One baby gift to rule them all...

In honor of football season...
If this is not a most excellent and worthy baby gift, I don't know what is:

Thanks to our great neighbors Brian and DeAnn and Brianne for this great gift!
Go Packers!!!
A note to future baby J:
When it comes to football, your mommy and Opa are ALWAYS right, your daddy and Uncle John and Auntie Trina are ALWAYS wrong!!

A lovely baby shower...

My lovely sisters and dear friends threw me a beautiful baby shower disguised as an afternoon tea party last week. Everything was perfect, from the gorgeous flower arrangements,

to the delicate vintage tea cups and saucers lining the table,

and the perfect little favors, hand-made with special California-imported treats!

to the hand-frosted iced sugar cubes, (which may well have been the most expensive item there.)

There were delicious scones, tea sandwiches, petit fours muffins and pastries, which tasted even better than they looked! (hard to believe, I know!)

Most excitingly, I was so blessed by all my dear friends who came, some who came all the way out from MI or MN just to celebrate with me!

 Everyone in attendance commented that the place looked like it belonged in a magazine article detailing how to throw the perfect tea party, which is always a high compliment. I got many wonderful gifts, and simply didn't have time to take pictures of all of them, but had so much fun combing over them again that night as I showed them to Kyle, and then again the next day as I tried to picture my own little cute (hopefully), bald (probably), chubby (definitely) baby utilizing them in the not-so-distant future.

If any of you know me well (or read by blog regularly), you know I love me a good tea party and this was the mother of them all. A HUGE thank you to my frriends and sisters who arranged this lovely afternoon and all of my friends for giving up their Saturday afternoon to join us.

 I, Kyle, and the growing baby inside of me are incredibly grateful for this shower of love, celebration and affection.

9 weeks to go!

We are now 31 weeks into our pregnancy.
It has gone by so much faster than I anticipated it would. I am so thankful for this little life inside me, and the closer I get to meeting it, the more desperately I want to remember to uphold my friends in prayer who are struggling to start or expand their own families. The pain of infertility is starting to become only an unpleasant memory for me...because of that, I want to remember all the more to be sensitive to those who are facing the grief and often isolated hurt brought about by infertility. With that being said, before I dive into baby bump pictures and baby shower updates and all things babies, I want to let my readers and friends who are still in that struggle know that I empathize with you deeply, and I pray my excitement over my pregnancy does not cause you additional pain. I have tried all along to not be insensitive, and I want to continue that way. I pray the Lord blesses you with the miracle of new life very soon.

Overall, this pregnancy has been great, and there has not been much to complain about. Although I still don't look very large, I do believe there is a 3 pound, 17 inch long baby inside me, because I feel him shifting and moving under my ribcage on a frequent basis. And no, we still don't know the sex, and yes, I am still convinced it's a little guy :)
Some of my friends have been bothering me for belly bump pictures, so I am finally posting some. For progress' and comparison's sake, I will re-post a few.
Here is baby at 15 weeks:

At 21 weeks:

At 27 weeks:

At 29 weeks:

And at 31 weeks:

Now yes, I know what you are thinking. I should really clean that mirror before I use it for self-portraits. Yup. you're right. Oh wait, you mean you were actually thinking, Wow, her bum has made almost as much progress as her tummy! Yup, right again. But I was quite happy that this afore-mentioned bum still fits into my pre-pregnancy skinny jeans! Somehow. It's quite funny, they tell you to get bigger tops and that your bra cup size will increase 2-3 sizes, but nobody warns you that you'll also be increasing 2-3 underwear sizes! Ah well, I have faith that good old breastfeeding will help remedy that situation sooner rather than later.
Anyways, I had a lovely shower that my sisters and friends threw for me last week - since this post has become quite long, I will do that in a separate post, soon to follow. Stay tuned!