Loss

On December 26th, we lost a dear family member in my amazing Aunt Trudy.

Words can't express how much sorrow we all feel over this. She was a funny, smart, hard headed woman who loved this family so very much. Her children and husband are of course devastated, and it is so hard to watch them trying to cope with this.

For me personally, the hardest thing is knowing that she did not get to meet Henry. This woman loved children unlike anyone I have ever known. Babies were such a joy to her, and her excitement over Henry was palpable. She had a surgery upcoming that would have been very risky, but she said she had to live because she "had babies to hold," - mine, a cousin of mine expecting twins, and another expectant mom on her side of the family. It's devastating to know she didn't meet that goal when these babies are expected in January, February, and March.

My thoughts of consolation are this...

No longer is Aunt Trudy in pain and forced to fight against a body that made her struggle daily.

While I'm not much of a believer in God, I know she was. I hope she was right. If so, I know she would be meeting Henry now before we get him here in our arms. I'm sure if it is at all possible in this world, she'll be watching out for him.

At our shower, she gave us this hand made teddy bear crafted by her friend. It was thoughtful at the time. Now I am so very grateful to have it as a memory of her love for my growing family. We will treasure it always.

We will have to always remember to tell Henry about his Great Aunt Trudy who loved him though she never met him.

November Showers Bring February Babies!

I don't really know where to begin in recapping my amazing baby shower experience!

I had no idea going in to Saturday what to expect, other than that my awesome family had worked really hard and were VERY excited for their chosen theme. The big reveal as A and I walked in was wonderful. No, really . . . "WONDERFUL Wizard of Oz," of course!

The Oz "Welcome to Munchkinland" shower was just perfect. The big day combined so many of my favorite things in to a loving and exciting celebration.

First of all, LOOK AT THIS AMAZING STUFF!

The invitation, and handmade art for Henry by Aunt Kelly!

Aunt Amber made these adorable signs for the room, including this lollipop!

Aunt Maria made this adorable diaper cake, complete with a yellow brick road!

Welcome to Munchkinland - OH MY!

Yes. This is a knocked-up Dorothy. Personally? I suspect the Scarecrow...

The yellow brick road for the mama-to-be, including ADORABLE ruby slipper socks!

Just two preggys...

My mom! She put in so much work on this shower!

My sister, who also worked so hard all the way from TN!

A's side of the family - I love this family portrait!

My family! So happy to have them all in my life.

Obviously this was just THE BEST. We were truly showered with love from our friends and family, and when we left had two full car loads of gifts for Henry! Somehow we found homes for most of it, though we have a lot of BIG boxes in the basement just waiting for a certain someone to show up and use their contents! I was honestly so overwhelmed by the generosity of the people in our lives.

We are so loved, and it was thrilling to see how many people are excited to meet this little guy. I welled up with tears quite a few times during the shower, and I'm doing so now. How can you not be emotional when shown so much love? 

We are incredibly, incredibly lucky.

The Name Game

We haven't yet come down to final name choices by any means, because really we've tabled things until we know what the baby is, but we've still had some fun conversations about things we like. The one thing we will likely do is have an honorary middle name for our parents or grandparents, but it will all depend on what first name we pick that goes with it.

So, here are some names/combinations I like the sound of. For now. They're in no particular order. Who knows what I'll think when we actually try to commit to one!

Boys:

• Nathan James (Nate), James for my grandfather
• William John (Will), John for my father
• Samuel George (Sam), George for A's grandfather
• Gavin Alexander, Alexander for A, of course. 
• Thomas Kent, Kent for A's father

Girls:

• Evelyn Lettie (Evie), Lettie for my grandmother
• Clara Christine, Christine for my other grandmother
• Audrey Joy, Joy for my mother
• Emelia Mary (Emmy), Mary for A's grandmother
• Eleanor Rose (Ellie), Rose for A's mother.

Ellie and Emelia may be too close to some other names in our family (Ella and Amelia), which is why we nixed Isla (way too similar to Lilah), so I don't know for sure if we'd go for those, but I like them anyway. 

So basically we like old/classic names with sweet nicknames, for the most part. If I were a betting woman, I think our name will come from this list, though middle names could mix and match!

Baby's (and Mama's) First Gifts!

Yesterday I got the sweetest care package from my sister! She had told me to watch the mail, so it wasn't a total surprise, but it was so awesome to get and open up! She always has a knack for finding the most creative things!

Along with an adorable card, she sent...

• Belly butter to fight those stretch marks
• Gin-Gin's ginger candy to help with nausea (hopefully I don't need these TOO much)
• A few of her pregnancy and parenting books 
• Some precious gender neutral onesies with stripes and elephants
• And my absolute favorite, a C scrabble tile! How perfect that the C is worth three points, and with the addition of Baby C, we will be a family of three :)

It was so thoughtful and just made me smile. Looking at those tiny newborn onesies, it's hard to believe something I am currently making baking growing incubating nurturing  will be filling them in 8 months!

I also thought today that this time next year, I'll be enjoying the start of summer with my four month old. CRAZY.

I am loving this whole thing :)