31 Weeks and Our Family Baby Shower

How Far Along? 31 weeks, 4 days...60 days to go, and what's even more exciting is my due date is 2 months from today!!

Size of Baby Caroline? 3.3 pounds and 16.25 inches, or four navel oranges-random, dont you think?

Maternity Clothes? I scored a few things on sale from Old Navy yesterday, and I can tell I am slowly but surely thinking my comfort level outranks style these days. I can't lie, I am getting SO excited seeing all the gorgeous spring colors out in stores-soon enough, I'll be buying "normal" clothes again!
Weight Gain? 24 pounds...it is ALL belly my friends. When I saw my doctor last week, she said "wow my dear, your have grown." My "fundal height" is measuring right on track at 31.5 centimeters
Stretch Marks? Not that I can see, yet...
Gender? Sweet Little CC ;)
Sleep? I'm sleeping a lot better at night than I originally expected to at this stage-sure, there are routine bathroom breaks, but once my head hits the pillow, I am out for the count all over again
Food Cravings? Anything sweet, cereal, tangerines, and Diet Coke
What I Miss? Being able to get up off the couch by myself...it's either a "roll out" or a hoist where Jeff picks me up-lovely I tell you
Symptoms? Achy muscles, irritability, tiredness/lack of energy, odd cravings, and NESTING!!
Belly Button: Now I know how people with normal "outies" feel...I miss my cute little belly button
Best Moment of the Week? As if this is hard to guess-our first baby shower for Miss Caroline was this Sunday...full recap below!

On Sunday afternoon, we headed to my parent's house for our first baby shower...this one for family! We arrived and when we walked in, I knew Mom, Aunt Denise, and Cousin Lauren had outdone themselves-pink, pink, and pink everywhere! We immediately went in for all the desserts they had baked the past few days...mini cheesecakes, baby brownies, chocolate dipped pretzels, mini cupcakes, champagne salad cups, strawberry cake balls, cream puffs, and white chocolate covered strawberries-am I making you hungry yet? 
Then we all played games, yes I said baby games, even with the boys there! We did a customized baby word search and then played Baby Bingo, complete with gift cards for prizes...so much fun.
Next came present time! {The best part, right?} To say we racked up would be an understatement, but we just couldn't have felt more loved and blessed...Caroline is so lucky to have a family who cannot wait to meet her and are counting down the days until they can spoil her silly.
We received so many incredible gifts... our stroller and bassinet attachment, our car seat and extra car seat base, hooded bath towels and washcloths, diapers, blankets and lovies, bibs, socks, adorable outfits, pacifiers, onesies, infant toys, gowns, layette sets, bathing/grooming necessities, a silver piggy bank, plenty of wipes, and money for little miss! {specific items from our registries to come in another post}
All in all, it was a fantastic afternoon spent with the people we love most. Jeff and I just couldn't stop grinning thinking about how close we are to the home stretch and life changing for the better forever. To our families, thank you for loving us, supporting us, and being there to welcome our baby into this world...we love you all and know we are incredibly lucky to have you!

the adorable banner

 mom's first attempt at a diaper cake--grogeous!  i told her she needs to sell these!

 mom and jeff...so sweet!

 all of the yummy treats-they know the way to my heart ;)

 mini tissue pom poms and the perfect "it's a girl" sign for us to use soon!

 me and my handsome hubby

 mimi and pappy

 jeff and i with the shower hostesses

 mom, gran, and i...soon-to-be four generations of us girls

jeff and kaye

 present time!

 adorable pink socks from rh baby and child

 a gorgeous monogrammed blanket perfect for outside walks

 jeff's favorite...daddy's girl bib and sweet outfits!

 a basket full of goodies for feeding/diapering/grooming/play time

he's such a good helper

 one of my favorites...the bassinet for our stroller!

 another bag stuffed with fun treats!

 jeff was saying "it's my turn to open something" ;)

 we love our VOLS

 a new blanket to match our glider!

see my enthusiam? it was our stroller! thanks mom and dad

 yummy royal icing cookies for shower favors

Just Can't Get Enough

What a whirlwind weekend...I don't know how we managed to do so much in such a short amount of time, but it was a blast--yes, I am still tired from all the fun, but I'll recover sometime soon!
Friday, we headed straight to Knoxville for Julie and Jon's engagement party, hosted by my BFF Bev and other fabulous friends--they did a fantastic job and we had a great time. They went with a fall theme with BBQ sliders, corn on a stick, homestyle side dishes, cake balls, and other yummy appetizers...not to mention the smores for outside fire pit fun! It was great to see Jon and Julie's families come together to start off their wedding festivities and we can't wait for what's in store...

Picture of me and the hubby...I couldn't help it, I just had to dress up ;)

 The Blazer Brigade...and Christian, because he didn't want to put his on--LOL

 There are no words

 Putting us to work...we were in charge of corn on a stick!

 The setup...didn't they do a great job??

 Meg, me, and Lauren

 Joanna and Lauren...love these ladies

 Our threesome picture...as usual

 Jeff holding Meghan's little man Luke...most adorable and laid back child ever!!

{and yes, I totally almost cried thinking he'll be holding Little Miss in a few short months}

 The hostesses with the bride...Suze, Pam, Julie, Joanna, and Bev

Saturday morning, we headed back to Nashville. Jeff and the boys played golf while I headed to Cool Springs to knock out major Christmas shopping...and boy did I succeed! I am telling you--the early bird gets the worm and the good deals--I am so proud of just how  much I am getting done, but with our Hilton Head trip for Thanksgiving, NYC trip in December, and nursery planning, I've got to be on top of my game to get it all done in a timely manner. No stress needed! Fortunately, Mom just happened to be at the mall the same time I was so we met up for a little shopping and scored major adorables from Janie and Jack {my new baby addiction} and Gymboree.
However, due to our late night Friday and shopping, I had to bail out and didn't get to meet our friends out to celebrate birthday fun...I was just too tired and knew I needed to take it easy. So we hunkered down and ordered pizza, and watched the Bama/LSU football field goal game and went to bed.
Sunday, we met up with Candice for our Christmas pictures...Percy Warner Park turned out to be the perfect place for an afternoon shoot and I cannot wait to show off our pictures once she works her magic--seriously lucky to have a BFF as a photog ;)
A fun, but tiring weekend nonetheless. So much to get accomplished this week, too...we're ordering the nursery furniture {inspiration post to come!}, Junior League meetings, Christmas Village with Mom, and 2 very important birthday celebrations this weekend...already bracing myself! Happy Monday...now back to work!

The Gender Reveal Party

As soon as we were past the first trimester, I went to work on our gender reveal party...with so many full weekends this fall, I knew I had to get it on the calendar for family and friends. Once we selected the date, I went to town on invitations--my favorite part of any party planning! Instantly, I fell in love with the designs of Jen from Blackberry Graphics and got to work.
From browsing the world wide web in seach of gender reveal party ideas, my initial thoughts were that I wanted to stay away from the traditional pink/blue color scheme...as cute as that may be, I wanted pops of fun fall colors that didn't scream "baby". After all was said and done, we landed on a coral, robin's egg blue, sunflower yellow, and gray palette and I loved how they turned out.

After the invites were sent out, I went to work on the other elements...picking out partyware {napkins, plates, cups, and such} from Target and Party City and then partnering with Julia from Delightful Decoration on a custom party banner to read "Boy or Girl?" which turned out to be the perfect addition.  I hopped over to Dime Store Buddy to order yellow/gray striped straws to have on-hand come party day, too.

Finally, I sought out assistance from a fantastic local bakery here in Nashville--Dulce Desserts--to create a custom cake that would serve as the "giveaway" for boy or girl. I brought them an extra invitation to custom match the colors and I couldn't have been happier with the end result.
Thanks to my fantastic friends and Mom, the menu I selected came together and everyone seemed to love the food...
Appetizers/Side Dishes
Hot Pizza Dip
French Quarter Cheese
Jalapeno Popper Dip
Sausage Balls
Grape Salad

Fresh Veggie Crudite with Ranch Dip

Main Dishes

Chicken Salad Croissants

Ham and Poppyseed Sandwiches

Mini Hot Dog Crescent Roll-ups

Desserts

Candy Corn Rice Krispie Treats

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Dip

Of course, no party is complete without favors, now is it? With the help of my fabulous husband, I made cake balls filled with pink colored cake and wrapped them up in cello bags with tags that read "Baby Cakes"...a sure hit by everyone!

I also repurposed the chalkboard we bought for our wedding for our guests to cast their vote on Boy/Girl before the big reveal...surely enough, by cake cutting time, the race was pretty even. 

After everyone arrived, I tried to get them to eat first, but they weren't having it, so we gathered everyone around the kitchen to let my Mom and Kaye cut the cake--classic reactions at their best ;). Here is the play-by-play:

starting to cut into the cake

 jeff offering his advice...

 mom taking just a little peek...

 look at that reaction...CLASSIC!

 thank gosh Kaye was calm because there was no holding Mom back--LOL

 hugs for a new baby girl...and a mini me ;)

There were cheers all around, many hugs and kisses, and lots of well wishes for the two of us, but mostly for Jeff because everyone said he was destined to have a baby girl and knew he was in big trouble with another one of me to enter the world in March. It's just perfect how things work out.
Afterwards, we got to open some very special presents from friends and family--Baby Girl now has quite the collection of books for bedtime, new picture frames to capture adorable shots, a few new stuffed animals to make her room feel like home, a new white minky "lovie" to tote around, a gorgeous white crocheted blanket from her Mimi and Pappy, a lamb bib for mealtime, and a beautiful white bunny dressing gown for when she makes her debut.
The rest of the afternoon was spent watching football, taking pictures outside to take advantage of the warm weather, and then birthday celebrations for Bev... couldn't have asked for more. I hope you all enjoyed our little look-see from the party!

 Mimi and her 2 girls

 love these ladies!! so happy they could be there to celebrate