That's What Friends Are For

I'm lucky enough to have one of my best friends and mommy mentor extraordinar live just down the road. Literally we both live off the same road.

We were lucky enough to have one of our other good friend come up to visit last weekend, I was excited because I was finally in the mommy club and all our kiddos got to hang out. Well, James really just hung on me since he's still getting the hang of holding his head up-ha!

It was fun to be around all the craziness of all our kids, to watch daddies be daddies, and just be 'grown up' with the girls I grew up with.

So excited to have my first mommy friends picture with Jen and Gwen. I'm also excited that our girls beach weekend will now be family beach weekend-yay!

It was an awesome day, but I was toast after a few hours of fun. Cuddling with my little man.

 

 

DC Baby Shower

The day after my 31st 32nd (umm forgot how old I was there) birthday, my mom, friends Christy and Jen hosted a baby shower for me.  It was soo cute and so much fun!  After trying to figure out where to hold it, we decided my house would be the best location.  Main reason: everyone could get a sneak peak at the nursery.  I've been to a few showers hosted at the mommy-to-be's home and getting to see the nursery has always been my favorite part, why not do the same for my friends?

The nursery is a Peter Rabbit Theme and my mom and friends decided to carry that through with the baby shower.

From the spilled cabbages on the table

 carrots and radishes on the mantle

to Peter and all his friends on the diaper cake

with the banner hanging over head

to the tea party happening on the coffee table

The Carrot Shaped Red Velvet Cake Pops (made by Jen the cake pop goddess)

and customized Georgetown Cupcakes...

They left no detail unattended.

I was surrounded by wonderful friends, who showered us with gifts galore!

crocheted football hat, Red Cross first aid kit, lots of cute outfits and my mom's sterling rattle, cup and teething ring.

Gator outfit, burts bee's gift set, funny cards, a gator sun hat, philosophy mommy pamper kit and jon jons galore!

Dr. Seuss books, cute outfits, exersauser, tummy time mat, cute cloths and swaddlers

Bibs for our sure to be messy little guy, such cute cloths and our pack n play!

Peter Rabbit shadow box, sheets, crib blanket and more books!

I had such a wonderful time celebrating baby T with my family and friends, I can't believe he'll be here any day!

With a bunch of my Phi Mu sisters - so glad I've been able to meet these wonderful ladies!

With my sweet friend and shower hostess Christy, a fellow Florida girl we became friends at a BBQ in DC, bonding over our affinity of flip flops!

With my momma, the sweetest lady in the world who is super excited to be a grandmother!

With Jamie, a great friend and co-worker of Josh.

with Nicole a fellow Gator Gal and Birthday Buddy!

with Lauren, who lives around the corner and the only person who I have ever seen that I knew at the Grocery store up here - sooo different than Florida!

Kristin and Heidi, two of my sorority sisters from Florida, who I'm so glad live here-LOVE them!

with Lisa, Betsy and Kari - Phi Mu DC Alums and Chapter Advisers with me at AU, they are a BLAST.  I can't believe I've never had a cocktail with any of them, can't wait until it's not just club soda in my cup at happy hours with them!

My sweet neighbor Anna with daughter Audrey, can't wait for warm weather, walks and play dates with these two!

with Johanna showing off our baby bumps!

with Julia- we are the chocolate and vanilla versions of each other.  One of my former co-workers who I miss everyday.

with Jen, Lacey and baby Sophia.  So glad that my long time friends and bridesmaids live up here with me.

with my awesome neighbors Megan and Jackie

My fun friend Vanessa!

My buddy Chris, I am so glad we have become such great friends.  We have a blast advising at AU and actually with just about everything we do!

I'm so lucky to have such great friends to celebrate this exciting time in our lives!

Best part of my day, I got all my thank you notes in the mail (after a trip to the post office for some additional postage and more stamps)!

Baby Shower

I have been partying my way through December.  Add the fact that it takes my eight and a half month pregnant self quadruple the amount of time I think it should to do something and my bustling social calendar, I'm amazed that I actually did get my Holiday Cards out before Christmas. I obviously needed to hire an elf this year. 

The hustle and bustle began the first weekend in December when my friends hosted a shower for me in Tampa.

Jessica, me, Lauren and Gwen - who would have guessed all the fun times we've had through the years.

It was a Gator Tailgate Themed Luncheon.  Complete with a Gator Diaper Cake, all my favorite foods and surrounded by my cherished friends.

It was great to spend the afternoon with all these wonderful ladies.  Lots of tears were shed on my part (and I it wasn't just because of the crazy pregnancy hormones).  I truly miss getting to spend time with all my Florida friends.

Suzanne is expecting a boy, too.  I hope we'll get to move back to FL one day so our boys can be on all the same sports teams.

Speaking of sports teams, Liam will be linebacker with Suzanne and my guys!

And little Mia is going to have dates lining up at the door!

Allison and I with our baby bumps!

 

With Jessica (Josh's unofficial little sister) and Missy.  

They are the sweetest friends, I'm so glad I inherited them from my husband!

Speaking of sweet friends, I'm truly blessed with the ones I've been given.

With Sonja- for some reason I burst into tears every time I see her-ha!

Lucy (aka Anne) a true inspiration, survivor and fantastic singer - we've spent way too much time singing at the top of our lungs together!

 

 My partner in crime, Reema.

I could have an entire blog recounting our adventures together

Sadly, I don't have pictures with everyone there, but I can't forget the two most importants guests (other than me and baby T) The Grandmothers!!

The decorations were beautiful.

The food was fantastic, I mean what pregnant lady doesn't love mashed potato bar and cake?

The activities were fun.

And I was showered with love and gifts from my friends and family!

A Wonderful Thanksgiving

It was such a joyous occasion to celebrate Thanksgiving with our friends and family.  I'm finally getting to share my fall wreath which welcomed our guests.

 I also printed up a Keep Calm and Gobble On sign to encourage our guests to eat up!

Josh and I had a solid plan Turkey Game plan and were headed up to bed after making all the pies, stuffing, ironing on linens, and prep chopping on Wednesday night when our dishwasher starting dinging 15 minutes after we started running it.  A few hours of using our wet vac and dissembling and reassembling our not quite year and a half year old dishwasher, we decided to hand wash all the dished that had been loaded in it and finally hit the hay just before 2 am and call a repairman next week.

Josh got up at 7 to stuff and put the bird in the roaster.  His parents had gone to bed early and were already having breakfast.  Since Molly didn't like being left behind while everyone else was having a party downstairs, she and I headed down.  Since I have been suffering from pregnancy insomnia for the past few weeks, I didn't really think having just five hours of sleep would phase me, plus I wanted to get my hands on all the Black Friday ads in the paper.

We watched the parade and I set the table while Josh did all the cooking.  Around noon I left to pick up some of our friends, and we had a great time visiting with all our guests while everything finished up!

Last year the turkey took two less hours to reach 180 than we planned and this year it took two more hours to reach 180 than we planned.  It worked out well because everyone enjoyed appetizers, sweet tea and wine while we waited. 

We slimmed down our appetizer offerings to deviled eggs and cranberry salsa served over cream cheese - as to not fill up before the big meal.

Dinner included:
Roast Turkey
Cornbread Dressing & Stuffing
Cranberry Wild Rice
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Wild Mushrooms and Cream Sauce
Pineapple Casserole
Tomato Aspic
Sweet Potato Casserole
Mashed Rutabaga
Honey Glazed Carrots
Turkey Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Yeast Rolls

For Dessert:
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Apple Pie
Pecan Pie
Served with Whipped Cream and French Vanilla Ice Cream
Coffee and Tea

It's really a shame that I didn't snap a picture of the desserts because they were truly the BEST I've ever had.  Actually everything was amazing.  Spending time with friends and family, the great food-it's what Thanksgiving is all about.

Unfortunately, I ate too much and ended up getting really sick.  So sick in fact we had to abort all Black Friday shopping.  I ended up in the hospital getting an IV and anti-nausea medicine.  Needless to say I did not finishing my Christmas shopping or do all our decorating as planned.

I was also going to host the Game Viewing Party for the DC Gator Club today, which isn't happening either since I can't even walk down the stairs.  I am taking it easy, eating saltines, and getting rest so I can get back on my feet.  Lesson learned, there is no such thing as pushing through when 8 months pregnant.  It's so hard for me to sit back and take it easy, when there are so many things I want to do.