Atlanta Baby Showers

Although he has not even made his grand appearance yet, this baby could not be more loved and blessed by so many friends and family.  This weekend, we had two very lovely baby showers to celebrate his upcoming arrival.  In addition to the showers, I was thrilled that my parents could come in for the weekend.  First, it meant that Mother (and Daddy) were able to join the showers. It was great to have Ms. Leron join us in Waco for the shower,  and it reinforced to me that grandmothers should be present at all these baby events.  Second, the padres were so helpful in many of the baby prep we've still got left to do.  Nothing like forced manual labor to make your guests feel welcome!

The first shower was hosted by my dear friend, Kellee.  When she told me that she was utilizing secret Pinterest boards so she could surprise me, I knew the details would be sweet.  And they were!  Mimosa bar (with sparkling grape juice for me), delicious brunch fare, super cute decorations - everything looked great.  

I'm now especially obsessed with baby bow ties.  Again, someone just try and convince me that boy clothes are not fun. This is the cutest thing ever.  

We played a couple of fun games, including "Match the Celebrity with Their Baby". I got 100% correct - as if this should shock anyone - though lost out to Kate who managed to win the tie breaker by knowing all four of the new prince's names.  (Now that the royal couple has also had a little boy and there is no chance of our first borns marrying, I've admittedly stopped following as closely...)

The second game required us to answer a set of questions that James had previously answered, and try to get as close to his answer as possible.  Some of my favorite of his responses: what will be our most useful baby item (breast pump); who will be his favorite relative (Uncle Kelly); what will Enda's response be to the baby (WTF); how prepared is he on a scale from 1 - 10 (6).

Ms. Leron actually won the game, while I only got 3 right.  A mother knows her son!  

Of course the little guy was spoiled with all sorts of great gifts.  It helped to have some new mamas there to make sure I had their recommendations.  Of course it's not a shower unless you cry (this time it was over a beautiful cross stitch made by Kellee's mom.)  Our only "questionable" gift was a University of Georgia onesie, but - because I'm a good sport - I'll try to find an occasion where he can bust it out.  Maybe we'll get invited to a UGA game watching party. Or maybe there will be a weekend where all other teams that we like have a by and UGA is the only one worth rooting for... :)

Thank you to Kellee for such a special shower and day!  

(Unfortunately, I realized today that most of the shower pictures were on Mother's camera. I'll have to update this post a bit later with more pictures from the day - particularly of friends and gifts and some really cute ones of little baby Reagan.) 

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We had a second shower on Sunday, hosted by Ms. Leron's friends. It was yet another lovely event, and it was wonderful to meet some of Ms. Leron's sweet teacher friends while also seeing all of James' Atlanta-based family.  

This was also the first shower that the boys joined us, and hopefully they realized that baby showers are not the scary events they had feared prior to Sunday.  Where else can you eat four different types of desserts without shame?!

We had games, of course, but with a room full of teachers there was quite the educational spin on it.  This time, we had to match the adult animal with their babies (by name, not picture).  Think chicken to chick, bear to cub, and then hawk to....??? (The answer is "eyas").  Funny enough, James and I tied for the win!  We are totally prepared for parenthood.  

Everyone totally spoiled the little guy with presents, too.  We got lots of great books, cute outfits, very practical necessities, and a gorgeous hand-knit blanket.  

Ms. Leron also surprised us with a couple of his old outfits (which were in pristine condition!) and his engraved baby rattles.    

They were absolutely precious, and I already have fantastic ideas for pictures of the little one against pictures of his Daddy in the same outfit.

Everything was just great, and we felt so blessed by all the love and support.  This little great has some great family, plus a whole bunch of teachers in his life to help keep him on track.  

Thank you to Ms. Susan, Ms. Janice, Mr. Jeffrey, Aunt Wyllene, and Ms. Leron for such a lovely shower.