Baby Shower Brunch

I have been very blessed this pregnancy in having so many people help me out.  We were not planning on having any more children after we had Jarem, so a long time ago I gave away or sold everything "baby" that I had, (except the crib that Eric built which we planned to pass down to one of our kids someday).  Once I was pregnant again, I realized how very much I would need even just for the pregnancy.  I haven't wanted to spend a lot of money because I know this will be my last baby for sure, so second hand or used has been fine with me.  

It all started with my sweet sister, Candace, bringing me her few but nice maternity clothes that she had to our family reunion last summer even before I knew I was pregnant.  Then, a good friend, Elissa Boyles, told me that I could borrow ALL of her maternity clothes which included two huge boxes!  I did end up buying 3 pair of long jeans because none of their pants were long enough once capri season was over. :)  This gave me more maternity clothes than I have ever had before, and they were cute too!  It has been nice to have a lot of choices of clothes to wear and to even be able to feel somewhat stylish while pregnant.  I am not nearly so sick of my maternity clothes as I usually am by this point (writing this at 39 weeks).

Then, my sister-in-law, Mary Jane, offered to give me back all the boy clothes I had given her after I had Jarem.  And probably the biggest contribution of all was a lady at church, Jessica Hernandez.  She had one boy a lot later than her other children and had to start over too, so most of her stuff was almost like new.  She brought over probably 10 boxes of clothes and baby stuff from 0-24 months.  After going through all of her things, I was pretty much completely set with clothes and was only going to have to buy a few things.  I was able to buy a very nice Chicco carseat/stroller combo from Elissa for only $75 which was in perfect condition and a great deal, and I found a changing table at a second hand store for $40.

Then, my sweet friend, Elke Martinez, offered to do a baby shower for me.  I almost felt that I didn't need one now that I had all these clothes and things and I didn't want to make people feel obligated to buy a gift.  I expressed my concern to her, but she really still wanted to do this for me.  She had a brunch in mind, so I said, "How about if I invite just a few of my close friends and it can just be kind of a small, intimate gathering?".  She thought that was a great idea, so that is what we did!  Elke is an amazing party planner/decorator, and cook.  The party was perfect, and it was wonderful to have a small group of my best friends to enjoy it with.

The food was delicious

The decorations were adorable!

For the first game, Elke gave each of us a yogurt/granola parfait.  They were delicious!! One of the parfaits had a little plastic pacifier in it, so we had to be very careful while eating not to swallow it! The one who found the pacifier won the prize.   Kristy (below on the right) won the prize.  I think everyone was relieved once the prize was discovered so we could FULLY enjoy our parfaits. :)

Eating our parfaits

Another angle

Sitting and chatting

Another view: Ale brought her mom, sister, and Michael's' grandma with her since they were in town.

Opening some of the gifts:

My first gift from Kristy: an adorable homemade dinosaur towel and dinosaur onesies and bath stuff

Molly's gift was cute little clothes

Opening the gift from Molly

Diapers and wipes from Tina

A couple of maternity shirts and a gift card from Ale

Elissa made me an adorable dinosaur crib quilt since I had previously asked her about a place to make or get one. She is very talented!

Elke only got pictures of some of the gifts!  Each gift and card was just as nice and thoughtful as the next.  Even my sweet friend, Laura, (who wasn't able to make it) dropped off a gift of fun innovative items that I have never owned and can't wait to try out with the baby.  There were lots of great gifts!  I so appreciate my friends.  Their thoughtful gifts made me realize just how well they know me!!  

Elke made a special chair for me to sit in that said, "Mother to Be".  It was a rocking chair with a gel pad.  It was nice!  The blue string around my neck was from the game that we played, "Guess how big the belly is".  Everyone cut a string the size that they thought I was around the widest part of my belly and I got the string that was the actual size.  Another game we played, I answered questions about myself, and everyone had to write down what they thought my answer was.  All in all, it was a great shower, just what I wanted, and I appreciate Elke so much for being such a great hostess!!

Mid-State Band

Jesikah tried out for Mid-state band in December and MADE it! We were very proud of her. This is a great accomplishment. This qualified her to participate in the mid-state band in Nashville. There were 10 from her school that made it. They left for Nashville on Thursday evening, January 10th, and spent two nights while spending 1 1/2 days rehearsing for their concert on Saturday.

I was nervous about her being gone for 2 nights staying in a hotel with other kids, but she is responsible, so I tried not to worry. Everything turned out fine though and she had a great time. Jarem and Tessa went with me to the concert on Saturday morning.

Alex was still in bed, so I asked him to clean up his room and bathroom before we got back. When we got back, we had a big surprise! The house was sparkling clean. Dishes were done, all the floors were swept and mopped on the main level and the counter tops were cleared off and sparkling clean. There was soft music playing. In addition, he had cleaned his room and bathroom as well as jarem and Tessa's rooms and vacuumed them too. I was very surprised and happy!! After sitting for several hours in the car and also in the concert, my feet were getting quite swollen and wasn't feeling much up to cleaning!! He has been very helpful lately and I appreciate him!!

Grandma Bass' Funeral

Eric's Grandma Bass died on January 2, 2013.  Her funeral was Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 11am.  Eric, his dad and his brother, TJ, met in Chattanooga, TN to carpool down to Kissimmee, Florida on Friday morning.  It was great that they could drive together.

I couldn't go due to the late stage of my pregnancy, and Jesikah's mid-state band was the same weekend.  Unfortunately, Eric's family were never that close to her, but I was glad that we had made the effort to visit her where she was living in Texas after going to my sister's wedding two years ago, so the kids had a pretty recent memory of her.

TJ, Eric's dad, and Eric

TJ, Eric's dad, Jeanni (Eric's sister), and Eric

Eric and TJ at the funeral

Pallbearers

Eric and TJ were pallbearers

Her casket

Eric's dad hugging his sister, Sherry

Kent and Sherry

Kent and his cousin, Quinton

TJ signing the book

Eric, TJ, and Jeanni having lunch together after the funeral

Eating together with their Dad

After the funeral, they all went to hang out with their Grandma Guelde overnight before heading back on Sunday:

Hanging at Grandma Guelde

Kent and Grandma Guelde in her living room

Kent, TJ, Eric, and their cousin, Marley eating ice cream around the kitchen table

Midnight swim at Grandma Guelde's

New Years

I made two of our family's traditional braided almond rolls on Christmas Eve. We had one for breakfast on Christmas, and I decided to save the other one and have it for breakfast on New Year's Day. It worked out pretty well. After letting it sit out for an hour, I had to cook it with foil over it for about an hour on 350 before it was warmed completely through, but was yummy once done. We just had to wait a bit. Jesikah woke up sick on New Year's Day. She had some sort of stomach virus. About halfway through the day, I started feeling sick too, but didn't ever get really sick(thank heavens), just a bit nauseous and not feeling well for the rest of the day and part of the next. Eric had suggested we buy a prime rib and have a special dinner on New Year's. I had purchased the meat, but since I was sick, we decided to hold off until everyone was feeling better, and Eric ordered out Mexican. I guess it was good. I just had some rice.