Friends baby shower

This weekend my girl friends threw me a baby shower. Rebecca and Lauren co-hosted, and Heather even came early to help them set everything up and get ready. There were a bunch of people who were unable to make it, due to previous engagements, but everyone was there in spirit, and still made me feel special regardless of their physical absence. I have some of the greatest friends ever!

Rebecca, me, Lauren, and Heather

We played the most hilarious...and yet disgusting...game ever! The girls had melted 10 different kinds of chocolate bars in 10 diapers. We had to look/smell/taste the "poop" to figure out which chocolate bar had been melted in each diaper. I am a chocoholic, and I cannot tell you how much having the chocolate in a diaper messed up the whole chocolate factor! I thinkErin was the only one brave enough to taste each one, and sure enough, I believe she got all 10 correct!
Erin gave me this cute animal train that sings songs and moves across the floor. She said Hayley loves it, and right on cue, Lauren started singing every word to the main song, demonstrating how much it is played at her house. When they all came over Saturday night, we got it out, and sure enough all three babies (Hayley, Avery, and Natalie) were mesmerized by the singing animal train!
Rebecca handmade this quilt for me and Baby Shulse...she had never tried it before, and I cannot tell you how impressed we all were! This is going to be the perfect quilt for any occassion, and one I can already tell I will use a lot.
Thanks, Rebecca for such a beautiful gift!
Sarah could not be at the shower, but she sent a present with Mom and Julie to give me. Yea! I have a cute boppy now!

Lauren and Heather compiled this basket of "Hayley and Avery's favorites." There were some great goodies in that basket, that will surely come in handy very soon. :)
If you remember (if you have been reading my blog for awhile), for both Lauren and Heather, we all participated in stitching a square for a special quilt made just for them, by their friend Brittany. Though I know Brittany, I do not know her very well, and was not expecting to get a special quilt of my own. And to be even more honest, I didn't think I knew enough people who would participate to make one! I cannot tell you how I shocked I was to pull out this beautiful quilt, in which most of my friends and family each made a square.
Here is a close up of the colors and designs...
There were 30 individual sqares total...though many squares had combined people, otherwise the quilt would have been too large! I keep looking at it over and over, seeing each initialed square and feeling so special that this person would take time to sew a square for the quilt. It is absolutely beautiful and means more than I can say.
It was a very fun shower, and quite a special day. All of our friends came back over to the house afterward to hang out and cook hamburgers.

If there is one thing I have learned throughout this entire pregnancy experience, it is how lucky I am to have the love and support of our friends and family. It never ceases to amaze me how much people care and how much they make a special time in our life even more special by simply being a part of it. We are so blessed. :)

New nursery bedding

I can remember going to see my cousin last summer before she had her baby girl, and gently teasing her for having a PINK nursery that was incredibly girly. She laughed and said, "ya know, I never thought I would have gone so girly, and it did not start out that way. But once we knew it was a girl, things kept getting pinker and pinker..."

I think Jesse and I are in the same boat. We started out incredibly gender neutral, in case our little girl popped out a little boy. But after the last ultrasound, there is no question that it is a girl, and now things are beginning to get more girly...starting with the nursery.

We changed from the Patchwork Pooh bedding to this design, called Blossoms. In the original package, it comes with a decorative fitted sheet, but I don't like the sheet. So, I went to Target and got a plain green sheet, and now it fits our taste much better.

the original bedding and sheet

a close up of the bedding with the new solid green sheet
a side view of the crib, so you can see the different patterns
the matching blanket we are going to hang on the wall
the plain and simple valance

There are multiple shades of pink in the new bedding, from a light, pastel pink to a cranberry pink, but mixed in with the greens and whites, it is not too overwhelming. Once we get everything hung up (the valance and the blanket), it will all be spread over 3 walls, which should even it out some against the green walls.

We are officially going girly! Who would have thought?

The nursery (phase 3)

After two surprise baby showers, we are starting to get more "stuff," and the nursery is really starting to come together.

This is not the best picture of the bedding, but it gives a good idea of the paterns, colors, etc.
Again, with the bedding and a few of the dolls and stuffed animals she has started collecting.
There are some of the decorating items on the dresser, including Pooh bear lined baskets, a double picture frame for her hand and foot print (given to us by Julie), and some other goodies.
Sarah got us our "lights and sounds" baby monitors. We had fun testing them out, haha!

As you can see, I'm fairly stocked on diapers! I have 3 packs of newborns, 6 or 7 packs of size 1, and 2 packs of size 2! The entire right side of the dresser is FULL of diapers!
She is starting to get a nice collection of clothes in her closet; lots of newborn/0-3 month onesies in many colors and designs, a few precious outfits and dresses for this summer and fall, and even a few older clothes for the winter and next spring.
Toys, books, blankets, and scrapbooks/photo albums line the shelves in her closet.

It's starting to fill up and come together! I have not hung the valance or any of the decorations on the wall yet. No worries...more pictures to come later!

the family surprise baby shower!

So while I thought we were going to Dallas to surprise my Dad, my Dad thought they were going to Dallas to surprise me! While the boys were out golfing for Dad's birthday, the girls threw me a surprise baby shower at La Madeline's. We had been out grocery shopping, and decided we wanted to eat a salad or something light, and went to grab a bite. Once we all made it through the line, we headed to one of the corners of the restaurant, and the rest of my family was there waiting!

They had "real" petifours, decorated with teddy bears and baby booties.

Isn't this a precious idea? They hung little onesies, with pictures from when I was a baby in between. Too cute!
My corsage, complete with baby rattle and all!
The stack of goodies from everyone!
Ashleigh took this picture as we initially walked into the room.
I was pretty shocked!
Sarah playing with Kalia
Grandma (Aunt Kathy to me) holds sleeping SavannahAunt Darenda holding Savannah

For one of the games we played, each person received a bag with a baby item in it. They had to come up with a riddle describing the item, and I had to guess the item inside their bag.

I thought this picture of Julie was pretty dang cute :)

Everyone looking in their bags and thinking about their riddles
Mom gave me a box of a few of the dresses I wore when I was a baby, including the dress I wore home from the hospital (she had also worn it home from the hospital when she was a baby). Pretty special stuff.
Ohhh...you can see I like this one...
The families all got together and bought us our carseat, stroller, and base!! Hooray! Now we can actually bring her home from the hospital!

Michelle had a lot of extra diapers she generously donated to the Baby Shulse diaper fund. How cute are these tiny diapers? (And the one I'm holding is actually a size 1, not a newborn! Can you imagine how tiny those things will be??)
Another big hooray! Mom and Dad got us the bedding for the nursery, including the valance! (Yes, by the time you read this post, I have already put it all up in the nursery, and will need to post new updated pictures for everyone to see how cute it looks.)
The Dallas crew who helped throw the shower:

Aunt Kathy, Ashleigh, Michelle, me (big as a house), Courtney, and Aunt Darenda

My family, minus Dad and Susan:
Mom, Sarah, me (can we say HUGE), and Julie

The shower was a great surprise, and it really made me feel much better about the baby's due date quickly approaching. I definitely feel more prepared, and at least know we can bring her home from the hospital to a cute nursery, and we have plenty of diapers for the first few months. :)

It was a very special day, and I'm so incredibly thankful to have such a loving and supportive family who constantly shower me with their love. I know Baby Shulse is going to be one lucky little lady!

Dad's 50th surprise party

My Dad turns 50 this Saturday, April 14. To throw him off, we celebrated a week early, in Dallas, and totally surprised him!

See, Julie had a track meet in Austin on Friday, though the family was scheduled to go to my grandparents house (near Tyler) for Easter weekend. Mom thought it would be best to shorten the trip, by making a stop in Dallas Friday night. The plan from there was that Dad and Uncle Charlie were going to wake up early Saturday morning and head to my grandparent's house to help out with some yardwork, maintenance, etc. So sure enough, they woke up early and ate breakfast to prepare for a long day of work.

However, the rest of my uncles, cousins, etc planned to meet out front of Uncle Charlie's house around 7:45, then all come in together to surprise Dad. He was standing in the kitchen when we got there, and you can tell by the redness of his face that he was definitely surprised by everyone.
Rather than a day of work, the boys had set up a tee-time at one of the cool golf courses around the area. Dad is really into golf right now, and they figured it would be a fun time of fellowship. Mom had matching polo shirts made that said "Steve's 50th birthday, 2007" for all the guys to wear.

The weather threw a slight kink in the plans, when we woke up Saturday morning to freezing cold weather and a big chance for snow and ice. Sooo...the guys found an indoor facility way far away, and made the trek across town to play computer-oriented golf. (They all came back saying that it helped their game, so I doubt anyone was too terribly disappointed about not playing in the snow!)
While the guys were gone, we started setting up for Dad's birthday lunch and party when they got back. Dad wouldn't let us do a "black" party for Mom's 50th, so I made sure he had plenty of black to go around! Once the guys returned home, the rest of the girls in the family were there, and we had a birthday party for Dad.
Always such a good sport...he even wore the funny old man hat we got him!

Bryan and Courtney are so cute!
Matt holding his baby girl, Savannah. She sure is growing up fast!
Since Grandma had made Dad a birthday cake at her house, we decided to make a birthday brownie instead. Aunt Darenda helped decorate, and we stuck in candles that said, "Oh no, the big 5-0!"
One of the pictures of Dad opening his presents. Since his new fetish is golf, my family thought he would like to begin a collection of the golf balls from the different coarses he plays.
It was a fun day, and I'm sure Dad had a good time playing golf, hanging out with the guys, then celebrating with everyone later. I'm sure we'll still do dinner and a little party for him on his actual birthday, but this way he was able to share his big birthday with everyone.

Happy Birthday, Dad!