34 week photos and baby shower (more pictures to come)

Here are pics of Meg's 34 week belly! Avery is a cantaloupe! She is 4.75 lbs and almost 18 inches!

Today was our "surprise" baby shower. I hate surprises, so I made it my mission to find out the official date. While some may say that I guessed all of the weekends prior to this weekend, I can ensure you that we knew!

Before I get into the details, here is a picture of the inside of the invitation:

It said, "A is for Avery and she's on her way. Join us in celebrating at a surprise baby shower honoring Megan and Jen."

When we pulled up to the house, there were balloons hanging on the mailbox and pink bows all around the front porch. We were greeted by a pink wreath with a letter "A" in the center (It's now hanging on our front door!)

When we walked into the house, it was unbelievably overwhelming (and we arrived before most of the guests!)

The decorations were amazing! The theme was "ABC garden." That's right...there was a theme! There were centerpieces made of tissue paper flowers (and diapers wrapped around the base) and photos (taken by one of our friends) symbolizing letters of the alphabet (ex. "E" was a picture of an elephant). Some centerpieces even had photos of Meg and I throughout the pregnancy.

There were banners scattered throughout the house (not the cheesy banners you can buy at a store that say, "It's a girl," but rather homemade letters specifying the designated areas ("yummy" hung from the kitchen chandelier above the food, "We love you" hung from the upstairs banister, "Congratulation" flags hung on the fireplace mantel, and above the TV hung a banner with our names.)

There was a basket for books when you walked in the door with a giant letter B and a cute instruction sheet.

There was a hot pink/neon green basketball to sign for our future star.

There was a giant letter F for the basket containing forks (and other silverware).

There was a giant letter S for the sweets table (guests could make their own pink candy gift bags before they left)

There was a giant letter M for Menu on the kitchen buffet. They even made pink "Princess Punch" (it doesn't look pink in the picture)

There was even a watermelon carved into a baby carriage, complete with fruit salad and an orange sucking on a pacifier! (my cousin is pretty talented)

There was a clothesline hanging across the living room with onesies/outfits from special people in our lives (for Avery). Several of the outfits were mine when I was a baby! (that made me cry!)

My mom and my best friend, "Aunt Trish", worked very hard to mail out invitations, put together decorations, organize food, set up games, and delegate tasks to their elves (our closest friends arrived early this morning to help with final touches and a few of my family members were also put to work!)

I wish I had more pictures to post because words cannot even begin to describe how perfect this shower really was! For now, this should give you an idea...I'll post more when I get them from our personal photographer (aka Aunt Paff)

One more thing...I told you that I hate surprises, but I forgot to mention that Meg is very good at keeping them. She surprised me with a poem titled, "Avery's Choice" today. I wish I had time to type it out to you because it was absolutely beautiful (and yes, it also made me cry!) but essentially it just said that in all the time Meg and I spent planning our family and loving Avery she was busy choosing me.  

As I sit here with water filled eyes I can't help, but feel so grateful to be part of something so wonderful. I cannot wait to share my life with two beautiful girls! Megan, I absolutely love you. Thank you for making me feel so special (today and every day!)

Thank you to everyone who made today special (and to those who helped pack and unpack our cars!). I love you all and I will never forget it! Avery is one very lucky little girl!