetoed every idea anyone tossed out about baby showers because it's so uncomfortable to have everyone sit down and watch you open gifts. However, one thing I really loved about my wedding showers was getting to spend time with my friends and seeing people who cared about me all in one spot. One sweet friend spent all day in lecture at nursing school, then came and spent the evening with us. Others paid babysitters, and everyone made the other mom and I feel loved. This was perfect, and even better, there was another mom-to-be, so we could divide the "spotlight." We laughed and laughed and talked about everything from when you got "the talk" to dealing with postpartum hormones and lots in between. It's such a blessing to have good girlfriends. My stomach hurt from all the laughing. And possibly all the eating. I thought the dinner special came with soup AND salad. I misread it....it was soup OR salad. Our waitress took pity and brought me both, bless her heart. And that was just the beginning. I was slightly embarrassed to be ordering extra food, but it didn't bother me enough to turn it down. Ha! On that note, I am really looking forward to resuming a workout routine.

I just read Heart of Iron and it was so inspiring. It's about a heart transplant recipient who has battled cancer for over a decade, and his journey to complete an Ironman. I was running for part of my pregnancy and then got sick and didn't start up again. At this point, I'm just waiting till the baby is born to get back into it, but I'm ready and this book made me even more ready. Another book I just read was even better. It's called Interrupted, which is about asking yourself if your life honors the message of the gospel. Obviously, we're all lacking lots of things there. One thing that struck me in my own life was a relationship where I haven't forgiven someone. In a sick way, I've held onto the "injustices" that person has done and whenever I see this person, I immediately think back on those things and allow that to dictate my actions and attitudes towards them. That is wrong, wrong, wrong. And even knowing it's wrong isn't enough yet to make me want to let go of that yet. But I'm working on it. The author makes the point that Jesus poured himself out even for Judas, who (whom??) he knew with total certainty was going to betray him. This person didn't turn me in to be crucified, nor am I a sinless Messiah, so it's fairly clear that I'm habitually sinning by holding onto that anger, regardless of the person's repentance or lack thereof. That was not an exciting thing to realize about myself. But, it's good to have that brought into the light and know that it needs to change. The whole book made me squirm, but in a good way. In a call-to-action sort of way.

On the baby front, Walker's new bedroom is only lacking blackout curtains before he can move in. I have a few small things to do as far as dragging out baby things but nothing much. That feels good knowing that the last few weeks won't be a mad dash to finish little details. This is the first time I haven't been working at the end of pregnancy and it's AWESOME. My  job was gracious enough to allow me to work from home the last few weeks and wrap things up, which was a huge relief, but there was still the responsibility of doing my job well. It feels good to just be able to focus on our family now. And it's nice knowing I won't be going back to work a few short weeks after the baby is born. No dealing with childcare, worrying if the baby will take a bottle, wondering how sleep deprived I'll be and how we'll all get out the door at a reasonable hour. And the BEST.NEWS.EVER. My mom is coming down to watch the boys while Tom and I get a weekend away. YAHOOOOOO!!!!! We haven't had a weekend to ourselves since Harris was born. Four years and 3 months ago. To say that we're excited is a massive understatement. I couldn't tell her yes fast enough. Walker has finally decided he likes her and just in the nick of time! Before, he wasn't that comfortable around other people and we wouldn't have felt good about leaving him for that long. Now Walker knows that Mimi=party and he'll be all for it. We're staying in Fredericksburg for two glorious nights. That means two days of sleeping in, chatting (UNINTERRUPTED) with Tom, relaxing, napping, going to a movie, or whatever we want! I can't really envision what that will be like. The handful of nights I've spent away from the boys were either work related or when I was on a retreat. It has always been on someone else's schedule and there were still obligations. It will be an awesome two days, for sure. Woo hoo! Thanks mom!!

"And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Mark 11:25