So my baby shower was yesterday! I’ve been trying to collect my thoughts (and energy!) long enough to make a decent post about it… plus trying to get all the photos resized. I’m going to attempt an actual post. It will probably be very long!

First of all, my very best friend, Kel, arrived friday afternoon! I’ve been thoroughly enjoying her company. Have we actually done much? Not really – no sight seeing or adventures. Mostly just sitting in my living room gabbing away…. while seated at different computers, checking forums and posting. You know the kind of friend that you can just sit in companionable silence for hours if the mood suits, and not sit there wondering if you said something wrong, or feeling pressure to maintain conversation? It’s great. I don’t have that with many people. (My brother, my dad, and my husband are the only other three I can think of.)

Well the shower was fantastic. My MIL and SIL and everyone else who pitched in did a terrific job. There were plastic plates and cutlery, with cute napkins and cups… MIL had gotten a bunch of these pop-up baby decorations as centerpieces… there were baby-themed things on the wall, and baby-themed confetti on the tables. SIL apparently found these ADORABLE little sheep favors, I loved them!! (pictures coming up!)

The facility we had the shower at was on the military base that he works at, at the “club” – the dining hall/entertaining facility there. Fully stocked bar, and Den was the bartender for the day. LOL Den fell in naturally to serving and chatting people as they arrived, and everyone gathered around the bar.

The food was professionally catered… they had a mix of breakfast and lunch foods: an egg quiche dish, ham, bacon, home fries, fruit salad with whipped cream, ribs, chicken, baked beans, danishes… the food was SO good… and there was plenty of it. I think I went back up for more like four times. The fruit and whipped cream was especially good!

I opened gifts next, and boy was I blown away!! People are so incredibly generous, it just touches me so very much! We got SO much stuff that we need – the big gear items too! I really did not expect many big items to be purchased, they were on my registry in case people wanted to chip in together. But we got so much stuff… just amazing. And the clothes! Oh my gosh, we got some the cutest damn outfits I’ve ever seen!

After gifts… cake! It, too, was fantastic. SIL apparently knew a bakery that did good cakes… well this was a chocolate cake, with layers of whipped cream type icing through the middle, swirled with a touch of raspberry. Oh it was good cake. (I have leftovers. Oh yeah.)

It was just… perfect. I need to think of some way to thank my MIL for doing all the work she did. Having a baby shower was just one of those… things… that I really really wanted and hoped to get, but with no family around here and not being from this area… I just had no idea how it would work out. But I have family here now… Den’s family. And friends… friends from work, friends from online (who live near here), friends that I met through Den 6 years ago. I am just so blessed to share this event with them.

After we’d gotten everything home I spent hours going through clothes and cataloging it all and sorting it into bins based on size. We’re set for onesies for newborn through 6 months, it looks like, but Devin’s going to need more footed sleepers in newborn and 6m (oh no, more shopping! haha). I also went through my big excel spreadsheet of gear and I am shocked by how little we have left to buy! I mean, we still have plenty left, but most of the big items were given to us as gifts… wow. Plus we have some gift cards to spend!

And you know… I have to admit, realizing how little we have left to buy means that we’re really close to having everything we need, which means we’re close to the “waiting for baby to arrive” stage. Ummm. Yikes! I don’t think I’m ready for that!

On to pictures, right?

The decorations and set-up…

All the gifts! Holy moly!

Me opening gifts… some more flattering than others.

(Den won’t let me throw this gift bag out!)

A bunch of girls from one of my forums secretly chipped in together together to get us an infant car seat! I opened the card and got all teary… what a sweet, sweet thing to do! They are so wonderful!

The cake!

The cats were thrilled about all these new bags, just for them! (I had to keep pulling them out of the bags that still had gifts in them.)

The gifts!

People at my work got together and got us way too much stuff, including the stroller! Today I had to set it up and see it for myself. ;) I love it!! It’s the Graco Mosaic. Nice and lightweight, without being just an umbrella stroller. I’m really excited about it, LOL. Oh, and the cats wanted to test it out for themselves, as you can see.

Gear that hasn’t been set up yet (and won’t for a while):
* cosleeper
* car seat and extra car seat base
* pack n play
* swing
* highchair

I feel so freaking lucky right now…. beyond lucky.