Showered with Love, Cute as a Button

Collins' last shower was hosted by a good friend of mine, Courtney, and my sister-in-law, Sandy.  The theme was "Cute as a Button."  Every detail was amazing, and the food and cake were so good!  Family traveled from near and far and local friends were able to attend as well.  The weather was beautiful, so we were able to enjoy the patio and spend time chatting and opening gifts in the sun.

 

 The beautiful cake by Delightful Bites Cakery.  It was delicious and smelled like pure sugar!

 

Such good food

The guest book, now in her nursery, was signed by all guests and full of sweet messages and well wishes.

 Sweet friends (and my maids of honor) from college, Jill and Courtney

 

Enjoying the patio

 Cute lamb from her Great Aunt Doris, now in her nursery.

 Precious outfit with cute detail

Build a Bear Mouse made by my niece Courtney

Monogrammed polka dot pillow from my Mom, for the nursery

From Granny, Cary's grandmother

Burp Cloths from Diane, Cary's Mom

 And from my Mom, Margaret

 A bib from my Mom...she's called Collins "Sweet Pea" ever since we found out we were expecting!

 

Lots of essentials!

 

 A lamb piggy bank from Aunt Wanda...you know a West child needs a piggy bank!

 

Courtney gave us a Bumbo (and co-hosted the shower)

 

 Cute details

 

Another shot of that cake!  Wow!

 My beautiful hostesses, Sandy and Courtney.  They did an amazing job! I can't thank you enough.

 

 Aunt Gina, Nana, Aunt Nancy, Me and Mom (Aunt Wanda left early to return to Tennessee)

Sorry for the picture overload.  It was hard to narrow them down!

Showered with Love by Our Church Friends

Our church small group threw us a beautiful shower at Stevens Creek Church a couple Saturdays ago. I probably don't write on this blog often enough about how much we love our church.  We have met so many amazing people through Stevens Creek.  It isn't just a place for church services we attend every Sunday but like another home full of awesome Christian friends. 

Since it was a morning shower, they served a yummy brunch.  Look at all of that food!

 Mom-to-be and Grandmothers-to-be

Sweet friends from the church.

Collins' future friends

 

 

Collins received lots of gifts, clothing, and essentials.  

I do love a monogram!

 

Cary made an appearance, too.

 

Thank you to my small group girls for hosting a beautiful shower!  Love y'all. 

Showered with Love by Our Co-workers

Over the past few weeks we have been blessed with showers from friends, family, and co-workers. My co-workers threw Collins her first shower at a local restaurant.  We had a great time and enjoyed a delicious dinner finished with carrot cake.  We even had a diaper cake (which other restaurant patrons thought was a real cake).

 

At Crums on Central with my co-workers

 

Cary's co-workers threw a shower for us over lunch at a fun pizzeria.

 

 

 

Yummy dessert, fit for a little girl's party

 

  

Thank you to all of our co-workers for your support and advice.  We appreciate your generosity and can't wait for you to meet Collins!

36 Weeks

Wow, Collins Jewell will be here in less than one month!  We are so ready to meet her!  I've been having trouble sleeping, waking up every two hours or so.  Guess that's just good practice for when she gets here.  I feel like we've made a lot of progress this week and have checked things off of our list.   But we still need to pack our bags for the hospital, sterilize bottles, and finish the nursery, and probably a million other things my pregnant brain is forgetting!

We had several showers over the past two weeks from family, friends, and coworkers.  I'll post more pics and details in another post, but until then, here's an adorable diaper cake by Alexis.

We have been getting the nursery ready thanks to some help from my parents.  Book shelves were hung this past weekend, and clothing, bibs, and burp cloths were washed and put away.

Look at those proud grandparents, working hard!  Cary and I are thankful for the help.

We've got a few more finishing touches, and then it will be ready for Collins Jewell to arrive!

34 Weeks and Our Registries

You are the size of a pineapple this week and weigh about 4 pounds. I can feel you kicking much more forcefully and your movements are more coordinated. You appear to be sleeping less, and so do I!

Cary and I are taking baby classes at the hospital where we plan to deliver.  It has been informative and put us more at ease for the process of delivering this bundle of joy.  We've toured the entire maternity wing of the hospital and our instructor walked us through each step of what would happen during a delivery....vaginal, C-section, or induction.

We are also working on the nursery more, getting more furniture delivered and trying to add some special touches.  I have a few showers coming up, too, so I am getting excited. 
Everyone has been asking us,"What do you need?" "What do you want?"  Well, definitely check out our registries, and you will find both.
Ultimately, what we want and need are prayers.  Please pray for a healthy pregnancy and a safe delivery.  Please pray for a happy, healthy baby.  Please pray that we can guide her to walk in His way.

Our Registries:
Here is a link to our registry at Buy Buy Baby...Don't forget your coupon :)

Here is the link to Babies "R" Us Registries.  Just enter our information.

31 Weeks, First Masters Tournament

 

Over the past couple of weeks, we've experienced several changes, mostly to our home.  As Masters Week approached, we prepared our home for renting which included converting the future nursery into a bedroom ready for renters.  We also had our front porch and front door re-done and stained and had our master bathroom painted.  Mostly capital home projects that renting helped us accomplish.  This was our first time renting since moving to this home in 2011.  If you aren't from Augusta, the idea of renting your home may sound bizarre, but for locals, it's par for the course this week (pun intended).

We spent the week in Camak, GA with Kelly's parents and drove in each day to work.  It meant less sleep, twin beds, and more time in the car.  The dogs loved it though, having 30 acres to run around, including an adventure one morning chasing a rabbit.

Now that the week is over, converting the room back to a nursery will begin.  We painted the room before Masters but soon a queen bed will be exchanged for a crib and other nursery furniture.  It's been a dry spell of stocking up on diapers but that should start back soon, too.

After 31 weeks, the biggest thing I've noticed is Kelly's fatigue and the effect of high pollen levels.  Though I sleep through the night, she is only able to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep before waking, turning over and trying to get back to sleep.  The work days are more tiresome.  Combine that with the fact that most medicines are off limits, little relief is found.

The pictures below are from the Drive, Chip, and Putt competition, where we were able to go with my brother and his fiance.  Though it was cold, it was an opportunity to see the course earlier in the week and first dibs at the pro shop.

I spent Sunday morning putting our chairs out on Amen Corner, Kelly's favorite spot.  A friend and I spent the morning walking the course and watching some of the first groups play their final round.  Kelly switched with him at lunch and she and I watched the rest of the tournament from Amen Corner.  As Bubba and Spieth came to the tee on 11th, I leaned over and said, Spieth is going to hit it into the water.  As fate would have it, his tee shot landed in Rae's Creek. We were pulling for Bubba and were happy to see him win.