Another Superb Shower

Last weekend one of my closest friends...Korrie Wilhelm...threw me my second and final baby shower. I got the chance to celebrate the soon-to-be arrival of Baby Menor with some of my dearest friends. It was such fun...being able to share this experience with all of them. It gave me the opportunity to catch up with some friends that I have not seen in awhile and it gave them the chance to see my ever expanding belly! We had good food, drink and of course...yummy cake, designed and baked by Korrie...so talented!

And of course there were more amazing presents for the baby! Everyone was so generous and I received some adorable things. As many of you know, frogs are a major part of our nursery. Well Korrie found the most adorable thing to go with our theme. It is an inflatable frog that can be used as an ottoman, or as a cuddle toy for the baby when he/she is a little older. The neat thing is that the frog looks just like the frogs on the nursery bedding, complete with the gold crown on it's head. I know this is for the baby, but I have been propping my feet up on it almost nightly!

I was fortunate enough to have quite a few of my friends there, two of which are pregnant as well. That is Julie on the left. She is due to have her second baby at the end of November, a few short weeks after me. And Natalie is on the right. Her due date is right after the first of the year. They both looked great and it was fun to be able to share this day with my fellow pregnant ladies!

But overall it was a wonderful shower. Thank you to everyone who came and made the day so special for me. Each one of you is so important to me. Our baby is so lucky to be surrounded by so many generous and loving people! Also, thanks Mom for making your tasty sugar cookies as shower favors once again. They were as just adorable as they were for the first shower and just as yummy!

And most of all, thanks to Korrie! You made this a day I will always remember. Everything you did, from designing the beautiful invitations to making the equally beautiful and delicious cake, made it a baby shower that I will not soon forget!

Here I am with the host...

And finally, a quick update...I am in the middle of my 36th week. I had another visit to the doctor on Tuesday. It was pretty uneventful but things look good. The heartbeat is a steady 156 and I will be going back again in two weeks. After that visit I start making weekly trips to the doctor until this baby decides to make his/her entrance into the world. The clock is really ticking away now...not long to go!

Our Last Hoorah!

With the baby due in just 7 short weeks, our time as a care free, young married couple is limited. Awhile back Todd and I discussed taking a trip before the baby was born. We talked about visiting some place we had never been before...taking a nice vacation, just the two of us. Well time sort of got away from us and we failed to plan anything. By that time I did not exactly feel like getting on a plane and traveling a far distance, nor did I feel like sitting in the car for hours on end, just to get to our destination. So we agreed that we would stay close to home but do it up right!

We packed up and decided to spend a long weekend in Indianapolis. We stayed in two very nice hotels in downtown Indy and ate at some wonderful restaurants. We shopped, took a night-time carriage ride and slept in! But primarily we just enjoyed spending some care-free time together...time that we know will soon be hard to come by.

And in other news...I am about to move into my 34 week! The time just seems to be flying by now. Hope baby does not plan on coming too early, as there is still lots to get done before November 6th!

Baby's Last Photo Shoot

Baby Menor had a final chance to show us what he/she looks like this week. I had a second ultrasound at my 32-week doctor's appointment, to check on baby's progress. The doctor wanted to make sure that no additional water had accumulated around the kidneys. Good news...everything looks great! Baby is right on target and falls into the 51 percentile as far as growth. Awesome...our baby is above average and it hasn't even been born yet! Baby has also turned...and is now facing head down, just like he/she should. I was a little concerned as the baby was sitting breach when I had my first ultrasound. And since I am really not that interested in having a C-section I was hoping that the baby would get to movin'! Well considering all of the kicking that has been going on in there lately I am not surprised to hear that he/she has completely switched positions! The heartbeat is also looking good. It is a strong 144!

But most of all I got the chance to get another look at our baby before the big day comes. Unfortunately Todd was not able to attend this ultrasound because of work, but my Mom came along instead. It gave her the opportunity to get a firsthand look at her soon-to-be grandbaby! And just like before the baby was not being very cooperative. The first time around it had it's hands and feet in it's face the entire time. Well it seems that the baby likes it that way. Although it was not attempting to put it's foot into it's mouth this time it did have one of it's hands covering the face. But we were still able to get a few good face shots...


We are still keeping the gender of the baby a mystery. Everyone seems to have their own opinion as to what we are having. I think it is about 50% boy and 50% girl at this point, so one does not seem to be favored over the other. But after studying these pictures my Mom and I agree that we think this looks like a boy face. Not that it is really that easy to tell what you are looking at in the first place, but it is just a feeling we have. And we would not be surprised if we were correct, considering the long line of boys that run in the Menor family. With 8 nephews in the family already and not one girl in sight, the odds are definitely not in our favor! But we could be wrong...

So now the countdown begins! With about 8 weeks to go things are starting to become more real. We are starting to think about what our lives will be like once this little person joins us. We are so very excited, but also a little scared at the same time. Since we only have a few weeks of total freedom left Todd and I have decided to take a little getaway to spend some time together...just the two of us. We aren't going very far...just Indianapolis, but we have some fun, romantic things planned. Mainly we are just looking to relax and enjoy the time away with no worries about work or household chores.

Not much else to report at this time. I am continuing to feel very good. I am not uncomfortable yet, but I am sure I will be soon. I cannot complain about anything considering what a wonderful pregnancy I have had up to this point. I now start visiting the doctor every two weeks until the final month when I will be making weekly visits. Here I am in all of my glory at 32 weeks...

Stay tuned...

Showered With Generousity

This is one lucky baby! Having not even entered the world yet, Baby Menor has been blessed with the most amazing gifts from some very important friends and family members.

Last Saturday my Aunt Susan and Aunt Delia threw me THE baby shower of all baby showers! Not only did they both fly into Fort Wayne from out of town; California and Florida respectively...but they succeeded in making the shower a day I will always remember. It was a beautiful day, and I was surrounded with those that mean the most to me. There was great food, drink and conversation...and let's not forget the gifts! Here are some pictures of me with my aunts and mom...

Both of my aunts, along with my Mom put a great deal of time and effort into the shower. My Aunt Delia put her crochet talents to use and made bookmark favors for all of the guests...

My Mom and Aunt Susan spent quite a bit of time making the most adorable baby cookies as another favor for the guests. Not only were they very yummy..they were just too cute for words...

On top of that they also channeled Martha Stewart and created a baby carriage fruit salad for the guests to enjoy! Now this takes talent...

So between these wonderful creations, the most amazing Baby Shower cake (thanks to Hall's and their delicious cakes), and all of the other wonderful food...we had quite the spread!

Since this is the first baby for Todd and myself there were obviously many things we needed to get ready to handle our little one. Between diaper genies, crib sheets and pack-n-plays, we created quite the registry list at Babies R Us! Well we were very lucky to receive so many wonderful, generous gifts from our friends and family. Here's all the loot and me opening a few of my amazing gifts...

The shower had a literary theme, (Hello...my mother is an English Teacher!) So each guest was asked to bring along their favorite children's book to help create a library for Baby Menor! Needless to say we received a ton of great books and we are on our way to having a pretty awesome selection of stories to read to our little one! Each book meant something different to each person at the shower, which made it even more special, knowing that Todd and I will be able to share these stories with our baby very soon!

So it was an amazing day that I will always remember...and a day I look forward to telling my child about in the future. I want my baby to know how lucky he/she is to be surrounded by so many wonderful, caring people. Thank you to everyone who came to the shower and gave us so many nice things! We are so lucky! I have one more baby shower to look forward to. My close friend Korrie is throwing me a shower with a bunch of my close friends. A few of them are quite pregnant as well...so I am really looking forward to seeing them and everyone else!

Quick update...I am nearing the end of my 31st week. I will be going back to the doctor on Tuesday for my second ultrasound. Hopefully all will look well. We are nearing the final stretch! Only 8 weeks to go! I am still feeling great but I think I am starting to get a little nervous...