Gifts, Gifts, Gifts, and More Gifts: My Book Theme Baby Shower

Sister and Cousin Please excuse background it was time to clean up

Gifts, Gifts, Gifts, and More Gifts: My Book Theme Baby Shower

As a stated in a previous post I had my shower on November 9, 2013 and both my mother and sister were hosting the event. My sister doesn't live in my city anymore and therefore most of the planning took place by phone and email, which lead to loots of frustration and tears on my part. In my family, especially on my mothers side, there is a running joke that I may be just a tad too boogie (high class) for my own good. My sister constantly wants to remind that my champagne taste don't go with my beer budget.  So long story short we had many fights over what I wanted for my shower. 

The theme of the shower was a Co-ed Children's Book theme and thanks to Pinterest I had so many ideas, maybe too many, for my hostesses to execute. Below are a few pictures from the event. We had family travel from ear and far and all in all I think the shower was great. We didn't start on time, which was a huge problem for me. However, many of  my guests were super late so I guess it all worked out. My sister also decided to use the tinniest voice in her hosting duties and the teacher in me had me jumping up to assist a lot more than I probably should have. Yes I probably ran many of the shower games, oh well. Overall I believe my shower was a success I had family and friends come from all over the US to spend the day with us, Dave sister even flew in from Canada. We had lots of great food, that I didn't get to eat at the shower because I was so busy. We also received a lot of great gifts and books for Kai, surprisingly no duplicates.  Here are a few pictures from the event.

Little guest

Give a Mouse a Cookie display

Gifts Kai is so loved

Where the wild things are table display

The Hubby and I with his parents

My baby brother and I outside the event

Mommy, Me, and my sister, they hosted the event

Cousin Jessica and I 

Me making a onsie for Kai

One of the many shirts guest made at the shower

Opening gifts 

Nursery Ideas Galore

Nursery Ideas Galore

Time has really flown and I am currently 31 weeks. I am finally starting to get Kai's room together. My husband cousin is staying with us and is the nursery room so that was holding us back from decorating. We asked that he move out of the particular room, we have a guest room he can stay in, by December 1st. However, that day has come and gone and he is still in the room. I have left his whole move in my husbands hands as it is his cousin, but now I will speak to my special house guest and tell him to pack his crap so my son has a place to sleep when he gets here. MY fear is my husband can be a tad bit LAZY and although he feels comfortable putting off decorating the nursery I don't think that will be wise. If his cousin stays in the room we will have less time to complete the nursery and Dave will become overwhelmed and start cutting corners. He will insist not everything needs to be put up and that we don't need this or that all because he is too lazy to build it.
The theme of the nursery is a Formula 1 race car theme, not to be confused with NASCAR. This theme has been exceptionally hard to get decor for, but I feel I have a few key pieces that will bring the room together nicely. I also have several DIY projects I will be starting this weekend. Below are a few of the items I have purchased and some of the ideas I will use to execute in his room.

None of the pictures below belong to me, but I did take inspiration from them in creating Kai's room.

28 Weeks

Baby Kai and I

28 Weeks

How far along? 28+4 Weeks (3rd trimester I am sooo blessed)
Total weight gain/loss: 196
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? Yes on the lower parts of back :(
Sleep: Lower back issues
Best moment this week:Taking photos with my sorority sisters for our 10 yr AKAversary
Miss Anything? I want a glass a wine
Movement: Kai kicks all the time
Food cravings: Beef its what's for dinner LOL
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: Yes!
Gender: Boy!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? Out and its so cute
Wedding rings on or off? Off :(
Happy or Moody most of the time: Nervous
Looking forward to: meeting the new man in my life come on Jan 2014

Yesterday I had my baby shower, will post about my big day later on, and today I took pictures with my sorority sisters. I can't wait to get the photos back, because we came up with some cute and unique ways to capture our time together as sisters. I am also so happy that they all traveled near and far to be in Houston for my baby shower and spend time with me. Even after all these years I have nothing but love for my sorors and cant wait to see what the next 10 years have in store for us.

UPDATE: Our pictures are back and they look AMAZING...

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc
Kappa Nu Fall 2003

Celebrating the moms to be, my Link and I are 5 weeks apart

My LSs

Being goofy and still cute

Edgepark Breast Pump Review

 
Breast Pump Review

Yesterday October 28, 2013 I received my breast and I am over the moon excited. As many insurance companies state you can't get a pump until after the birth of your child, I assumed I would have to wait until Jan. I started by calling my insurance company, BCBS, and was told I was eligible for a free pump and had three companies I could choose from to order. After checking out the websites for each company I decided to go with Edgepark, because they seemed to be the only company who had a Medela pump that was not on back order or a wait list. The pump I received was the Medela Personal Double Electric Breast Pump and personally to get it for free was such a blessing. If there is one thing I am nervous about it is breastfeeding. I keep a running list of what ifs playing in my head and I fear that I may not be able to establish the supply my baby will need to grow healthy, especially with me having to go back to work at 6-8 weeks. I am hoping my new pump will be able to alleviate my fears. Dave is super supportive and really wants me to try and go the whole year, my hubby is all for saving money LOL.

I highly recommend anyone who is trying to get a pump through a medical supply company to try Edgepark. The process took me about 10 minutes on the phone and I didn't need a doctors prescription. All they wanted was my information (Name, Work info, insurance info, EDD) and my Doctors information (Name and hospital number). It took the pump about 2 weeks to arrive at my house and it was well packaged.
Here are a few pictures of my baby

Baby Shower Invite

Baby Shower Invite

So now that we know our baby boy is coming in January, Dave and I have started to register for our upcoming co-ed baby shower. FYI registering with Dave took all the patients in the world, he kept making me want to smack him because he had a question for almost every item we scanned. I never knew one little person could need so much and after an hour at Babies R' Us I was ready to throw in the towel. Luckily my husband realized this and made the day go smoother with jokes and an Olive Garden lunch.
Since we are in the process of registering and will be having a shower on November 9th, I got my links husband to create he invite to our festive party. The invites came back looking amazing and after placing our registry information inside I  sent them off ASAP. In total I mailed around 85 invites to family and friends, and look forward to celebrating my pregnancy with everyone. The theme of my baby shower is Children books and we have asked everyone to bring a book in lieu of a card. My mom and sister are hosting the event and after shedding many a tear and even yelling at my sister over this event  (call it pregnancy hormones or her lazy ass behavior) I can't wait to see what they come up with. 

Gender Reveal!!!!!

Gender Reveal!!!!

Our baby is a boy and Dave and I are both over the moon with excitement and cant wait to meet him in 2014. I really couldn't hide how happy I was at finding out about the sex of the baby I had been carrying for the past 5 months. The gender reveal box was a real labor of love as it took me around 2 hours to make, my photographer loved it so much I told her she could have it. When we have our next child I will make a new box. Here are a few pictures from the gender reveal we did Sunday September 22nd in Dallas, I am 21 weeks in these pictures.

20 Weeks and Counting...

20 Weeks and Counting

We have made it to twenty weeks and I am feeling incredible blessed. The heart rate I see on my home doppler is always in the 150s and each time I hear their little heart, my heart swells just a little  more. The baby has been incredible active for the past two weeks and their "kicks" make me feel so happy, Dave hasn't felt the baby move but I can't wait to see his face when he does. Being pregnant after a miscarriage has brought so many challenges, the biggest one has been me fearing another loss. At this point in my pregnancy I won't say I feel overly confident, but I am definitely feeling  comfortable about reaching parenthood with Dave.

Next week we will know what gender baby Lokey is and I am getting more exited by the day. We both think that baby is a girl, but would never be disappointed if we were having a boy. I just want to know so badly, because with that knowledge comes all the fun stuff. Planning the nursery, buying clothes that are gender specific (no more yellow for us lol), and registering for our baby shower which we plan to do at the end of the month.

I also wanted to update everyone on my recent purchases. Baby Lokey now officially has 8 cloth diapers and because I got a little carried away with the cost of those diapers I am now on a freeze until next month. We have also purchased the nursery furniture, which is still packed away in boxes in our formal dining room. I really have no clue when we will get around to physically putting things up in the nursery, but I will begin buying decor when we know the gender.  Here is a picture of the furniture, I wanted a modern look for the nursery as well as white furniture which I believe will make the room appear larger and sleek.