Mass Baby Shower!

Saturday, March 31 finally came! My awesome friends Jenna, Laura, Kristin and Christie threw me a fabulous baby shower here in South Hadley. It was full of great friends, yummy brunch foods, beautiful decor, delicious cupcakes and one giant cake made by our friend Lauren. Other friends pitched in with food/drink, too, which was so awesome of them.

We ate said yummy food, played some games and I got to open gifts this time instead of envelopes (my first shower in Bama was a gift card shower--super great, but not much wrapping paper to throw around!). We did a baby version of Catchphrase in two separate groups due to numbers, and apparently there are lots of terms associated with birth/babies that don't translate well as determined by the international college students in attendance. Duly noted :)

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story (with some captions, of course!).

My chair! Christie's daughters helped out and painted the sign above the rocking chair.

 The spread...so much food! And all of it was amazing!

 Fun friends!

The entry tables: one with my book and another with an encouragement station and this awesome tree print I found for people to sign with their thumb or fingerprints.

 Super cute pansies were everywhere, and guests took them home as favors

Gifts!

 Laura, Kristin, me, Jenna and Christie

 Opening prefolds for my journey into cloth diapering

 The tree--it looks awesome with all the prints on it and will hang in the baby's room

My friend Sarah's mom, Cheryl, made this quilt with fabric from

The Very Hungry Caterpillar--super cute!!

Erica and Adeline--I had to post this, Adeline's faces are priceless!

Thanks to everyone who made my shower so much fun!!

Scenes from Baby Floyd’s first shower

Over President’s Day weekend in February I flew back to Bama to help host a baby shower for my sister-in-law Brandy and for my first shower in Fort Payne.  Here are a few pics Brandy took at my shower:

Me with several of the hostesses

 My mother-in-law, niece and sister-in-law came up from Birmingham

Delicious and super cute cookies!!

Some of the shower decor

The shower was held at the church I grew up in, and 14 women signed on to help host the event. Many of them worked with my mom, and I’m so thankful her friends continue to check in on the family and care for us seven years after mom passed away.

Anyway, in the South it’s traditional to give hostess gifts, but what do you get 14 women that won’t break the bank AND will be compact enough to travel from Mass to Bama? Coasters! I posted a few weeks ago about the Christmas gifts I made, and one of them was coasters. While I made four sets at Christmas, I made 14 sets for this shower! It was a bit crazy at the house for two days while I set up my assembly line.

It was also heavy. I didn’t realize how much 14 sets of coasters would weigh (though I should have—I did buy them and carry them to the car), and I knew I needed to carry them on so they wouldn’t break. Thank goodness for small, rolling, carry-on suitcases and really nice TSA agents who compliment you on your crafting ability while checking said suitcase for suspicious activity! Here are a few pictures of the process:

TONS of scrapbook paper needed for this undertaking...

Six sets complete!

And the other eight!

 The day before we had Brandy’s shower in Birmingham. I spent the weeks leading up to the shower crafting for my nephew who should arrive any day now! These are pictures of some of the gifts I made for baby Collier:

Applique onesies

Collier's rag quilt

Burp cloths

I got these from Etsy. Brandy can stick them on Collier's outfit and take monthly pictures.

My friend's mom made an owl rattle, and I included a candle. I also made a book through Shutterfly telling Collier about his grandmother Charlotte.

Preggo sisters-in-law!

Some of you know I started a temp job in January that was supposed to be for about a month. It actually lasted until March 2, which was really helpful financially and as a distraction to entering my third trimester. Even though I only worked there for two months, the women in my department were super sweet and threw me a surprise baby shower on my last day at work. I don’t have pictures from the party, but they gave us a laundry basket full of toys, books and other cute baby items. Such a fun way to end my time at Yankee Candle Corporate!