It's raining, it's pouring...

No, it's not raining here in Phoenix...but Shane and I have been showered with generosity and kindness over the last few weeks!

It started the day before Halloween at my work pumpkin party / surprise baby shower. Many gifts were given...all very helpful things.

Then my wonderful friend Natalie (go there, she needs your help!) offered to plan a Skype baby shower for my friends and family in Salt Lake since I wasn't going to be making a trip up there before the manchild arrives. The shower was last Friday, and it was awesome! I'm awaiting pictures from the shower (since I wasn't there in person to take them), but it was amazing! From what I heard/saw, they had great food, beautiful decorations, and wonderful people... They even sent us money so we could buy our own yummy food to eat while we chatted!! I'll have to post pictures once they get here, but for now, here's a picture from our test run the weekend before to show Julian's awesome setup:

Then, on Saturday morning, my sister-in-laws Ashley and Amy (and I'm pretty sure Connie, Hilary, and Ashlee helped too) threw me a shower for friends and family in the area. The theme was Where the Wild Things Are...complete with a green/zebra print color scheme. Sadly, I only got one picture from the day because I was so busy enjoying the company and the food, but at least this picture gives you an idea of the theme:

PS That cute zebra onesie was made by Amy...one of the many custom-made items she gave to the manchild. Go here to see more of her stuff! And yes, those are baby pictures of me, Shane, and the manchild (aren't ultrasounds amazing??).

Then, on Sunday, we were invited to join the Lee family for dinner. We ate delicious food, played games, and Jackie was kind enough to paint my toenails! She said it was the one thing she wanted to do before she had Olivia. Even though it was probably nothing to her, I really appreciated it! Aren't they cute?


Some of the presents for the Skype shower didn't arrive in time for me to open them on the webcam, so I promised my friends that I'd be sure to honor the present-opening with a blog post... I didn't mind because it kept the showers going all week long!

First came Natalie's present... some cute little BYU shoes the she MADE (that's right, she made them). Natalie got a phone call while I opened them, but here's a picture of the opened gift:



Then came Meg's present. Since she didn't get a phone call and she was so sad that I couldn't open her present over the webcam, I documented the present opening process... (Meg, you better appreciate these because I'm not enjoying my puffy face...but I left them up here just for you!):

{Note: There were more presents in the box than what's in my hands... There was no way I could hold up everything at once. Thanks Meg!!}

On top of these showers and gifts, plenty of people have expressed their support and willingness to help with anything we need, and I'm sure we'll need to call on these people once the manchild gets here... including my mother's willingness to spend almost the entire month of December down here helping us. If you know my mom, you know how much she loves Christmas-time and giving special presents to everyone she knows...and being with us will limit her Christmas giving capacity. I know it'll be a sacrifice for her, but we'll be glad to have her with us!

We truly are blessed to have such wonderful, caring people surrounding us. We are so happy to know that the manchild will be welcomed into such a large network of people that are so willing to love and care for him! {That includes all of our wonderful blog readers :)}

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving today! I'm glad to have the time to reflect on all the things we have to be thankful for and hope you will all take the time today to do the same...

Practice

I know, I just posted (see below), but I wanted to add one more thing.... When I went into the baby's room earlier this evening to put something away, this is what I saw:


This little monkey joined our family a couple days ago courtesy of my Aunt Sheri. Ever since he arrived, I've found him in various places, such as sleeping in the crib (as above) or taking a ride in the stroller (oh yes, the stroller we received from my work shower was opened and rolling around our house within 12 hours of receiving it). Although he's much larger than the manchild* will be, I'm glad Shane's excited enough to use him as a temporary stand-in. Obviously, he can't wait for the real boy to come!!

*"Man-child" is Shane's nickname for our soon-to-be little boy. At first I didn't embrace it, but sometimes it's nice to call him something other than "the baby." It's growing on me...

The Edward

I know this post is a little late since Halloween was 12 days ago, but we just barely got the pictures, and this post would be nothing without them...

Halloween this year started on Friday night. We had my work's annual pumpkin carving party, which also turned out to be a surprise baby shower for me!! They pooled their money and bought us a lot of wonderful gifts...definitely more than I ever would've expected (not that I expected them to give me a gift). Anyway, my manager had a whole room at the party decorated in brown and green (to match the nursery) and a cute green cupcake cake in the shape of a teddy bear. Mixed in with the shower, was the regular Halloween festivities. Only a few pumpkins were carved, and because of timing, there was no official winner, but I think we did a pretty good job:

We spent the whole morning and afternoon of Halloween (from 9-3:30 to be exact) at our accelerated birthing class (entitled "Intensive Birthing Basics") at the hospital. Because I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it to all three 3-hour weekly classes with my work, we opted for the condensed Saturday version. It ended up being quite informative and the nurse that taught it mixed in enough humor that it was easy for her to talk about difficult or awkward subjects. A lot of my questions that were stressing me out were answered.

I digress... After our educational morning, we hurried home to change our clothes, get our pumpkin, and find our secret weapon for the Hatch family party: the BEST pumpkin carving design ever... When Shane heard that the family party would include a pumpkin carving competition, he started scouting the web for the best template he could find. I must say, I was a little skeptical...and I got a little annoyed at all the little details...and maybe I did stress out a time or two about not finishing in time to be part of the final judging (performed by Shane's parents, who were inside making dinner during the carving to remain impartial)... but once the candles were lit, I knew we had it in the bag...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...the Edward:


I'm sad we don't have a better picture, but we didn't have our camera so I had to rely on the images of others. But you get the gist. Even Shane's dad knew who it was!! And in the end, we most definitely won...but here's a shot of most of the other entries.


The rest of the party included a fishing pond, where everyone in the family caught a special fish (mine was extra special--with a $20 bill attached--because I was declared the favorite...but I think that's mostly due to the manchild inside of me), a yummy dinner, trick or treating for the kids, a birthday party for Chance, and carmel popcorn balls! Sadly, by 6:30 I felt like it was 10 PM so I wasn't much fun after that... Shane and I came home around 9:30 and crashed on the couch. All in all, it was a fun Halloween...even though we didn't dress up :) Click here for Amy's recap of the night (and more pictures, but not of us)...