David vs. Playdough

This entry is in thanks to Aunt Lindsay for the Valentine's day playdough she thoughtfully sent to D!

Emily & Baby C's Baby Shower

Saturday, February 18th marked one of the most delightful gatherings of women I've ever witnessed. My co-host Rachel and I had planned the details of Emily's baby shower months in advance and it could not have been lovelier. I have never seen such an enthusiastic and almost complete RSVP as I did with this shower.

The morning of Emily's big day, her mother Irene, Sister Jessica and sister in law stopped by with a bundle of roses, grapes, thank you cards (pre-return adressed), and a photo display of baby Emily. Upon first meeting Irene I felt I knew my dear friend Emily all the more. Yep, she was indeed Emily's mom and what a wonderful mold to have been shaped from. The rest of the day followed suit as I met Emily's other sister and extended family. I knew Blake's mom but got to chat with his sister and grandmother for the first time as well. After receiving one of the most touching thank you notes of my life from Emily's grandmother Buela, I knew this was a shower to remember and details I needed to record here today...
 
The theme 'She's about to Pop' was inspired by a pinterest pin from Emily and here was our invite:

We carried the 'pop theme' through with buckets of sweet and salty popcorn. Here's the recipe for the sweet popcorn:

Sweet Popcorn

1/4 c. White popcorn kernels
About 4 tbsp. veg oil to cook and coat
1/4 c. powder sugar
a few dashes of salt to taste

crystal sprinkles

Pop the kernels however you like (microwave is fine and delicious). If you are popping in a manual popper, then cook the kernels in about 2 tbsp. of veg oil and coat with another 2 tbsp. after popped. While still warm, add a dash of salt to taste and then sprinkle the powder sugar over the popcorn and toss to coat evenly. For fun, add crystal sprinkles and toss lightly (I specify 'crystal' meaning the kind that looks like colored granulated sugar, regular sprinkles will just fall to bottom).

Thanks to Rachel's idea to set out an array of fun and flavored sodas/water our drink station was decadent. I also found a recipe for Nashville's Fruit Tea which was incredibly delicious:

 

Nashville's Fruit Tea

    Tea bags for 2 gallons tea
    1 1/2 quarts boiling water
    2 cups sugar
    1 (48-ounce) can pineapple juice
    1 (12-ounce) can frozen orange juice
    1 (12-ounce) can frozen lemonade
    Toss in some mint for good measure

Place tea bags in bowl or pitcher. Pour boiling water over tea bags. Add sugar, stirring to dissolve. Let tea bags steep in sugar water several hours or overnight. discard tea bags. Pour tea into a large bowl. Add juices, stirring well. Pour equal amounts into two one-gallon jugs. Add water to each to fill jug. Refrigerate. Shake well before serving.
Makes 2 gallons

Our food table was sweet and savory and my favorite item was probably Rachel's olive bruscetta. I'm guessing that it was french bread + cream cheese + olive tapenade. 6 little pieces were left over and I ate them all by the end of the day. Rachel also made 40 adorable chocolate and vanilla cupcakes topped with homemade buttercream pink icing. I believe I ate about 4 of those as well. I'd also love to share this  cake mix cookie recipe which was altered to fit the mixes I found at Target, Funfetti and Strawberry - big hits!

 

For games, we did the 'guests can't say the word CUTE or else they give up a link' game. We played with ABC baby links which were gifted on to Baby C after the party. Our two winners competed in a timed shape sorter contest in order to determine who took the prize. Our second game was a POP-Quiz in which Emily surprised even me with her answers! Baby C's Grandma, Emily's mom, proved to be most knowledgeable and won the prize.

Before gift time, we took a moment to invite the Lord to be a part of Emily's special day and Audrey read Psalm 139. You'll recall it's precious reminder that the Lord is the one who creates...

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." - Psalm 139:13-14

In closing we prayed for Emily and guests were invited to pray specifically for the short but heavy times ahead - final weeks of pregnancy, delivery and hospital stay, first days at home and Emily's first 3 months with Baby C. These specific time periods of Emily's road to motherhood were also written down on the guests gum-pack favors in hopes that prayer would continue from here. Glory to God for all you who are covering Emily in prayer as we speak. What's more valuable to a new mother than knowing the grace of Jesus Christ?!

Gift time was glorious as Emily opened big items like her stroller and small items like a framed poem by Blake's grandmother. I've never seen such an outpouring of love over a little baby girl like this day. Needless to say, I think Baby Girl C might be outfitted just as stylish as her mama.

Baby Pictures of Emily

'Meals for Mom' listed Emily's favorites to
receive once baby C arrives and she's got her hands fulll!

In my dear friend Katheryn's words, it truly was 'the baby shower of the century'. I'm thankful to all the helping hands that pitched in generously to make the day beautiful for our inspiring & beautiful new mama, Emily.

Boy, oh boy!

I can hardly concentrate at this moment because I want to tell the world about our 2nd son, JUDAH TRIPP!! Let's rewind to 12:10 today...

Judah's profile

My generous father with incredible timing asked if he could come spend time with David and I this week. So, today I drove solo to our 20 wk. ultrasound appointment. Arriving at the Women's Group of Northwestern Northbrook Office 30 minutes early, the very sweet ultrasound technician took me right away. I told her that I expected my husband soon and said we'd start with logistical measurements. To which I responded with a text to Tripp saying, 'They took me right away, get a move on! Love you :)'.

My mind kept danced between naming that sweet little baby on the screen Anne or Judah. Having seen little boy parts before in an ultrasound, I did have my suspicions...

Finally, at about 12:30 Tripp arrived in a rush and we listened to the baby's steady heart beat. The technician took advantage of the baby's ideal and calm position and continued to measure heart and organs. By the time we arrived at the gender reveal, she had assured us that this baby was a beauty inside and out. She asked us, 'Are you ready to see what this baby is?' To which I replied, 'YES, though I'm really thinking that I'm seeing a boy here.' She responded, 'Well you're right, you've got a little boy.'

Judah's profile up close

A LITTLE BOY!!! JUDAH!!! I could not have anticipated the excitement and love that flooded my heart for my son Judah. I teared slightly and Tripp was even surprised at my enthusiastic emotions for our boy, our boy! In my heart, I had told myself that a 2nd boy would be awesome but a girl would make me feel like I'd won the lottery. I had planned to decorate Judah's room in black and white buffalo plaid and Anne's in cherry red gingham. People, I've never been so excited about black and white buffalo plaid in my life.

This past week, I had two dreams about meeting a little baby boy named Judah and today my dreams came true.

Now will be the hard part, waiting to meet him. With David's pregnancy, I savored every minute because I didn't know what it would be like to have a baby. Knowing the incredible meeting face-to-face that lies ahead in mid-July... I just want it to be mid-July. That and who wants to be pregnant for another 20 weeks?!

Our ultrasound tech ended up giving us about 20 printouts of Judah, so hopefully we'll get to posting them soon. Don't you just love that round baby belly?

2 under 2

Today marks day 5 of 10 with 2 kids under age 2. My pastor's wife is on vacation, so I'm babysitting the little guy B who she normally watches 4 days a week. Tripp and I both saw great potential in this arrangement, of which David has most benefited! We also appreciated the blessing of extra income and 'practice' with two kids. One week down, and I would confirm, yes, this has been good practice! I just wish baby #2 was coming into the word on the same developmental level and sleep schedule as David.

This is Day 1 of sharing a breakfast platter of pancakes
with yogurt to dip - BIG HIT!

To wrap up the highlights of last week, I give you...

2 UNDER 2 GREATEST HITS

1. David and B eat like college students
(this is an ENORMOUS leap from David's 'throw-it' reaction to most foods, we're eating green stuff now people!)

2. David and B speak baby lingo so well, David will call out to B from the changing table and B will respond by coming over and seeing what's up

3. David and B have trained Mom to wake up early and keep them on a good nap schedule

4. David is a little embarrassed about his lay-down-on-the-floor-and-kick-feet-tantrums in front of B, so he's learning how to manage his emotions a little better

5. David has learned 'No' but thankfully neither kid feels that's something you can say to a serious Mommy

We ventured to the park and the boys shared a
snack of cinnamon apples. Last week, David
felt that cinnamon apples were for the birds.

It has truly been an entertaining time, so I'll do my best to document highlights from the remaining 6 days!