Our Baby Shower

Wow. Thank you doesn't even begin to tell people what I feel in terms of gratitude for the shower that was given in our honor this past weekend. I was SO completely overwhelmed by how much was going into the shower and how many people wanted to help put it together, I was literally shaking and burst into tears when I got to my mom's condo before heading over to the clubhouse with Megan. And yep, I cried afterwards, too. It was just SO wonderful! I think it probably doesn't help that my hormones are on over-drive... ha!

Anyways, the shower was held this past Sunday, October 25th at the Dancing Willows Clubhouse (the clubhouse at my parents' condo complex). It was a big gorgeous room with a huge fireplace and a great big granite island covered in delicious grub. There was a table right as you entered the clubhouse with a huge and fabulous gDiaper "cake", my belly journal for browsing, and the baby book that Emilia got me, so that people could sign it. :) The other 3 tables were covered in scrapbooking goodness. At first I didn't understand what was going on, but then learned that throughout the shower the gals would be working on each making one page for a scrapbook for Baby Willi. Each gal chose a theme that they think represents us or our growing family, and made a page that will later be populated by pictures we take with the new addition! It was an AMAZING idea! How clever! I loved it!!!!

Then, we were literally "showered" with gifts... we got SO much good stuff! Diapers, wipes, butt-cream, strollers, rocker, cradle, sheets, bedding, stuffed animals, onesies, snug-sacks, books and even WINE!!!

If you want to see pictures from the shower itself, I hope to get some from Aunt Peggy tomorrow, but in the meantime, my friend Carmine posted some wonderful ones on her blog, so feel free to browse The Heilig Family Journey for those!

Here are some pictures once we got the goods back to our house and started putting things into the empty nursery...

The no longer empty bookcase:


The cradle that I was lulled to sleep in as a newborn, fixed up and ready to go, along with the rocking chair I was fed in as a newborn, with a fabulous newly upholstered cushiony set up:


The stained glass that Ryan's mom was given at HIS baby shower, now hanging on our belly-dweller's door:


And some wall art we got from my mum:



A BIG HUGE Thank You goes out to EVERYONE who contributed to our growing family, but especially to the following gals who planned and executed such an AMAZING, thoughtful, and creative shower: Grandma-to-be-Terry, Grandma-to-be-Mary, Auntie-to-be-Meg, Carmine, Nichole, Alicia, and Anna... and thank you also to Peggy who flew out from Florida to be with us! Also, I must thank Elisa for helping me register, without her, all I would have had on my registry was Mortimer the Moose. :)

Also, my mum DROVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY for this shower... she drove out to bring us the cradle and rocker, among other things, and then just this morning is flying back. I will miss having her around! We did lots of fun nesting projects and just had a wonderful time together. I look forward to lots of quality time during my maternity leave as well. It's nice to know she'll be coming back in a mere 2 months, almost to the day, to be here for the birth of Baby Willi! Thank you mum! Love you bunches!

As always, I've updated the Dward Family Shutterfly page with new belly pictures... so enjoy those as well!

Anyways, we are so full of love and gratitude from our shower and know we have all the support we need as we approach the last 10 weeks of our pregnancy... so thank you to everyone, we love you all!
~Ryan, Alli & Baby Willi~

28 weeks... The 3rd Trimester... YAY!

Well hello! Yes, it's been a while! No news is good news, right? :)

So we had our 28 week OB appointment last Friday, October 9th, and everything seems to be healthy! Hooray! My BP is fabulous, and let's not talk about my weight gain, with the exception of saying that the doctor and nurse both told me separately that I'm doing great. Phew! The mystery baby's heartrate is in the low 140s at this point, so when Dr. Gibson threw her guess into the baby-gender-pool, she guessed Team Pink. So we'll see!

This doc visit was also the big Glucose Tolerance Test visit... whoppee! It meant peeing in a cup, then guzzling a sugary cocktail and then waiting for an hour and then having blood drawn to compare glucose levels. I passed! Hooray! Excellent. Must be all that candy corn training I do... I scoff at their tolerance test, gimme a real challenge people. ;) Sure, it was nasty, but after my sugar coma passed, I was ready to finish off some festive Brach's Pumpkins... bring it on. HA!

Other baby news? Well, let's see now... we've started to receive gifts from people who won't be able to join us for the shower next weekend, so that's always exciting! And we also placed our order at Direct Buy for the car seat, extra base, crib, dresser and mattress. And already the car seat, extra base and mattress have arrived here at the house! Very exciting. The nursery is very empty right now, I can't wait for the arrival of my mum on Wednesday (the 21st) with the cradle and rocking chair, and for the arrival of the crib and dresser so we can really get this party started!

Last week I got to spend time with my fabulous old friend Emilia and her newborn, Lucia Rose, who is just a DOLL. So amazing to think how far we've come since we met... oh boy, maybe I shouldn't relive my college memories on this "family friendly" blog... but let's just say, we're a long way from St. Mary's College right now, both married and moms (or moms-to-be!)!!! Crazy-talk. But her husband agreed that we're still the same 2 girls... giggly and silly as ever.

Other family news? Randy (Ryan's Dad) started his chemo treatment this week, on Monday, and seems to be doing pretty well with it. I believe he has his next treatment this coming Monday, so that might be a bit tougher, being the 2nd round right on top of the 1st. And then I think he has a week off for recovery before another 2 rounds back-to-back again. So all seems well right now on that front, we'll keep you posted as he gets further along in his treatments.

Well, I'll leave you with a picture of me at 28 weeks... oy vey! Look at that belly!!! :)


best as always,
*alliwilli