New Belly Pictures, and first baby shower report!

Hi folks!


The baby shower in Texas was a SMASHING success! (thanks Jaclyn, Debbie, and Kim!) We had SO MUCH fun seeing everyone, and we got some really amazing gifts.

But before I talk about that, I'm going to FINALLY post some more belly shots. So, here ya go! Here's progress from the first trimester...





Here's progress from the second trimester (which I'm almost done with! I can't believe it)...

We got some really amazing gifts at the baby shower! Johnny's mom crocheted a baby blanket that is just gorgeous, and Mrs Wood (yep, that's right... our choir teacher from High School) was there and she gave us a quilted baby blanket that she made. These two gifts in particular are incredibly meaningful. I told the audience at the baby shower (when you're opening gifts at a baby shower everyone else is the audience, right?) that I knew I had finally been accepted into the family when, after three years of dating, Johnny's Mom presented me with one of her crocheted blankets.

Hysterically, James (Kim's husband) looks up and says, "Well I still haven't gotten one!" (Oops! Ha ha!)

We got lots of other wonderful gifts, all very practical and useful which is exactly what we need! Burping cloths, baby thermometer, changing pad covers... all essentials.

Seeing Mr. and Mrs. Wood was fabulous... Johnny and I were talking about the fact that 14 years ago (when he was a Sr and I was a Jr in High School) we were "Choir Sweetheart and Beau". Mrs. Wood got us a little cake and everything. At the baby shower this weekend she said, "Yeah, I didn't think this was gonna last". Ha ha! Guess it did!

We also got to see some good friends from college and high school. Damey (who I haven't seen in about 5 years) and Melissa (who I'm not sure I've seen since my wedding!) were both there and it was fabulous to get to see them! What fun!

Because this was a Co-ed baby shower the games were a bit different than they usually are. We didn't play the "guess what kind of candy bar has been melted into the diaper" game... we didn't play the "guess what food this baby food is" game... but we DID play the "guess how large the Mom-To-Be's belly is" game and that was HYSTERICAL!

Johnny's Dad was actually the winner and his guess was exactly right! Turns out he just measured his own belly, so apparently my father-in-law is right around 6 months pregnant. It was wonderful! We all got a kick out of it, and therefore had to take the following picture.

(from left to right, Johnny, Johnny's Dad, Preggo, and Preggo's Dad)...

What a fabulous weekend!

Thanks to everyone who came out. Johnny and I have baby class again tonight... not sure what we are going to cover though.

Last week we talked about different coping mechanisms for pain. We covered the "hypnotherapy" theory (deep breathing and consciously calming yourself); pain isolation (where you focus on the pain and try to identify the center and boundaries of it, which can sometimes actually diffuse it); and another technique where, rather than focusing on the pain, you concentrate on other senses... the sound of the cars outside, the fell of the seat under your body, etc. We practiced each one of these while holding an ice cube in our bare hand for 1 minute. The ice cube can actually be pretty painful, so it was enough to give us some idea of how these techniques could be used.

The first one (the "hypnotherapy" deep breathing) worked the best for me, probably because of my Yoga training.

The last one is the one that worked best for Johnny, so I guess that's the one he'll be using. ;)

Best get back to work now. Love ya!