Joyful Overload

I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around how exciting and joyful and happy [and insert your own synonym here] things are getting around me.  I've been so cautious for so long, with obvious reason.  I lost a baby and planned a memorial mass for her.  I lost another baby in the second trimester and had to plan a funeral mass for him.  I dealt with wacky cycles and the possibility of not being able to conceive again.  I then lost a third baby and planned a burial mass for her. 

Then I got pregnant a fourth time and no matter how excited we and everyone around us was, I was still very cautious.  Who could blame me?  And then we had the scare around 21 weeks and we thought we might lose them.  Luckily that all worked out and things are progressing very smoothly.  I still find it hard to believe!  And that's what is so scary about our lives right now.

I actually have a Baptism planned now.  Wow what a difference!  To actually have the opportunity to plan a joyful event rather than a sad one feels a bit foreign still.  In some ways I almost feel a little removed from it.  Intellectually I know it is for the children *we* are having, the ones I feel move around in my body, but emotionally I feel almost like I'm planning something for someone else.

Then this weekend my family had a baby shower for me.  It was so amazing to have so many people here showering our babies with things they will need, celebrating these little lives with us.  I was so touched and overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone.  Such a wonderful experience!!  I just can't believe it was for us!  Even now, as I sit in my family room where some of the decorations are still up, the gifts are piled in the corners, a stack of children's books sits on my coffee table, and the thank you cards sit next to them ready to be written, I have a hard time believing that there will be two little ones here soon, in *our* house!  We even have cribs in our house.  Cribs!!!  In our house!!  Who would have thought.

The shower was wonderful!!  My sister, mom, and niece came up for it.  They along with my other sister who was unable to be here, took care of the cute invitations, the decorations, and ordering a cake.  My in-laws took care of the food since they are a bit closer (only an hour compared to six hours).  Besides the family members who were here, I got to visit with co-workers and friends some of whom I hadn't seen since February.  It was so much fun!

The theme was "Two Peas in a Pod" and it was carried over from the invitation to the decorations and into the food. 

The cake was precious!!  The topper was a little pea pod with two little heads popping out that looked like little elves.  My sister ordered it from a local bakery without knowing anything about them since she doesn't live here.  I had not heard of them either.  It ended up being an excellent choice.  Not only was it a cute cake but it was really good too!!  Very moist.  The top layer was vanilla and the bottom was chocolate.  We still have some of the bottom layer left, actually half of it.  If you are local and want to try it, stop on by!!  Seriously!

As creative genes go, my sister got them all.  I'm not nearly as creative as she is.  She put together the vases you see on the mantle in this picture to the left.  They were filled with frozen peas and had a white pillar candle in them.  The food table also had similar vases of frozen peas with flowers in green, yellow, and while stuck in them.  The banner says "Sweet Peas" and she found it on Etsy and asked the maker of it to include two little baby faces in the pea pods on the ends and in the middle.  And of course, the colors all matched as well.

In the picture on the right is a diaper cake.  It was so well put together, again by my sister, that many people didn't realize those were all diapers at first.  You can also see the invitation next to it.  Also, with the little peas in a pod on it.  Like I said that theme was everywhere!!  So cute!!

In addition to the diaper cake (which has about 50+ size 1 diapers in it) there was also a basket full of diapers and markers on the coffee table.  Guests were asked to write a short message on the front of the diaper so that my husband and I have a cute message to read when we are up at 2am changing diapers.  We suddenly have lots of diapers and I have yet to actually purchase any myself (with the exception of the few cloth diapers I have purchased for later use).  Although, for as many as we have, we know we'll go through them quick.

A few more pictures:



The spread of food my in-laws put together before we all dug in.  The "runner" on
the table is actually wrapping paper!  Isn't that a great idea!



These tiny salt & pepper shakers were too cute to pass up.
And they fit the theme so perfectly!!



These were the favors: green M&Ms candies in little bottles with stickers on them in the
"Two Peas in a Pod" theme.

It was a really great time and I hope that everyone that came had a good time as well.  The food was good, the company was great, and the love was everywhere!!  I am on joy overload with the generosity of everyone celebrating with us.  I need these little reminders that good things really are in our future. 

Thank you to all who came to celebrate with us!  Thank you to all of my family for putting this all together!!  It may be hard to wrap my mind around this totally, but I am certain the reality of it all will set in fast once these babies are here.