A Fancy Shower

I had my second and final baby shower last weekend and it was so beautiful! I had a marvelous time, and was so incredibly blessed and showered with many useful baby gifts. The shower was decorated in the colors of the nursery - green, pink and orange. They had pink punch that everyone was drinking out of baby bottles (with a straw, not sucking through a nipple), delicious brunch food, and great decorations. So, here are some pics from the event.

The beautiful centerpieces, bottle with punch, and the tablecloths

were all in the colors.

Soon-to-be grandma (still working on what her name will be), and good

friend, Liz watching as I begin opening gifts.

A close-up of Micah and I's baby pictures which were hanging from

the food table's centerpiece.

Grandma "Suzu" (my mom), and I with some adorable baby hats

made by Gigi Graham.

The food table.

Look at the cute tablecloths! I have such great friends, and network of support from my church too that they would all come.

I was definitely standing by the food- it was so good! The centerpiece

decoration was a spray painted branch in orange, with baby picture of Micah and I, and baby accessories hanging from it, like bibs, spoons, teething rings, pacifiers...

It was such a fun morning, and an incredibly memorable event and welcome to the world for Daisy. Thanks to everyone who was able to come and for all the amazing and helpful gifts! This is one loved little girl that is about to be born.

Daisy's Coming Home Outfit

I finally picked it out. Micah and I went to Wal-Mart last night for a few random things and for the first time I let myself wander around the baby clothes. I saw the cutest little red and white dress so I couldn't resist (not to mention it was $3)! I decided this is what I am going to pack to bring to the hospital to bring Daisy home in- it is cotton, summery, girly, good for photos, has a bow and ruffles to make it a little fancy, and I would think comfortable. So, here it is:

Now, I am just looking forward to seeing Daisy in it!

"Asking Our Kids to be a mini Jesus"

In light of our impending start to parenthood, my husband sent this blog entry to me. It is a blog entry from Stuff Christians Like. You can read more funny, witty, interesting, entries here, but I have also copied this specific entry below:

A lady I work with once enlightened me, “You just wait until you have kids.” I’m not sure what she thought would magically happen the instant I became a father, but it didn’t (apparently). I know this because at the time she uttered her prophetic words to me, I already had two kids… precisely twice as many as she had.

My guess is she thought having kids would make me more wise, more mature, more patient… more something. She had an expectation about what parenthood would change about life. A lot of Christians do too. And it’s not insignificant:

We think the birth of our children will reveal to us the very face of God.

While you might not use those exact words, at some point, someone in your Christian circle of friends has said one of the following things to you:

“I really didn’t know God until I had kids.”

“When I became a father, I finally understood how hard it was for God to send Christ to the cross.”

“Being a mother—witnessing the miracle of life—radically changed my understanding of God’s love.”

There’s a million ways to express “Kids = Big Faith.” And if you’re single or childless, there has to be a part of you that thinks, “Fantastic! The missing link in my faith is having a kid. I have zero kids and zero prospects. I’ll just be over here with my small, incomplete faith. Awesome.”

Good news. It’s not true. Bad news? It also is. On some level, having a kid can show you God’s miraculous love. Some Bible verses support this notion that having a kid puts faith into a unique context. “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11) That verse makes more sense if you’re seeing it unfold in your own child’s life.

However, we also way over-amplify what we expect our children to do for our faith. I personally have (many times) essentially said to my children, “OK, dad had a really bad day at work. Tonight I need you to show me God’s perfect and true love. I know you’re only two, but Daddy needs you to reconnect him in his relationship with Yahweh. Is that cool with you? You’re drooling. I’ll accept that as an emphatic yes.”

Those nights typically also coincide with the times my kids try to break me down like little terrorists. Fits are thrown, fights erupt, demands are made. The most menial tasks incite battle cries: “I do myself, I do myself!” One would assume applying the toothpaste to your child’s toothbrush when they want to do it themselves is not a cry-worthy, scream-inducing offense, but you’d be gravely mistaken.

Does God show up in parenthood? I sure hope so. Are kids a walking, talking daily reminder of Jesus? Not always. And if you go into parenthood expecting that, you’ll be sorely disappointed… or at the bare minimum, covered with pink bubble gum-flavored princess toothpaste.

A Quick Punctuation Apology

So, in the last four posts, please ignore missing words, duplicate wording, or random and incorrect punctuation. That is all because I created those late at night, my computer was working slowly, was super tired...so, all that to say I did not proof read a SINGLE one until today and I noticed all the many errors. So, I realize it is terribly un-fancy, but please ignore those and just remember the frills that are on my heart for you and this blog.

Handmade Gifts

There were a few gifts from the shower that were hand-made, so I feel they deserve a special mention; especially since I dream of being crafty but just don't usually have the . My friend, co-worker's wife, and fellow blogger, Kristena Derrick is queen of home-made cuteness and she once again proved her royalty. She crocheted black booties, made a fabric daisy on a onesie, and sewed three adorable denim reversible bibs! Visit her blog to see all the creative things she creates by clicking here. But, here is a taste of her creations:



Not to be outdone, by any means, my mother-in-law had the genius creative idea of making "Daisy's First Little Black Dress." My mother-in-law and sister-in-law are both very fashion conscious which I love about them. Well, her creation was met with plenty of "oohs and ahhs" at this creation. She hand-made this out of black satin, and created matching black satin bloomers too. She purchased the pink shrug to go with it to break up the black in case it was too much black; but really, it was just so adorable and unbelievably thoughtful too. She has actually been thinking about turning this into a business, and I am already ready to order some for friends. So, if any of you are interested in getting a baby's first "little black dress" just let me know and I will be happy to arrange that for you! I have already decided that Daisy will wear this for Dane and Megan's wedding in September when we go to Europe.
Excuse the poor image quality, not sure how Micah takes such great pictures, mine always turn out a bit funny.

One more shower coming up! I will be sure to post pictures from that one too! Thanks to all my friends and family who have been so generous in their time, creativity and support for me and my growing family!

My First Baby Shower!

I had my very first baby shower this past weekend! It was sooo wonderful; our friends worked so hard to make it a beautiful and memorable event for us. We truly were so spoiled by everyone with the generous gifts too. We of course got lots of girly outfits because they are so hard to resist buying and we got a few of the items we really need too. I have one more shower later in June and then that's it! The rest is up to us!
Some of the decorations and desserts. They also had onesies for people to sign and write funny messages on. The cakes were from Ludgers; one said Daisy Barnard, and the others had her initials. Yummy!

Yes, this onesie says "ipood", not "ipod"! Too funny.

Mom and Dad to be! notice the big posters on my side on the garage? They used those for the invitations too. The colors were pink and black; even the black dog had a pink ribbon!
They had some beer to give a "man section" to the party, however, it was quickly girlified by the ribbon that was added that says, "it's a girl!"
Notice all the pink, white and chocolate colored desserts? Everything was in those colors! Really, it was beautiful!

32 weeks!

Well, I have made it to 32 weeks, and now only a little over 7 weeks left! I thought I would give you a quick snapshot of what me at 32 weeks looks like. Don't scream, well, actually feel free since most likely I am not next to you, just don't tell me you did.