Church Shower in Shreveport

This past weekend, Josh and I made our last out of town trip before Baby Eli comes. We traveled to Shreveport for another shower for Baby Eli. We got in late Friday night and had just enough time to visit with my parents before we both crashed. We did get to go see my Dad out in his workshop working on my nursery chair. He is reupholstering a rocking chair for me that has been in our family since 1905. My great-grandmother rocked her kids in it and it has been passed down from family member to family member since then. My mom rocked me in it and now I'll be able to rock Eli in it! Mom, Dad, and I actually bought material for the chair 3 years ago when we were in Alexandria. Even back then I knew that my nursery colors were going to be brown and blue. I also figured that I'd have a boy first! Once we found out we were pregnant, Mom got the material out and after looking at it again we decided to go with brown instead of blue. Since the walls in Eli's nursery are blue, we decided we needed a contrasting color. Josh and I found some pretty brown material in Natchez. The last time I was in Shreveport, I gave it to my Dad so he could start on the chair. Dad was able to finish it this weekend and Josh and I got to bring it home. My nursery is really starting to come together, which is good since Eli is due in 29 days! I can't wait to sit in that chair and rock my little boy, read stories to him, pray with him, feed him, and spend time with him. It's going to be a great bonding place for us!

Saturday, Josh and I woke up and I was starving! It's so funny because now that I'm pregnant I always wake up so hungry! Breakfast has definitely become MY most important meal of the day. While we were driving the night before, I got this great idea of going to eat at IHOP or Cracker Barrel early before my shower, which is what we ended up doing! We got dressed and decided to head into town to go eat at Cracker Barrel. I had a few errands I needed to run in town before the shower, so the two of us and my brother, Caleb, loaded up the car and headed into town. Breakfast was yummy! Once our bellies were full, we headed to Target, Best Buy, and Lowes. Pretty soon, it was time for me to go to my shower. Josh and Caleb dropped me off and went back home.

My shower was so much fun. My mom's friends from church hosted it for me and I had a wonderful time! We got to use the same house for my baby shower that we used for my wedding reception almost 7 years ago. Mom and all my hostesses did a wonderful job decorating and organizing the shower. I got to see so many people that I hadn't seen since I left Shreveport almost 10 years ago. WOW! I can't believe I've been gone that long! You don't realize how fast the time flies until you come back and find out that everyone has grown up and changed just like you. I have a few pictures from the shower, but I'm waiting on some from Nicki and my mom. They took a lot more pictures than I did, so I'll post those when I get them. I received so many wonderful gifts for Baby Eli. People have been so generous to us and we are both so very thankful. Josh jokes that we are going to have to buy another storage building just to house all the gifts! Seriously though, the outpouring of love that has been shown to us throughout this entire pregnancy has been mind blowing. We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful family members and friends!

Eli's gifts before they were unwrapped

The LSU diaper cake Caleb and Chelsea did for us. Geaux Tigers!

Shower Food

My cake that Mrs. Donni made. She also made the one from a couple of weeks ago.
She's one very talented lady! Thanks, Mrs. Donni!

Instead of cards, everyone gave me books instead. They wrote an inscription inside the books so Eli will know who gave it to him one day. Nicki told me about this idea and I mentioned it to Mom. Mom took the idea and ran with it! Now Eli already has a full board book library!

Mrs. Lisa was one of the ladies that organized this shower for me. Thank you!

Diapers, diapers, and more diapers!

One of the cute outfits I received for Eli.

This is Mrs. Carolyn "MamaC", her daughter Sunnie, and her granddaugther, Skye. A few of you know that I twirled baton growing up in Shreveport from 2nd grade until I graduated high school. Sunnie was my first baton teacher and when she left for college, Mrs. Carolyn took over. It was so good to see them again! She got the nickname "MamaC" from all the twirlers because she was like a surrogate mother to us during school, football games, and during camps.

The rest of the weekend went great. Saturday night after the shower Mom, Dad, Josh and I went downtown to the Red River Revel to listen to Edgar Winter. I had no idea who he was, but my Dad and Josh did. The concert was fun. Mom has some pictures of us there and I'll post those as soon as I get them from her. His band was amazing! They were very very talented musicians and Eli thought the entire concert was great. He seemed to move the most when Edgar Winter got out his keyboard/synthesizer and played that. Eli rolled all around during those solos! We may have a little rocker on our hands!

Before we left this afternoon, Dad put the finishing touches on the chair and then he and Josh loaded it in the car. It was weird saying goodbye to my parents this afternoon. I told them that the next time they see us will be when I'm in the hospital having Eli. How cool is that? These last couple of weeks have just flown by! My little boy is going to arrive very very soon!