#9: A Baby Shower Tea Party

On Sunday, November 7th, Jessica Roberts, Stephanie Tsai and Tiffani Rogers hosted a beautiful, cozy baby shower tea party. Jackie Hanselmann brought some delicious treats and Sarah Spencer drove all the way from San Diego to be there!

These ladies have a special place in my heart, and are part of my small group through Bel Air. Some of us have been together for 3 1/2 years, and others joined the group more recently. Our group is a blend of guys/girls and marrieds/singles - so it was fun to just have some girl time over tea celebrating new life!

There were sweet place settings for each person, complete with adorable name cards and tea cups with saucers (Jessica's tea set). Jessica also made the aqua and orange table cloth, which are the colors of Baby Prusz's room! Stephanie made some beautiful flower arrangements with farmer's market flowers, and Tiffani was the creative mind responsible for the adorable name cards (each person's was different!)

There was an assortment of teas - including chocolate peppermint, vanilla and pear rooibos, green and black teas. There were some delectable tea party snacks as well, including a pear gorgonzola salad, onion and goat cheese puff pastries, tea sandwiches, maple scones, mini pigs-in-a-blanket, homemade cranberry tart, chocolate chip cookies and peanut-butter rice crispie treats. Everything tasted as good as it sounds!

We played some fun games which included a baby-item version of The Price Is Right and a How Big Is Baby game in which you have to match up fruits and veggies to the baby's week-by-week size during pregnancy. I didn't win either of these games, so not sure what I'm getting myself into!

The girls showered Baby Prusz with some sweet gifts including lots of cute clothes, blankets and bath-time items!

#8: Boy, Oh Boy! A Rooftop Baby Shower

This Saturday, our good friends Jill Lamb and Jen Johnston hosted an amazing baby shower for us in Santa Monica.

The shower was outside on the rooftop overlooking the city.  Luckily it rained the night before, leaving the sky clear and blue for Saturday afternoon. It was a perfect, fall day!

Even more perfect than the weather was the amazing set-up for the party. Jill and Jen transformed the rooftop from an empty deck into an inviting party space. There were round tables with seating, a couple cocktail tables in the corner for mingling and an adorable table for gifts with a colorful "lollipop" centerpiece. To top it off, there was a delicious food spread with chicken salad sandwiches, Jen's famous corn dip (I've ruined so many meals by eating too much of this!), farmer's market vegetable salad, walnut cheese dip, a fruit platter, and yummy lemon cupcakes. I'm pretty sure everyone at least got seconds! Guests could also choose from wine, beer, champagne, apple cider, or water.

Jill and Jen spared no details. They made this very sweet welcome sign for Baby Prusz which coordinated with the napkin rings, food signs, table centerpieces and invitations. There were also some delicious rice crispie treat party favors for guests (which I was thrilled there were a few leftover, now stashed in my pantry...and purse).

The shower itself was a wonderful time to catch up with some good friends and co-workers. We had a shower game of Celebrity Baby Trivia, and one of my co-workers, Skyler, managed to answer almost every single question correct. She won a year subscription to US Weekly...although, we're not quite sure she's the one who needs the subscription!

Baby Prusz was showered with lots of fun, practical and stylish baby gifts. And he has a lot of baby-friends awaiting his arrival this December.

45 more days until his due date. Joe is convinced he's coming early, I'm hoping he does, and according the stranger who approached me at Nordstrom he's definitely coming before December...not sure I want him to come that early though!

With the hostesses, Jill and Jen

#7: Big boy!

We had another appointment this week with our specialist for an ultrasound to check his kidneys. Good news is his kidneys are just fine!

During this visit we also found out his latest stats...and it looks like he's going to be a big boy. At 33 weeks, he's weighing in at 5-pounds...which means if I go full term he's on track to be a 9-pounder! To top that, his head and abdomen are in the 92nd percentile, meaning 92% of the babies around 33 weeks have a smaller head and abdomen - but there are 8% of babies with a bigger head and abdomen.

We'll see what this means for delivery, I'm hoping he'll come a little sooner now. But we're just so happy he's healthy, what a blessing that is!

#6: Hello 3rd Trimester!

It's official...I'm in my 3rd trimester as of today. 28 weeks down and and 12 more weeks to go!

28 Weeks

The baby moves around a lot these days and is packing more heat behind each punch and kick. It's amazing to think that we'll be holding him so soon.

According to the baby books, by this week he weighs about 2.25 pounds and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to heels. He can blink his eyes, which now have lashes, and can even start to see the light that filters in through the womb. He's also packing on more body fat, and will more than triple his weight in the next 12 weeks. 

Paddleboat

We have been making more and more progress on the nursery. A couple weeks ago Joe painted the room this color called Paddleboat, which a dark turquoise. He is also tackling the crown molding in the room, which has proven to be quite difficult. We've been wanting to put crown molding in our condo, and figured starting with the nursery (since it is just 4 straight walls) would be a good test. We're going to give it another go this weekend to hopefully finish the room. Once the crown molding is up we can start to put the room back together. We have almost all the components (except the chair slipcover and window treatments), and hope to have it completed in the next few weeks!

#5: Evansville Baby Shower

Over Labor Day weekend one of Joe's dear family friends, Anne Heinrich, hosted a beautiful shower for us in Evansville. We had such a wonderful time and were completely spoiled with her party-perfection hosting. She had this beautiful center piece with lots of baby boy items...all which were additional gifts for our son. There were toys, and boutique pacifier holders, cuddly stuffed animals, bottle holders, blankies, Little Giraffe burp clothes...pretty much everything a baby boy could want!

Guests were greeted with fresh Peach Bellinis, and enjoyed the fresh shrimp cocktail being passed around. For brunch, Anne catered in an amazing spread from a place in Newburgh. For dessert we had delicious cupcakes, chocolate-dipped oranges and chocolate fruit cups. She even had custom-made water bottles for the shower!

The guest list was made up of lots of Nancy's (Joe's mom) friends who were so kind to take time out of the holiday weekend to spend with us. We were also very blessed to have received an amazing amount of baby gifts. Luckily, we were able to get most of the gifts on the plane with us, and some gifts will need to be shipped back before his arrival. Which will give us little bit more time to find space for all these wonderful baby things!

On Sunday, we had a Labor Day celebration on the lake with Joe's extended family. Nancy surprised us with a mini-shower and an extended-family gift...our BOB stroller! We also got some special keepsakes and fun outfits from the family - Joe is especially excited about the Colt's onesie. It's the perfect size for a Super Bowl outfit...so Go Colts!

Now that we're back in California our task is to finish the nursery. We've got most of the components, but need to start painting first before we put anything together. Our goal is to have the nursery complete by October 30th...which is quickly approaching!

As of today, I'm 26 weeks along...almost to the 6 month mark. I've been feeling really good and enjoying this as long as it will continue.