April Showers

Before baby girl comes, there are several posts that I would like to get up here on the blog. Because I know as soon as she gets here, life will be all about her! This is one of those posts.


You've all heard the phrase "April showers bring May flowers", right? Well in this case, April showers bring May babies! Specifically my May Baby. 

(Also, as a side note - whenever I hear that phrase I always finish it in my head with the following phrase "And what do Mayflowers bring? Pilgrims!" Because i'm like a 5 year old and I think that is really funny.)

I was lucky enough to have two Baby showers thrown for me. The first was thrown by a dear friend from high school, Rebekah Armstrong Ackerman. I am so grateful for her and her willingness to host this shower for me! Here are some photos from the big event:

The layout.

Darling decor. Yellow and grey are my favorites right now.

A game where they guessed how big around I was. The closest person got a prize!

 

 

I am overwhelmed at how generous people were. Both baby girl and I are surrounded by people that love us. There are tons of pictures of my opening presents - but suffice it to say, we are grateful for the many many gifts that were given.

I'm a loser and didn't get ANY pictures of the whole group, but I did snag this as Hayli was leaving.

Sweet Bekah - who threw the shower for me. Such a great friend!

     The second shower was thrown by two of my sister-in-laws. Again, I was overwhelmed with the love and support that was shown to David and I (and our little girl).

Cute, cute candy game.

The spread.

Aunt Kim, Jessica, Sarah, and Grandma Walker

Michelle Flint, Sarah Newbold, and my almost-sister-in-law Kaylee.

I wish we would have thought to take pictures before Kaylee and my Mom left. But here I am with my mother-in-law, Sue, and wonderful sister-in-law's Amy and Wendy.

David was the designated "babysitter" of the day, although I asked him to come and help me open all of the gifts that we received. Aubrey and Jacob loved hanging out with their Uncle David. (He is going to be such a good dad.)

The cutest story from this shower - Jacob had been asking his mom, Wendy, all morning if he could come to the shower. She explained that it wasn't for kids and that he would be playing in the basement with David. He was so, so sad - but she didn't think much of it. About half-way through the shower, my mother-in-law went downstairs for something and Jacob came up to her to ask her a question. In his sweet 5-year old innocence, he asked: "Is Shantel's baby here yet?" The sweet little boy thought that the party was to welcome our baby into the world... quite literally! He was so sad that he wouldn't be able to be there to meet her at her party. We got quite the laugh out of it -but i'll be honest, i'm glad that this little girl decided to wait for a little longer to make her entrance into the world. 

The last "April Shower" is not actually mine - rather, I threw a Bridal Shower for my "almost" sister-in-law Kaylee. We had it at our apartment, and I think that it turned out really well! We are so excited for Jeff and Kaylee, and can't wait to have her in the family. 

The party invitation. Click on it to make it bigger. It was SO fun and full of things unique to them... like the fact that they went rollerblading on their first date. I loved designing it.

Getting things ready.

I decorated with these giant black and white photos from "Lehi Pioneer Party & Copy" - they were SUPER cheap and I loved them. We are definitely getting some of these giant pictures as soon as we get new photos taken of our little girl.

 

Aren't their pictures darling?

Playing a "getting to know the bride and groom" game.

You have to have pictures of the food, right?

Jeff and Kaylee

Picture of the big group.

Opening Presents

I wish I would have gotten a picture like this of my Baby Showers. But here is the whole group. (Don't mind the red faces, it was a little hot in our apartment - due to the swamp cooler not being turned on yet.)

There you have it! A picture-overload... maybe. But some pretty awesome April Showers!

Jelly Beans in my Bed

Dear Blog world,

Welcome to another edition of Blogging with David. It is not as fun as Blogging with Shantel, however, Shantel is very pregnant and as such, can ask for anything she wants... Including a blog post from me. So without further ado... I bring you Jelly Beans in my bed.

First, you need to know that Shantel has to get up before me. She has to be at school at 7:15. Usually I like to be at work early if I can, but that is usually around 8, because often that is the earliest we can be at the client's office.

The other morning I woke up to this.

Two jelly beans in my bed. Seriously. Just laying around...I thought, "What are these jelly beans doing in my bed." Shantel was already gone and I was just baffled as to why there were these jelly beans in my bed.

When I got home from work that night the first thing I asked about was these jelly beans. Turns out, the night before we had climbed into bed, but I had to call my mom back first. So while I was talking to my mom Shantel was snacking on some jelly beans (she is pregnant, she can eat Jelly Beans at 10 PM). She got to the bottom of the bag, and there were just two jelly beans left. Shantel being the kind, sweet wife decided to save the last two jelly beans in the bag for me. So she held the little jelly beans in her hand....and I kept talking....and she held them in her hand....and I kept talking...and her eyes drooped...and she fell asleep and the jelly beans dropped right into our bed. I finished talking to my mom and then turned out the lights. So of course when I woke up in the morning, my wife was gone and there were just two jelly beans sitting there. I am so grateful for a sweet wonderful wife, who saves the last two jelly beans in the bag for me, even if that means they end up in the bed when she falls asleep.

The end.

Also as a side note...we will be having a baby any day now. Like any day. Look at this picture.

Our baby is due in 10 days. So that will be pretty much awesome. Over the last few weeks we have crossed several to do's off our list.

Pack our hospital bag: Check
Baby Bouncer: Check (Thanks to Shantel's Mom)
Stroller/Carseat travel system: Check (Thanks to my mom)
Haircut for me: Check (What? I want to look like a respectable Dad for my baby girl)
Pick out a name for our baby: Check (You will just have to wait for details on that after she comes, we need to keep some suspense, right?)
Lots of baby clothes and things: Check (Thanks to lots of friends and family who were so kind to us)
Last big pre-baby date: Check (We went to The Secret Garden at Hale Center Theater and it was awesome, like amazing awesome, but from now on we will have to find a baby sitter when we go on dates...any volunteers?)
Teaching baby girl about basketball: Check (I explained everything, college, NBA, she should be covered)
Making a 10 day dinner meal plan that may go out the window if we have the baby this week: Check
Stopping by Sonic on Saturday night for 99 cent Mozzarella sticks: Check (Oh sorry, this is not really related to preparing for our baby girl to come...oh well)
Shantel finishing all of her lesson plans: Check (Big Check)
Getting more and more excited every day: Check

The next time we blog...it may be just a random post because baby girl is a week late...or it might be a post about the newest member of the Peaden Family. Stayed tuned next time to The Peaden Life. 

Things I love...

I have lots of things in life that I love. Here are some of them:

(In no particular order.)

1. Having long, shiny, "full of volume and beauty" hair. Those pre-natal vitamins have sure been good to me!

2. Making smoothies for dinner.
3. Wearing Davids extremely large Tennessee Titans shirt. (Pretty much has become my favorite shirt to wear while being pregnant.)

4. David.

5. Celebrating David being done with the CPA exams. Oh, we found out about that three weeks ago? Yeah - we are still celebrating on a regular basis.
6. Trying out names for our little girl. That day was "Payson." I liked it - but there were others who shall not be named that just couldn't get over the P.P. initials. Oh well....

7. Being with David.

8. Deciding to attend "The Tower" Bridal Fair for Red Ladder Design last minute - and being SUPER successful.

9. Being able to watch this handsome boy in action at said Bridal Fair - all day.

10. Waking up on Wednesday mornings to little presents celebrating being one week closer to having our little girl here.

11. Running Saturday errands with David.

12. Having my sisters come and visit/sleepover.
13. Eating cherry-mango popsicle deliciousness.

14. Spending the day with my long-lost Idaho residing sister.
15. Wearing David's Tennessee Titan shirt. (Yes, I love it that much.)

16. Eating homemade chicken alfredo pizza.

17. Finally looking "REALLY" pregnant. 

18. Living the good life with my wonderful husband and sweet baby girl.

What things do YOU love?