BABY SHOWER!!!!!!!!!!

First off I have to say THANK YOU! THANK YOU! to my big sister Jen for putting so much effort and planning to make sure I had a special baby shower! She came all the way out from N Carolina and spent so much time planning it... it turned out so wonderful and it means the world to me to of had such a nice baby shower!!!

I also want to say THANK YOU!!!!!!!! To my great sister in law Laurel for helping Jen!~ She helped to do all the games which turned out so cute and were really alot of fun!!! Thank you Laurel!

YOU GUYS ARE THE GREATEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The luncheon shower was held July 18th 2009 at 1:30 pm at the Cornerview Restaurant in San Luis Obispo..

In attendance were: Charla Hanson, and baby in belly!(he he), Jennifer Bennington- Alex Bennington ( Chris.. he was our master videographer and photographer!)Jeanie Reynolds, Linda Spreafico, Elizabeth Nicholson, Mary Robinson, Sheryl DeGroot, Clover Robinson, Kelly Hanson, Cassie Guillisane,Bonnie Bastian, Libby Hanson, Linda Jackson, Sandra Almaguer, Laurel Hanson, Mary Hysell, Nancy Poe and Lori Threlkel... a great group of gals I'd say!!!!!! I was blessed to have had so many wonderful friends and family join us to celebrate our new upcoming baby boy!!!! Thank you all for coming! Your attendance was so special to me!

We had a lovely lunch menu- that were all printed very nicely with entree choices that went from Butternut Squash Ravioli to Salmon Salad...and a few others in between! We were served bread and raspberry lemonade.. It was done very nice and the way the room was set up it looked great.. the invites, and the table centerpieces and my cake all coordinated- I really liked it!

Next we played shower games... we played the memory game- Laurel passed around a cool train box full of goodies for the baby ( which I got to keep THANK YOU!) and everyone had only a few seconds to check it out then guess from memory what was in it... I think Lori won this one??? Am I right???

Then we played the OH SO FUN..( no it really was!) game of guess how LARGE my baby bump is with yarn... lets just say, some people were not so kind!! MOM! SHe guessed me like over 2-3 feet wider than I really was!! Actually alot of guests did- it was so funny to watch the guesses.. and Nancy guessed me just about exact!!!!! ** Thank you for the kindness!! HAHA!

Then we played the baby food game.. guessing which food each was( boy I blew that one!)

and Cassie won this one...

Then we also had a baby trivia game that had all sorts of fun questions that Clover won..

We visited and took pictures..then I opened presents- THANK YOU all for such wonderful gifts they will be so useful for the new baby and it has been so fun to look at all of them and imagine the baby in them...! Thank you also for the gifts that people sent that could not attend.

The shower lasted a good 3 hrs and was SUPER FUN!!! I was pooped afterwards. It had been such a long week so far.. and I had the reunion in an hour and a half to go to!! This is called burning the candle at both ends for sure!!

.. So I will have to put WAY more pictures up as soon as I get them.....

FRIDAY JULY 17th....

... We were at Grams most of the day.... Jen and Chris and Alex got Dad from the airport and came to Santa Maria.

One of Grams oldest friends Jean Denman came and brought a gift for the baby.. very cute sleepers and blankets.. so we opened a few presents so Gram could enjoy some of it- Aunt Jackie made a beautiful blue quilt and Aunt Jean made some great receiving blankets and sent $20 for the baby too and I had a very nice gift card from Jean Phillips across the street to Babies R Us.. so it was nice that Gram was able to take part..

Around 4 pm.. Bucky, Tanner and I went into SLO and went to Davids for a barbeque- we were a little late but we saw lots of old friends! It was cool, I think Bucky really enjoyed seeing some of them, it had been so long! Most of them had no idea I was pregnant again so it was pretty funny!

Tanner had fun hanging out with the "big guys" and they made him feel like part of the group so it was fun. My Mom came over and hung out with us for a bit too then we went to Music in The Mission it was already going for quite some time.. we met Elizabeth and Anthony there and Bucky and the guys came by.. but tonight is there "Meet and Greet " night so.... Iopted for Tanner and I to skip this part! We met Jen and Chris and Alex too then we went to Fosters Freeze for Icecream then out to Linda and Genes to hang out for awhile... it was great to see them too! Gene showed Tanner all his reloading equipment which he is really facinated by! It was fun ... we ended up having a pretty late night.

It was cool because Mom got to spend time with both her grandkids .. and I know that meant alot to her.

MEETING ALEX!

... On Thurs late morning Jen, Chris and Alex arrived in Santa Maria!!!!!

I was so excited... I had waited nearly 8 months for this!!!! Finally getting to hold Alex!

He was so much cuter than I even expected from the photos.. ! He is so sweet! His expressions are priceless and his smile just melts your heart! He is a beautiful baby and a really good and happy baby.. it was so special to watch my sister with him. Finally. Finally I see such happiness on her face when she is with her son. It makes me happy to see her so happy!

Jen looked great too.. and it was great to see Chris and there new little family!

Bucky and Tanner went in to San Luis for a little while to see Bucks friends- All his buddies were in town and it was great for him to spend some time with them especially after such troopers they had been helping me with Gram the past two days.. needed a breather.. so they saw Brandon and Glen and David and a few others and had pizza and I picked them up later...

Elizabeth and Anthony stopped by Grams and it was so great to see them!! Elizabeth looks so beautiful pregnant and it was fun to get some pregnant pics together!!!!!

*** I will update with more photos after I get them ordered from Snapfish from Jens acct..

Of course this is the week our camera decided not to cooperate!!***

Start of California Trip.....

Okay... Okay.... I know , I know. I have not blogged in TOO LONG. So I will catch up to date....
alot has happened! I will do this in segments... this is segment 1!!

Well we took vacation to go to San Luis Obispo CA to meet Alex and see all the family and for Buckys 20th class reunion and my baby shower!

We got in on Tues am.. July 14th- went out to McClintocks (YUM our favorite) for breakfast with my Mom.. it was great to see her! Then we fooled around went to Motherhood Maternity where Mom got me a couple outfits which was so cool, I needed some new stuff! We got Tanners haircut at Rays Barber shop which is where Bucky used to always get his done- great haircut and just fooled around before waiting for Grams dialysis to get done. We go to Santa Maria and she isnt home yet.. which is odd. I call and no answer on cell or home... went down to dialysis where they reluctantly gave me out the info that she was in the hospital! No one knew she went in that morning. She really gave us a scare- they released her the next day but she wasnt doing well at all- it was hard she had no strength in her legs to get around so it took alot of help( especially on Bucks part) to get her around and into bed- etc etc.. I wont go into all the details here. I am just glad now she is starting to feel better.. and has some health care at home- Jen helped when she came on Thurs and Dad flew in Friday to help. I am just glad we were able to help her and happened to be down to do so.. she did miss the shower which is really sad.. but I am glad for the time spent with her.

I received such a great box in the mail today! Big sissy Jen sent a box full of goodies for us for the baby!! ( I know shes been putting one together for Elizabeth too! :) ) She sent alot of Alex's newborn and 0-3 mo size clothes for us to use.. and did I say ALOT! I am really grateful and excited! And the pic above shows an adorable new outfit she sent for the baby- with a hedgehog design on the overalls, matching beenie and onesie and socks by Janie and Jack.. and her Boppy that she never used.. along with alot of other misc things for me.. incl a few cute maternity tops..
It was a great surprise and super cool to have the stuff for our baby.. thanks Aunt Jen..
Oh yeah and theres a couple presents for Buck and I but he isnt home yet.. so I havent opened them!

25 Week OB Appointment!

Well the appt went really well! My blood pressure was registering 119/78.

And I talked the doctor into doing an ultrasound for me! My cervical length is all good and closed as it should be, plenty of fluid around the baby, and the baby is measuring on the 65th percentile and weighs 1lb 15 oz. They said my estimated due date is more likely around 10/13 rather than 10/22.

I also had my 1 hr glucose tolerance test and I passed, barely , but I still passed. I had it with Tanner so I was pretty sure I would have it this time too.. but its still early so I really should watch the sugar more closely regardless.

I was worried because the blood draw is supposed to be taken 1hr, and the lab tech could not get my blood drawn- she dug and dug (ouch!) and finally got it 20 minutes after she should have so I hope it didnt affect the results, it was 132...

But the baby looks sooo cute in his picture , looks alot like Tanner to me!! I am relieved it went so well and very happy too!

24.5 Weeks and Fourth of July...

Well I am now 6 months along.. will be 25 weeks on Wednesday... this is the most current photograph. The baby's movements are now visible from the outside alot and they are getting stronger and stronger.. he is very active.

We went to our Sunriver house for the Fourth of July it was fun to be home... visited with my parents and went to the Frontier Days festival and then we got a bunch of fireworks and Bucky and Tanner proceeded to put on quite a show with a real big finale... it was a lot of fun!

I have my next appt Wednesday for a regular OB appt and then I go to the lab for the fun gestational diabetes test ( I am sooo looking forward to this one!!) I am getting excited for our trip to California and I finally will be getting to meet my little nephew Alex! Its a busy week but will be worth it when we are off to California next week!