9 Months!

As of today, I am in my ninth month of pregnancy. Very exciting! Jackson is still his feisty, kicky self, pressing his little bum into my ribcage whenever he can. This week, I've dealt with a little bit of insomnia, but I'm still sleeping through the night most of the time, thank goodness. I hear it gets worse as my due date gets closer, so I'm hoping I can get as much rest as possible now while I still can. According to my friends at work, Jackson appears to be dropping a bit. Not completely, but enough that I actually have something of a gap between my breasts and my belly again -- no more built-in Wonderbra. I'm excited to know that he's starting to head in the right direction, so I keep telling him to swim toward the light.

Last Sunday, Kelly, Lisa, and my mom threw a baby shower for me. The Beno and Falardeau families were invited, along with childhood friends. It was a ton of fun... the food was amazing, the games were cute, and the decorations looked adorable. The centerpieces on each table were Little People toys, like a bus and a plane, with flowerpots inserted in them. Jackson now has a lot of cute toys to play with when he's a little older. He received a lot of toys, books, and care items at the shower, along with the travel system. (Yay! Now he can come home from the hospital!) There were some wonderful hand-made gifts as well: Kelly sewed a Winnie The Pooh quilt for him, and Amy knitted several adorable seasonal hats for the next year. It was really fun to see my friends and family and hear about their birth stories and experiences raising their children.

My grandma's former neighbor Joann made a yummy white cake with lemon filling. It seems appropriate, since Joann was actually who made ours and my parent's wedding cakes, too, so she's providing cakes for all our important life events.
My friends from elementary and high school, Kami and Amy, were able to attend. Both are already experienced mommies (Kami has two boys, Ryan and Grant, and Amy has one boy, William) and have great advice to share.








You can see Grandma and Sydney playing baby shower bingo.








Bride-to-be Katie, Debbie and Cathy also fill out their baby shower bingo cards. Another game we played was to identify the name of the baby animal that matched the mom animal. For example, a baby cow is a calf, a baby swan is a cygnet, a baby seal is a pup. Amy, the science teacher, swept that game.
Mom and Kelly's aunt Karen work on their bingo cards.









Mary and Gretchen try to win at Bingo. After spending so much time with Kelly's family as a kid, I feel like the Richmans are part of my family, too.





Here I am opening Kelly's gift. I'm laughing at the adorable hat and mittens set that she gave me -- both are designed to look like a doggy.