Family Baby Shower + T Minus one month

January 6, 2016
So I just found this post in my drafts and feel like SUCH a slacker for never sharing! It was such a fun experience that I just have to share, even if it is nearly four months late!

Back in September, I hosted a baby shower for two of my sisters (in a family with 12 kids, there's ALWAYS somebody pregnant!) I was excited to be planning a little party and had fun deciding on the theme and everything, which was harder than usual since one sister was having a boy and the other was having a girl. Anyway, amidst my planning, my mom called and said, "Why don't we just add your name on the invitation, too? It can be a baby shower for you, Brooke, and Carrie." Haha! I'm hosting and planning this shin-dig, but why not?! Kill a few birds with one stone, right?

I decided to go with flowers with pink and blue accents throughout as the theme since their gender neutral (enough), plus, I found this cute ready-made announcement online. I tried to incorporate the color blue throughout, but let's face it, I have a lot more pink at my house than blue


We had some delicious chicken salad sandwiches, cookies, Swedish fish (mmmmm!), Berry surprise chocolates (mmmmm!), assorted vegetables and fruits, and pink lemonade. It was all so yummy! My mom helped me decorate and bought the flowers from Costco on her way over to my house.



It was so good to see all of my sisters (in the Utah area) and celebrate the new babies on their way! Of course, Brooke decided to throw a wrench into the plans by having her baby early! We decided to excuse her from the festivities.



We played some really fun games, too! We had a name race (which we played twice, once for boy names and once for girl names), advice cards, and my favorite game was the Candy Bar Matching Game. I played this at another friends baby shower and thought it was so clever and fun! It's matching, but you have to match the name of a candy bar with its corresponding pregnancy/delivery/baby term. I'll give you the list of all the candy bars we used (and then some we didn't) with their corresponding terms.

Whoppers - Contractions
Whatchamacallit - Choosing baby's name
M&Ms - Twins
Symphony - Lullabies
Big Hunk - Daddy
Rocky Road - Labor
Butterfingers - Delivery Doctor
100 Grand - Hospital Bill
Mounds - Dirty Laundry
Skor - Night of conception
Milky Way - Breastfeeding
Lifesaver - Epidural
Twizzlers - Umbilical Cord
Fast Break - First date after baby
Snickers - Coos and Giggles
Ring Pop - Pacifier
Mr. Goodbar - Anesthesiologist
Good n Plenty - Precious moments
Almond Joy - Newborn snuggles
Rolos - Baby fat
Runts - Preemies
Cry Babies - Colic

If you got a match, you won the corresponding candy bar IN KING SIZE! Have to admit, I was glad when Debbie won the Symphony bar and Peanut M&Ms because she doesn't indulge in candy like I do. Thanks for sharing, Deb!


Of course we all were having a such a lovely time chatting it up that none of us thought to get a picture. Doesn't that always seem to be the way?

When everybody left, my house was so quiet (since Andrew took the girls over to his Grandma's for the afternoon) and I said, outloud to myself, "This stinks!" I shouldn't complain, really, because my family is so much closer to me than most peoples, but I sure wouldn't mind living 45 minutes closer!

I'm so glad that my sisters (and nieces!) were willing to come all the way up to my house to celebrate!
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And here I am, four months later, getting ready for my little one to arrive! That nesting instinct that seemed totally nonexistent a couple of weeks ago appears to be in full swing! I'm really hopeful that since it's cropping up now, 5 or 6 weeks away from when the baby arrives, it will help the time pass, but... let's be honest. Probably not. I read something a few days ago that said the last month before a baby arrives is just karma coming back around to us for asking our parents in the car, over and over again, "are we there yet? are we there yet?" Whether you believe in karma or not, it is true that the last month of pregnancy is the hardest.

I'm not too nervous about the labor and delivery. I mean, sure, there's the regular jitters from not really knowing what's going to happen, if it will be like your other ones or whatever, but other than that, I'm good. The one thing I am a little nervous about is throwing up. Andrew was surprised when I told him this in the car (by-the-way, he said he wasn't nervous about the labor and delivery at all; you're not the one pushing a baby out of you, buddy). It's just that this time around, I want to have a pain-med-free delivery again, plus I want to go into labor naturally. With Chelsea, I went into labor naturally, but got the epidural. Alexa, I was induced and on pitocin, but didn't use any pain meds. I'm just wondering if the pitocin made a huge difference in the level of pain because a machine was controlling my contractions (basically). So, if I'm not on pitocin, will I throw up at the beginning like I did with Chelsea, or was the throwing up due to the shock of child-birth? I don't know.

I also wondered today what I'm going to tell my kids when I start going into labor and am panting and stuff (I want to stay at home as long as possible before going to the hospital). I don't want to freak my kiddos out, after all. I guess that will be a judgement call when the time comes. I'll probably just tell them that the baby is coming and I'm working really hard to help him and that makes me tired.

Still haven't decided on a name yet. We did discover a new one the other day that I like pretty well, but I'm not sure about it. It's pretty different. I dunno. We'll see. Andrew still likes Barrett, but he also likes Bronson and Ian. I'm on the fence with all three. We'll just have to wait until we see him. That's kind of what we decided works for us. How many of you decide the baby's name before they come?

Anyway, we're getting a little anxious over here, but having fun starting to really gather things together in preparation! This little guy is one lucky fella to have two big sisters so excited for him to come! Chelsea is always talking to him and giving him kisses, and Alexa just loves babies (a little too much). Having three is going to be crazy, and I'm not entirely sure we'll ever leave the house again, but I know that we'll be able to handle whatever comes.

See you next time!

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