First post of 2010 and Baby Shower

Yes, very original title, I know! We have just been hanging out the past couple of weeks, waiting for all the January snowstorms that are overdue - they need to come to increase the snowpack but also to blow out the yucky inversion. It's just like Boise - go up to the mountains and it's beautiful AND it's actually warmer - somedays it's 20 degrees warmer just a half hour drive into the mountains and you can great view of all the smog trapped in the city. Yesterday the school kids couldn't even go out for reccess and since they run commercials about poor air quality being linked to premature birth, I'm sure as heck not going out either! All of our snow from Christmas is still on the ground though because of the cold temps, but without a new storm, it's looking pretty dirty.
Thanks goodness for all the great toys we have since we are sticking around home a lot! Jillian continues to dress like a princess for the better part of the day and makes us dress up and go to "the party" to dance with the princesses. She will assign you a princess to dance with, but generally dances with Cinderella herself. She likes to take pictures and have her picture taken with her new camera. She is still working on her aim, but below are some pictures off of her very own camera. :) She is pretty sassy and we are trying to keep it under control! The other night at dinner she told Richard, who was trying to help her with something, "Daddy, just eat your dinner please!" She also talks non-stop about baby brother coming out soon so he can play dress-up, trains, etc. I try to warn her that it will be a long time before he does anything like that, but it's not really sinking in, she is too excited about the prospect of a new playmate!

This past week I had another appointment and everything looks good. We are getting very close to the point where Jillian was born and Richard and I will be packing our hospital bags this week in preparation. I just got everything washed and setup in the baby's room yesterday! We are very lucky and grateful to have a couple of my close girlfriends here volunteer to watch Jillian whenever the big event happens, especially with the current H1N1 restrictions - not being able to take Jillian to my Dr.'s office for my more frequent appointments or the hospital is a hardship when you have no family in town. Anyway, baby boy is huge and last week was the first time my midwife finally agreed with me that maybe I just cook 'em fast! His measurements were big, like his head was over two weeks ahead in size and he should have just been hitting 4 pounds but they estimated him at about 4 pounds 12 oz already. We are guessing Jillian would have been measuring up similarly at this time if we had had ultrasounds at every appointment like we do here. I could see his face pretty well in the ultrasound and even a little bit of fuzzy hair!

Saturday was my baby shower, which was just a blast - I stayed out until 11 o'clock! Alicia had lots of my favorite yummy appetizers from Chilis and a variety of cupcakes that were to die for from the new cupcake store in town. We played some games (nothing gross, thanks Alicia!) like everyone had clothespins and you could take one if you caught them saying "baby" - the winner with the most at the end got a cupcake store gift certificate, yum! One of the most fun parts was seeing all the onesies the girls made - Alicia provided blank onesies and puffy paints (my favorite!) and we now have tons of cute and creative onesies - as well as a couple of, um, questionable ones that won't leave the house but are good for a laugh! This is one of my favorites, designed by Chauntelle:

Reading their estimates of my due date/baby size and their best and worst baby advice:

Decorating onesies!

Opening gifts - just blown away by how generous everyone is - walked away with tons of great gear and lots of diapers too!

Me and my other favorite baby boy, Alicia's Preston!

Me and my awesome hostess!

The reason I can't bend over and get stuff off the ground anymore...oh, and I'm holding the supercute blanket Heather made me that I am wearing right now - sorry baby!