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Bridal Shower Mania!!!

Okay--so for those of you who couldn't make it to the shower, let me recap the day's events. Today marked exactly 2 weeks until the wedding, so of course we hosted a bridal shower! The day started with s. Medy, Maria and Jenny coming over around 9:30 AM and setting everything up, including all of the food Maria made for us. We seriously couldn't have done it without these people! They were amazing. So I came downstairs with Alex and these 3 were running around like crazy and screeching at one another to get stuff done fast. It was pretty funny to watch. I just sat in the corner and held Alex, who looked more shocked than I've ever seen him look! LOL. His eyes were wide and he was just staring silently at our "visitors". People started arriving around 11 or so and they came bearing gifts, which is always nice. So let me stop there and give a run down of the gifts--my favorite part next to the food! Ms.Medy (Abe's Mom) got us a grill (Yay!), a grill care set, and some baking /muffin pans (I guess that means I have to make stuff now. lol). Maria, Aaron, Dylan and Daniel got us a measuring cup, cookie sheets, a pyrex glassware 21 pc. set (great gift!), and a mixer. Mary, Dave, Matthew and Julia got us a coffee maker (will come in handy when I start back to work), an ice tea maker (which Abe has already successfully put to use), and a set of mixing bowls (Awesome!). I bet that's Julia's first time buying someone a present! LOL. Ms. Noreen (Aaron's Mom) got us a gift card to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Corinne (Aaron's Sister), Freddie, Tristan, and Rebekah got us a gift card to Kohl's (We love us some gift cards:). Ms. Shawn and Ms. Dottie (From Medy's Work) got us a coffee maker, and some Dunkin Donuts coffee to go with it (We'll be making A LOT of coffee in this house. LOL.) Abe's Best Man Ralph gave an undisclosed amount of money (Big thanks to him!). My friend Mike from Stricker got us an awesomely huge mixing bowl, which I am sure I will mix many cakes in. Maria's friend Doxia gave us two cute outfits for Alex and a serving plate set. My maid of honor Jenny and her family got us a blender, and some other stuff that is being mailed from bed. bath and beyond. So when it's all said and done, we know that we are very blessed to have so many caring and generous people in our lives to help make our bridal shower a success. It's noce to know that people are still excited for ur wedding and still treating us like a "normal" couple about to get married, even though we certainly didn't do things as traditionally as most. I wouldn't take anything back though. We had our son before the wedding and he was really meant to be. Sometimes things just happen for a reason. On a side note---I hav to have a freaking route canal on Wednesday!! Yikes! I'm a little nervous about it, but praying that it makes this horrible pain in my tooth stop. I told my dentist it hurt as bad as labor and she laughed and was like "okay, you defintely have a problem there. I'm giving you some strong Ibuprofen." Tomorrow begins a new week and the search for a new daycare for Alex begins!! I hoe we find someone as good as the lady we had before. I'm getting a little worried because I only have 4 weeks now until school is back in session, so I need to work quickly and pray there are spots open for him. Okay, I posted many pics below from this week and out bridal shower today!

Our shower favors--food and drink mixes

Our Living Room Packed with Shower Guests

Our Beautiful Blue and Yellow Cake

Me with my Maid of Honor Jenny

A Very Strange Self-Taken Family Portrait

Daniel with his Plate of Food

Ms. Noreen, Corinne (Preg. with baby # 3, a girl--due in Sept.), Rebekah (almost 2) and Anita

Matthew and Dave

Matthew showing Alex some love

Jenny holding Alex

And here's the scene after the shower..good thing someone is awake in this house to take the picture!

Little Miss Julia Sleeping the Day Away

They're so easy when they're newborns!

And they turn into this! LOL. He's so cute though, isn't he?

Look at that ornery smile!

He's such a little ham for the camera

Daddy has invaded his space

Alex's new trick is grabbing his fet

                                    

                                                                             Our happy Alex

Our Crazy Weekend...

What a crazy, but fun weekend we had! As most of you know, Abe and I welcomed a new niece late Wednesday night, so we spent Thursday night and Friday running from our home to the hospital to visit little Julia and of course her parents! She's a beautiful little girl and I have to say she looks quite a bit like her big brother Matthew--for the time being at least. We know those things change with time. It's seems like Alex changes daily at this point. I think everyone is very excited to have a girl among the children--after 4 little boys! Maybe there will be more girls to come? Only time will tell on that one. LOL. Saturday, we went shopping, which was quite an experience. Alex is starting to get bored with just laying on his playmat or laying on a blanket and rolling around, so we decided to buy him an exersaucer to keep him entertained. I am also hoping to free up my hands a little during the day so I can get some things done before the wedding and before I am back to work for 10 months again! So, we got him the evenflo smartsteps exersaucer. He's used it a little bit so far and he seems to really like it. His little feet just barely graze the bottom, but he can bouce himself from front to back and always looks surprised when he does it! LOL. This boy is spoiled and he doesn't even know it yet! We also got him a new umbrella stroller--it will have to wait for a little while, but we had a great coupon and got $60 off, so we had to get it now so we could get the great discount. We had planned on getting it later anyway, so we just went for it. Plus--he can use it for the wedding. Our oldest nephew Dylan will be pushing him down the aisle, and we don't want him to have to push his heavy,bulky Eddie Bauer stroller. It's a Maclaren Triumph in orange and grey-- Kind of pricey, but well worth the money from what we hear and it should last him until he's at least 2  or older. Speaking of the wedding--we are really getting down to the wire with everything! We met with the organist today to finalize the ceremony music, and we are meeting with the wedding planner and the dj sometime this week to finalize things for the reception. I am finishing up the program tonight and hopefully getting Abe to print it this week. We'll probably work on assembling it this week as well. I am also making a prototype of the favors tonight and assembling them tomorrow hopefully. Ms. Medy and I are going to help Mary tomorrow, so while we are watching the babies and helping her with things, we will hopefully put together the favors. My final dress fitting is July 30--ugh don't even want to discuss that one. I'll probably start putting the seating chart together tonight and tomorrow as well. Remind me never to volunteer to plan anybody's wedding! This is too much work for one day! I told Abe we should've eloped and I think I'm feeling a little more strongly about that right about now! LOL. Anyway I can sigh a big sigh of relief on August 11 and enjoy a couple of days at Ocean City with Abe and Alex. Never could we have guessed we'd be bringing a baby on our honeymoon--oh well things happen for a reason! I definitely wouldn't have it any other way. On a dark note--school will be back in session August 18 for me. That's less than a month. We now begin the search for a quality home daycare for Alex since Ms. Thresa let us know she filled his spot over the summer...Doesn't anybody do daycare for teachers, where they don't want to charge you to hold your kid's spot over the summer? Frustrating...Maybe they should let some of our students take care of our babies during the school day. I have a feeling it would be great birth control! Well anyway I am officially rambling. We just got Alex to bed finally, so we need to go and get some wedding stuff done!!! Some pics of our nephews, new niece, other family members, and of course Alex follow. Enjoy!

Daniel and his missing front teeth!

Auntie Maria holding baby Julia

Matthew laying down on the slide at Merritt Park

New big brother Matthew giving us the "thumbs up" sign

Dylan is proud of his baseball trophy!

Baby Julia wide awake and ready to meet her family members!

Our handsome little boy!

Daddy's boy

Alex trying out his new stroller..he's a little small for it yet, but it doesn't seem to bother him any!

He loves his new exersaucer!

He loves it so much..he doesn't even need clothes on to be in it (don't call SS, it's July people--It's hot!)

 

Baby Dove has arrived and it's a....

GIRL! I knew it all along. I don't have much time today, since Alex is finally napping and I didn't get home from the hospital last night until 2:45 AM. But let me introduce my brand new niece to everyone:

Julia Grace Dove

July 16, 2008 @ 11:08 P.M.

7lbs. 5 oz.     18 in.

Beautiful little Julia---the first girl in the fam!

Lola with her brand new granddaughter--yawning

2008--The year of the babies!

This year has been the year for babies!! Alex kicked off the trend when he was born March 5. Now, a new 2008 baby has been welcomed to the universe. My friend and co-worker, Danielle had her healthy baby girl on July 10. Little Natalia Marie weighed in at 6lbs.  2 oz. and was 19.5 inches long! I went to the hospital yesterday with Mike and Melinda to visit D and meet Natalia for the first time. I couldn't believe how small she looked, and especially couldn't remember Alex being that tiny. But--he was only 5 oz more than Natalia, so he was that tiny once! Now at 4 months and 1 week, he about 17 lbs. a little over 2 feet long, and such a little character! He's laughing out loud,rolling over, taking an interest his toys, holding up his neck and back, and making vowel sounds, like "oooh" and "ahhh". He's also drooling buckets down his chin as we await that first tooth. It looks like it will probaby be one of his bottom two front teeth first. And he's still sleeping through the night--praise Jesus! LOL. He's also quite funny--he grunts until he falls asleep! That's how we know he's tired. He'll just start grunting and the grunting gets quieter and quieter until he's out cold. LOL. He was 2008 baby #1--what a leader! LOL. Makes you wonder who's going to be next??? LOL. I'm looking at YOU Chauncey or Laubach!

Natalia Marie--born July 10

Another pic of a very alert Natalia

Our Little Belly Man!

Alex with his Great- Grandma Glenrose!

Alex and Lexie taking a "cat nap" on our bed--literally! LOL.

In his cute hat!

Alex and Abe back home on Alex's first fourth of July

Good Morning Sunshine!

Such a happy boy in the morning!