April Showers Bring A May Flower

In this case, I'm talking about a Baby Shower for my brother and sister-in-law. As most of you know, my brother (Todd) and sister-in-law (Erin) are due with their first child just 4 weeks before Baby Murphy is set to arrive.

Caty and I traveled south to Visalia (45 minutes south of Fresno) for the shower, which was on Saturday, April 3rd. Todd and Erin live in San Diego, but Erin grew up in Visalia and her parents still live there. We headed out of Sacramento early Saturday morning, around 7:30 and met up with my parents 3 hours into the 4 hour drive. My mom took over driving Caty and I hopped in with my dad, getting some much needed quiet time and rest from driving. If I'm in the car too long, my feet start swelling; never a fun thing. We arrived at the Buhl household around noon and had an hour until the shower started. Todd and Erin showed up shortly after we got there. It was wonderful seeing them, as the last time we were together was a Christmas. We got ready and headed over to the Mexican restaurant that the shower was being held at.

We had a great time at the shower - Caty even won a prize. There were a few games - one of them for the kids (Caty and Erin's other nieces and nephew). They had to guess how many pink safety pins were in the bottle. Alyssa (10) and Brogan (7 or 8) both guessed over 300, Sydney (almost 3) guessed 1 and Caty guessed 7. There were 100 and something; since Alyssa and Brogan went over, Caty, with her guess of 7 got the closest! She won an Easter basket filled with crafts - she's been having fun with it all week. Todd and Erin got so many wonderful gifts; their car (a Chevy Tahoe) was packed!

Comparing Bellies - I'm just a few days shy of 30 weeks and Erin is just about 34 weeks

Caty with Auntie Erin and Uncle Todd

Caty wearing the hat that Erin was supposed to be wearing, thanks to Erin's mom - not quite Erin's style, suits Caty much better
Caty wearing Uncle Todd's pin - another thing more suitable to Caty

Caty and Uncle Todd
Helping open the presents
Caty's present to Riley - a cute dress with a bumblebee, a sippy cup with Riley's name on it and a few books
My mom's present - handmade by Nana

We headed back to the house. Also there, was Erin's sister, Amy and her fiance Spencer, and some friends from San Diego that made the drive up, Jacque and her boyfriend Norm. Karen cooked us a delicious roast for dinner. We hung out for the evening and had a great time. My mom took the seat next to me on the couch so she could feel Baby Murphy moving around. She was so excited when she finally felt her move. Baby-to-be isn't very active during the day, but once I finally sit down in the evening to relax, that's when she decides it's time to move around. All the times that we have seen my parents, it's during the day, so my mom hasn't had the chance to feel her. And while I was pregnant with Caitlyn, my mom never felt her move. Thinking back on being pregnant with Caty, I didn't feel her move as much as this one - possibly because of the extra amniotic fluid or because her limbs are shorter and she didn't push as much. Who knows. Anyways, it was a great experience for my mom.

Sunday morning Caitlyn, unfortunately, woke up around 6:30 and came into my room. She had slept in their office, which was nice, so I could get some sleep myself. At home, she has a digital clock in her room, and has to wait until 7:00 until she can get up. Unfortunately in the office there wasn't one, so when she came into my room, she asked, "what time is it?" She laid in bed with me until 7:00, then we got up and since everyone else was still sleeping, we got dressed and packed up our things. Amy and Spencer were sleeping in the living room, so that was off limits. Caty was getting pretty impatient waiting in the room, but around 8:15 my parents came in - they had spent the night in the RV. Finally around 8:45 we heard movement in the living room, maybe it was because my mom went into the kitchen and started the coffee pot, so we emerged from the room. We had a yummy breakfast, complete with quiche, bacon, biscuits and fruit. Caty and I hit the road around 10:45 with one planned stop on the way home.

I'd have to say, maybe 2 years ago, I met a family on MySpace, the Heuer's, who live in Fresno. David and Shannon are parents to Sienne, who is now 3 years old. We finally met in person back in September of 2007 at an LPA event, which they made the drive up for. We haven't seen each other since then, but have been in touch on both MySpace and Facebook. So when I knew about the shower being in Visalia, just 45 minutes south of Fresno, I let them know and we made a playdate for Sunday, on our way home. We arrived at their house and spent about 2 hours there. Sienna was all into sharing everything - her toys, flashcards, even her chicken nuggets, but Caitlyn wasn't in the mood to accept the offers. I'm not sure what was up with her as she usually taking things that are offered, okay, so maybe not someone else's chicken nuggets, but toys - definitely! We had a great time and I got some cute pictures of the girls together. Around 1:45 we hit the road again - with one more stop just up the road for some lunch. We FINALLY made it home around 5:30 - WHAT A LONG DAY!

Caty and Sienna, in September of 2007

Together again!

What a wonderful weekend we had!