Baby Shower!!

This post is sending out mad love to my sister-in-law, Clare, who threw me an amazing baby shower on Saturday!  Clare has always been one for throwing a good party but she showed some new skills with the baby shower, making it truly a day to remember.  There were games, amazing food and some delish homemade delights.  She was even thoughtful enough to incorporate my friends from back-home with the game 'born in the USA' where I had to match the name with the baby photo.  Too bad I didn't even recognise my own baby photo!

Here are some highlights from the day:

A shot of Rob and I before sending the boys off to play golf.

Clare instructing me on how to play 'Born in the USA'

Boo's Baby shower!!  How cute!

Katie playing 'find the pin in the rice'

Not a proper baby shower unless you make the guests chug vodka from a baby bottle...

...and then make the boys replenish from a hard day on the golf course in the same way!

In addition to all the fun organised by Clare, baby boo also got some awesome gifts!  I honestly feel like we are so lucky to have such fantastic friends and family.  As soon as we got home I went straight to work on setting up the nursery with the new gear:

Kelly gave boo a bouquet of 'flowers' made of onesies, muslin cloths, socks and mittens!  I love it so much I don't want to take it apart!

The mobile is from Clare and fits in the nursery perfectly!!

In addition to the photos above, baby boo got loads of other stuff.  Too much to name in fact but I would like to send a big THANK YOU to everyone who came and made the day so special.  It's so hard to be away from my friends and family in the US and to have such a lovely group of people around us makes everything so much easier.  Boo certainly is one lucky little dude.

Boo's New Gear

This week was a big one in the run up to the arrival!  The first bit of excitement happened when Boo's furniture arrived!  It feels like we've been waiting AGES for it and were quite excited when it arrived on Wednesday.  It looks AMAZING!!  Don't ya think?

The nursery isn't what I'd call complete but with most of the furniture we've got a good start.  Still need to get the feeding chair, figure out what we are doing on the walls and give the shelves some sprucing up.  Luckily we have around 5 weeks before d-day to sort out those details.

The next big event was to pick up our new car!  Now you must consider how exciting this purchase is when I've lived the last 12 years with no car!!  And Rob has never owned a car of his own, besides the Ford KA he bought a few months back.  So it's safe to say that this is a major milestone in our life.  And not only did we get a car, but I was able to convince Robert that we deserve a nice car, a BMW in fact :)  Now I've wanted a BMW for a long time but if you read my previous post, Rob was pretty much anit-BMW...until he took a test drive.  That was a defining moment and after that TD Rob was a definite convert.  So now it's official, we are the proud owners of a 'beemer' and we LOVE IT!

 

Who's the daddy?

After our 32-week scan today I can certainly confirm that Rob is the daddy of baby boo!  I know you might think i'm crazy but just look at this picture and tell me you don't see Rob???

I see Rob's pointy (although very straight!) nose and his mouth as well.  Baby boo looks just like him!  And aside from the way he looks, he's all very well and healthy.  Moving around as always and all measurements indicate he's right on target with growth.  In fact, he now weighs 3 lbs and 14 ozs so right on track.

I also got a little surprise from a friend at work (thanks Alison!!).  She found this little set of baby skincare items and just couldn't pass it by, can you guess why?  I just adore this little pressie!!

In other VERY exciting news we've put a hold payment down on a new car!  I don't want to say it out loud for fear of jinxing it but i'm hoping this is a safe place...by this time next week we may just be the proud owners of a 2009 BMW 318d!!!!  I think we are both pretty excited!  Despite Rob being quite skeptical about buying a beemer, once he got behind the wheel he swiftly changed his mind.  It was quite amusing in fact to watch...for someone who had been trying to convince me we should buy a Ford Focus (gag) for the last couple of months, he couldn't fight the desire after feeling that sport steering wheel and the power of the 318 diesel engine pushing him down the road.  I think it's safe to say he fell in love :)  So fingers crossed nothing goes wrong with the deal and we actually get our hands on this beast very, very soon. 

31 Weeks

Thought i'd give a visual update on baby boo so everyone can see how big the bump has gotten.  From the front i appear quite normal...but from the side it's a very, very different story:

I'd say the bump is coming along nicely and boo is certainly not lazy - he moves almost constantly but it doesn't seem like he kicks, it's more like somersaults.  It's really fantastic and a little bit weird to feel him move around so much.

We also heard from Mamas and Papas and are expecting the nursery furniture to be here in the next couple of weeks.  They certainly take their sweet time but it's at least something big to look forward to.  I can't wait to actually set-up the nursery!!  Not long now...five weeks of work and eight until d-day.  We better get our butts in gear!!

A trendy boo

Weekends have certainly taken on a new meaning these days - it's all about shopping for boo!  Everyone keeps telling me to stop buying stuff as we will get lots of gifts but i can't help myself.  I see things we need for little boo and i can't pass them by.  This weekend was certainly no different but instead of practical things like monitors, sterilisers and breast pumps we've ended up with some of the cutest outfits i've ever seen for a little boy boo:

Now I realise jeans may not be super practical for a baby in the under 3 month age group but how adorable??!  And I do realise he will grow quickly but they were just so darn cute!  I even remember being concerned that they don't make boys clothes as cute as girls clothes but i gotta say, these glad rags have made me change my opinion on that one!  This little boo is gonna be one trendy boo!  You can count on that!!

The bee!!!

We picked up our pram today and i'm SO excited about it.  After a lot of  research into different types, styles, etc. and reading review after review, we finally decided on the bugaboo bee.  Now most people hear 'bugaboo' and think one thing: expensive.  But i can't believe what a great deal we got on the pram, the cocoon, footmuff plus the car seat and adaptable base.  We got a steal!  And i'm so pleased with our choice!  I've seen loads of mothers wandering around islington with the bee and every time i see it i get more excited.  How fantastic we've finally got ours, check it out:

From the side, with Jenn's friend mr. elephant going for a ride :)

 And with the sun canopy up:

We also paid a visit to Mothercare today to pick up some essentials and ended up with our bedding and changing mat.  After a ton of searching (are you starting to notice a trend?), i finally decided on the baby k range from mothercare as i think it's quite cute and little bit cheeky:

Now all we need is to get our furniture delivered and we'll be able to start finalising things - i just want somewhere to put everything instead of a half put together room.  We should be arranging a delivery date with our supplier next week so hopefully within a few weeks we'll have a fully functioning nursery!  Then it's on to the long list of other stuff we need before little boo arrives.  Only 11 weeks to go!  It's starting to scare me how close it is - eeek!!

28 Weeks

Time is flying by!  We are already 28 weeks and it seems so much is changing.  Boo is kicking up a storm constantly - in fact i have started to see his movements through my shirt which is simply amazing.  I can feel him almost all the time but Rob has only had a few instances where he's caught a feel and he still hasn't seen anything.  We had a 28-week scan this week and everything is good - he's growing at the right pace and already weights 2 lbs + 7 ozs.  At this rate, assuming he comes around his due date, we are looking at a 7 lb baby which is aok by me!  Here is a photo of baby and one of momma at 28 weeks: