Baby Shower (Long Version)

Once upon a time, in the sunny and beautiful land of Cleveland, Ohio (I'm allowed to take some liberties here), there lived a princess (Can I refer to myself as a princess? Yes? I'll just go all out then!)—a beautiful princess and her handsome prince.

Princess Amanda and Prince Danny

On an especially pretty Sunday in February, their kind, lovely, and talented friend, Melanie the Great, threw them a baby shower, which we'll be referring to as a baby ball from this point forward. This was no ordinary ball, that's for certain. This ball was special.

Melanie the Great!

To understand how overjoyed the prince and princess were at their ball, you first have to understand how brokenhearted they were last year. There was a time when the princess spent her days crying, fearing she'd never have a big belly for her friends to rub, and that she'd never get to attend a ball for her own baby.

The prince and princess would have been thrilled to have even a ho-hum ball. Just the fact that they could have a ball in honor of their own baby was enough to send them over the moon. The ball Melanie the Great hosted, though, was anything but ho-hum.

You see, sweet Melanie the Great realized what a miracle Baby Celis was, so she made sure the celebration in his honor was extra magical. She pulled out all the stops. Every detail was so special, personal, and well thought out.

The venue was perfect, and the decor was gorgeous.

Please note how adorable Princess Amanda and Prince Danny were when they were babies.

The food was beyond delicious.

Even the activities were creative and marvelous—and left the princess with some priceless keepsakes.

For this activity, each guest was given a letter of the alphabet, and they were asked to draw something that starts with their letter. Melanie the Great is compiling these pages into a one-of-a-kind alphabet book for Baby Celis. 

We can't forget to mention the 30 or so wonderful ladies who attended the ball, eager to celebrate Baby Celis.

Arlo, do you understand how many people love you already??

They spoiled him like crazy!

Since the theme of the ball was reading, the guests were given these practical bookmarks (made with love by Melanie the Great, of course) as party favors:

Everybody had so much fun at the ball, and nearly 2 months later, people are still telling the princess that her baby's ball was the most spectacular one they've ever attended.

See how much fun Laura and Renee are having??

The princess can't thank Melanie enough for being there for her during her worst nightmares, and then helping to turn her happy times into a beautiful fairy tale. The princess can't wait to see Melanie cuddle Baby Celis. (In fact, the princess has tears in her eyes right now, just thinking about it. Come out, Arlo! Aunt Melanie needs to cuddle you!)

The End
(And the Beginning)

P.S.
Melanie the Great is so great that, in addition to butterflies in her tummy and a happy heart, she sent the princess home with this:

Address labels with all of the guests' addresses on them, custom thank-you cards, stamped envelopes with the princess's return address already on them, and sweet heart stickers. How's that for awesome?

36 Weeks = Honeydew

Today, I'm 36 weeks and 1 day pregnant, and Arlo weighs about as much as a honeydew.

Weighing in at 6.75 pounds, this thing is heavier than it looks.

Most babies are in the head-down position by now, but not my baby! No, sirree. We're apparently trying to be part of every statistic we can possibly be a part of, so he's still breech. At yesterday's appointment, my OB told me to please give up hope that he'll flip—because she did an internal exam and knows that it's physically impossible for him to do so. His butt is at the gate, and there just isn't room down there for major acrobatics. (But what does it hurt to hope?)

Speaking of internal exams, last week, I was 80% effaced and already starting to dilate, and yesterday, my OB said I'm "really ripe." This could happen any minute! Or not. It's just one of those wait-and-see games, but that's part of the fun, I think.

My symptoms are still very mild, but I've been experiencing some terrible pressure on my cervix, thanks to my li'l low-rider. A few times, we've ventured from the land of discomfort into the land of oh-shit-that-hurts. On the plus side, I haven't experienced lung-crowding to the extent most pregnant women probably do.

I'm happy. I can't even tell you how happy. Also slightly panicky. We still have quite a few things to do and buy before this guy gets here, and life has been so crazy lately that I'm not even sure when we can squeeze everything in. I hope to knock out a few things this weekend, when we're not busy baby-classing or maternity-photoing it up.

Oh, and on the subject of photos... sorry the Baby Shower (Long Version) post isn't up yet! Sarah, the lovely photographer, is swamped right now, and she doesn't think she'll have the photos ready for a few more weeks. I don't want to publish the post without the photos, though, so I truly might have a baby by the time I share our shower story with you.

Baby Shower (Short Version)

Our amazing friend, Melanie, threw us a baby shower today, and Danny said it best when he called it "the shower to end all showers." Seriously, it was something you'd see in a movie and think, "Oh, right, like anybody actually has a baby shower like that!" It was incredible.

The spectacular Mel!

Our very talented friend Sarah, of LuSarah SEAS Photography, took lots of pretty pictures of the festivities, so I'm going to do my real baby shower post when she has these ready for the world to see.

For now, just know that this was one of the happiest days of my life. I haven't found the words to express how fantastic it felt to celebrate this baby with our loved ones. I'll probably never find the words, but I'll do my best when I write my "Baby Shower (Long Version)" post.

I won't make you wait to see a picture of our loot, though!

Daaaang!

Another point of interest is that after a few drinks (Did I mention that this shower lasted for 6 hours and turned into a baby party?), Danny accidentally referred to our baby by name in front of about 7 people. I don't want this group of people to have to keep it a secret from our other friends, so you can expect me to share his name with you sometime in the very near future.  

Baby Shower Invitations

I got some pretty awesome mail Friday—an invitation to my baby shower, and instead of trying to tell you how awesome it is, I'll just show you.

It's a booklet! (Sorry this collage is so shitty, Mel; I should have had you make it yourself.)

This invitation was designed entirely by my wonderful shower hostess, the lovely, thoughtful, and talented artist/designer/illustrator extraordinaire (Is that your official title, Mel?), Melanie Hudson. The girl has skills, right??

When I opened the invitation, I was blown away. I love everything, from the pretty sticker on the envelope to the sweet woodland creatures. (Remember Danny's "Party in the Woods" post?) I especially appreciate the little details plucked from my blog (perfect heart and pig nose), because this blog has been very important to me, and I can't wait to share it with my baby someday when he's old enough to get it.

Anyway, I cried before I even opened the booklet. Just seeing "Baby Celis" underneath the little owl family did me in—and as I read on, I couldn't believe how personal and perfect it all was. When I showed the invitation to Danny, tears actually rolled down his cheeks, and he said, "Everybody loves Baby Celis!"

And it's true. This is one lucky little boy I'm cookin' up right now.