My pregnant friend...

....is about to POP!

Katie's almost 39 weeks and we are all just so excited to meet little miss Hollyn!

In celebration of her upcoming arrival, I thought I would finally finish the blog post about Katie's baby shower that was back in....wait for it....May. I know, I know. I'm a little late getting the pictures up. But in my defense I had just birthed a baby (do you still call it "birth" if it was a c-section?) and feel like I've been swept away in a whirlwind of chaos since then. So better late than never, right? :)

I was so excited to plan her shower. She wanted it to be laid back and family-friendly, and instead of calling it a "shower" we called it a "baby party." We figured the men and their egos might be a little less intimidated by a party rather than a shower. It was at a local park with a big pavilion and we served hot dogs and snacks. Doesn't get any more man-friendly than that, ha!

Thank goodness Katie's sister Kristy and her friend Brigid were also hostesses, because I was thisclose to being a no show thanks to a little something called hospital bed rest. But then Harper decided to end my bed rest early by making her grand entrance into the world on May 3. I was discharged from the hospital on May 6 and the shower was the next day. Somehow I actually managed to make it there in one piece -- I think it was a combination of not wanting to miss my bestie's fun day, wanting to see and be around people after being stuck in a bed for so long, and being heavily medicated. :) 

And now for the picture overload!

Diaper cake that I made

 Funny story about the diaper cake - before the cake was fully constructed, I had it behind the locked door of my bedroom so that Harrison couldn't destroy it. He had seen it, including the 20 or so pacifiers, and went berserk. Well, one day I noticed that it was oddly quiet and went to check on him, and he had gotten in there. I walked into the bedroom to see him hovering over the big pile of binkies he had made, madly popping one into his mouth and quickly changing it out for another. He was so happy to see such an assortment of different pacifiers and was literally rocking back in forth in excitement, with the widest eyes, whispering, "bobo? bobo? bobo!" Ha ha! It was so unbelievably funny and adorable. So Katie -- be sure to sanitize the binkies because there's a good chance they made it into my son's mouth...sorry about that! :)

The lollipops were washcloths and spoons

I have to also give big props to Ashley. She came to visit me in the hospital and helped finish all of the decorations. It was so much fun getting in a little girl time and there's no way I could have done it without her help. Love you, Ash!

There were blessing trees on each table

And the cake! I thought they would actually write out the verse, but I guess they didn't have space. This verse is special to Jeff & Katie: "I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him"

food and drink setup

The mom-to-be

my mom, Lindsay, Jon, & Allen

Christy, Nick w/baby Asher, & Krista

Here's Savannah. Such a cutie!

Sleepy Carter

Trina and Christian

Allen and Harrison

My sweet MIL, Mary

Lindsay, Jeff, Rick, & Jon

Katie's dad, getting his grill on!

Katie's mom, sis, and FIL

Mom & Harrison (past nap time, can you tell) :)

Hamilton. Love this kid!

Happy Baby Party!

Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of everybody who was there. Like I said, I was heavily medicated :)

Okay Katie. Now that I've posted about your baby shower you are now allowed to go into labor. Come on, Hollyn!!!!