The Baby Shower and Beyond

I arrived two hours before my baby shower to see extravagant decorations. My mother had made a stellar new quilt and hung it on the wall, draped baby onesies on a clothesline across our fireplace, set newborn hats on the mantle, put baby toys on the table, slapped jungle stickers on the water cooler, had caramel and chocolate covered pretzel sticks made, the couches pushed back...and she still had chores for me! So thank you, Mama, for doing all that crazy work.

David informed me that there were two rows of cars stuffed in the round-a-bout across the street from my house and that our own round-a-bout was full to the brim. So thank you to everyone in attendance, both mental and physical.

There wasn't a single gift I was disappointed with. Everyone seemed to have divvied up the list perfectly and selected exactly what we needed. I can happily report that everything is put away and organized in the nursery. I washed all the clothes, organized them into Tucker's dresser and had started to work on the closet. The moment I opened up the doors, I knew it wasn't going to work. For you see...I had another child. David had laid claim to pretty much half the shelves and all the hangers. I asked him to readjust the space, shifting everything to the shelves out of my reach. He started out with several boxes, a sleeping bag, scout shirts, memorabilia from elementary school and more miscellaneous things that I can only describe as junk. Within fifteen minutes, he used his scouting skills to get everything neatly organized on the top two rows of the nursery closet and the top row of the closet in our room. It took me fifteen minutes to just find everything he had! But that's my honey - amazing at organizing and utilizing space. He pointed out that, with eleven siblings, he had little choice but to learn.

After a solid Sunday's work, David half volunteered to make dinner and we invited Mike Turner over to help us finish the final draft of the nursery. We shifted everything away so that we would have an open corner for a rocking chair (already picked out and on it's way at the owner's leisure). We also have a fan in there for white noise (pretty much so Tucker won't freak out when our ever-so-considerate neighbor sporadically plays his bass). 

Photo 1: The cake of David Tucker's baby shower, made by Jordan Bevan. I'm not sure if she's taking customers, but she should! 

Photo 2: A swing from my parents. It has a plethora of seat positions (left, right, straight, tilted further back, tilted further forward, and probably still more I haven't discovered). We wouldn't have been able to put it together without Mike Turner's help. It's set next to my normal couch seat in the living room. It has songs and nature sounds. The animal that is in the center is a bear, while it has rotating leaves and bees above it for Tucker to watch, once he's able to see that far.  

Photo 3: The women that went to my baby shower wrote down advice for me on the pictures. Rachelle McKay gave me the caterpillar, which is between the pictures and some old Tiki-jungle statues that David had in one of his junk boxes. 

Photo 4: I honestly like this option more than getting an actual changing table. I cleared off the top space of my book shelf and put wipes and the diaper caddie from Amber McKay stuffed with diapers from Rachelle McKay. (I apologize to whoever gave me the Winnie the Pooh wipes, I can't remember who got them exactly, but I thank you for them). I also used the cloth diapers/burp cloths from Kira and Kelsie McKay to line the changing pad (again, I cannot remember who gave me the changing pad, so message me on Facebook to yell at me or get some credit where it's due) that is on our filing cabinet. On the left side of my ghetto changing table is an ottoman that presently elevates a box of diapers, but the diapers will be replaced with a diaper Genie! (A gift from Kajsa Hubscher.)

Photo 5: That's the best shot I can get of the entire room. You see the dresser with the frames and advice on the right, along with the diaper changing station. My mom's blanket is in the corner, ready to be hung up after we get the red rocking chair (also from my mom) in there. We have a fan for white noise and you can see the corner of our crib. 

Photo 6: A crib from my Baba (my mom's mom. Baba means Grandma in Serbian), who beat everybody else and gave us our very first baby present. It's for that reason that I am alright with her missing my baby shower. On the crib we have the mattress pad that Baba bought for us. On top of that we have some of the fuzziest, warmest sheets I've ever felt - from Katie Stallings. The red blanket on the top is the first blanket I made when I heard I was going to have a baby. It's the right size for him when he's a newborn, and no other time, so I figured I'd use it while it would last. The blanket is fleece and also incredibly soft. Tucker gets to sleep on a cloud once he's home from the hospital.

Photo 7: Lastly, we have the closet. I should have taken a before and after, because David had it STUFFED. On the very left we have a diaper wreath from my only sister in law on my side of the family, Summer LaPray, the green cloth is actually a froggy towel from my cousin in law. Thank you, Brooke Cook!  Right beside that is the baby blessing outfit that everyone will be able to see him in come this May or June, given to me by my Mama and Pops. On the very bottom left hand corner, in front of the picture frame, you can see a little orange bag - much like a cloth Sam's Club bag. Inside there I put all of Tucker's toys and books - which are far too numerous to name, despite how small the bag looks. I also have all of the diapers, wipes, blankets, swaddlers and every other gift stuffed comfortably into place. As you can see, that shelf on the left STILL has more room. I'd like to think that watching David pack for our camping trips has helped me organize a little bit better than when we were first married.

I'm pretty sure this blog post includes more details than anyone cares about and I've lost half the initial readers. If you're still skimming along, let me say THANK YOU to all the women that showed up to the baby shower, sent gifts, or even offers advice my way. I'd also like to thank the husbands and boyfriends that cut the checks for these gifts - all of which are priceless to me.

Tucker is officially due on March 16, 2014. Dr. Margaret Huggins and I both have the gut feeling to expect him in early March, so we'll see what happens.