Ms. Erin's Baby Girl Belly Party

Dear Sweet Baby Kay,

This week, you measure over 16 inches long. You weigh about 3.3 pounds, about the weight of four naval oranges, and you are headed into a growth spurt.  You really did grow!  My tummy grew out more and your movements became stronger.  You can turn your head from side to side, and your arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath your skin. At your 30 week appointment, everything was great.  My blood pressure was excellent, I am 6.9 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight and you were measuring 29.5 weeks, which is a little small, but nothing to be concerned about.  The doctor said we should start to gain between and half and a whole pound every week for the duration of the pregnancy and you will really start to make my tummy poke out.  We will go to our 32 week appointment at 33 weeks because of some scheduling issues.  That appointment is scheduled for September 11.

We have a lot of friends who already have little boys and girls of their own.  We are very excited for you to meet each one of them and discover why they are so special to us.  One little girl is pretty special to us and she is very excited about meeting you.  These two pictures capture two of our favorite little four year old, Madeline's, diverse sides:

 

 

Isn't she beautiful?

 

Her mom, Ms. Anne, along with three other of my friends planned an extra special baby shower for you. Lots of hours and thought went into planning this event, and Madeline was enjoying every minute of the party planning too. Sweet Madeline had her very own special Madeline name for the baby shower.  She decided to call it "Ms. Erin's Baby Girl Belly Party".  Love it!  Sweet Madeline will have to teach you all about her favorite things, such as Arby's, jewels, and being kind to others.

 

These four ladies were the force behind your Belly Party.  They worked very hard to make this event special, memorable and more than we ever could have hoped for.

 

 

Ms. Anne, Ms. Misty, Ms. Anna and Ms. Stephanie have been there for the journey to get to you.  They have been there to celebrate the great parts and walked beside me in the low parts.  They have been loyal, dedicated and never lost faith that we would get to you.  They have cried with us and jumped for joy with us.  They are true friends and we pray you will have friends like them in your life.  Your Dad and I were overwhelmed at the out pouring of love they put into celebrating you and this mountaintop we have finally reached.

 

We had around 60 people that came to the shower.  It was a couples shower which was such a sweet idea by our friends so your Dad would be able to participate in the fun, and boy did he have fun.  We had lots of people from our church there along with friends from our neighborhood, family, and other friends your Dad and I have acquired over the years.  Overwhelmed is an understatement!  It was a perfect evening.  We were all having such a great time we neglected to take a lot of pictures of the details, but a few were captured.  They used the canvases for your room as decorations.

 

 

And Ms. Anne spent a lot of time making these beautiful tissue puffs!  The food was out of this world!  They used the pattern from the invitations to make markers for the food.  They were on toothpicks and mounted on quartered granny smith apples.  Seriously, the details of your celebration were amazing!

 

 

 

Pretty much everything was homemade: stuffed mushrooms, artichoke pasta salad, chicken on skewers with a variety of dips, bacon wrapped sausages, London broil to make mini sandwiches, mini cupcakes and lemon cakes, brie tarts, white chocolate covered pretzel sticks with pink sprinkles, spinach artichoke dip, Texas caviar, my FAVORITE, homemade mini cheesecakes, just to name a few things that were there!  They really made this day special for you.  They even had peanut M&Ms and mini snickers - two of your Dad's favorites.  This is one of the beautiful tables of food that was set up.  Homemade and from the heart.  It could not have been more perfect.

 

They had yummy beverages for the pregnant people to enjoy as well as beverages for those who are able to enjoy adult beverages.  Corn hole boards were set up outside for the guys which was a perfect touch for your Daddy since he loves playing corn hole with his buddies.  They had lots fun playing together.  I had a great time visiting with friends from near and far.

 

Girlfriends from the neighborhood.

 

One of the most beautiful surprises was our friends who we mentioned a few posts back, Jessica and Jonathan and their newborn son Maverick, who surprised us by driving all the way from North Georgia to come to the party.  It was wonderful to celebrate this special time with them.

 

Eight years of friendship and many more to come.

 

I adore this picture.  Maverick is wondering when he will get to meet you!

 

We had so much fun opening our presents.  You can look at our faces and see how excited we are to finally be here celebrating you.  Baby girl, you were beyond showered with love by all of these people.  You are one very loved little girl.  This is a wonderful thing!

 

 

Some gift were fun and made us laugh:

 

 

Some gifts were more serious and made us a little emotional:

 

 

And of course we would be amiss if we didn't have a little Auburn / Carolina rivalry in the mix!

 

 

 

Showered with love at your Baby Girl Belly Party is an understatement.  We love you dearly as do so many other people.  We know you are a direct result of God's grace for our lives and from many prayers from many people.  We are thankful we had such a beautiful celebration hosted by our beautiful friends to honor the gift of you.

 

Loving you and my baby girl belly.

 

With all my love,

Mom