Baby Shower for Miles

Last week, several sweet friends threw me a baby shower for Miles.  I was beyond surprised when they told me they wanted to do this.  I was never expecting to have a shower thrown for us, much less to be blessed by women who have only known us for a few short months.  The whole entire shower, I was filled with overwhelming gratitude for the graciousness that was being shown!!  (sorry for using so many big/serious adjectives)

The hostesses did a great job with decorations, a precious diaper cake, and some yummy food.  There was also a DELICIOUS cake and some personalized sugar cookies that nearly brought me to tears.  You'll see pics of all these things below and I'm sure you'll feel the same way as I did-- they are all sooo CUTE!!!!!  Did I mention they even decorated a Christmas tree with all baby boy ornaments and decorations?  Now, that was clever.  

me and the Hostesses!

I was asked what we needed or wanted for baby Miles, and since we brought EVERYTHING of Gavin's that we owned, there wasn't many suggestions.  However, we did ask for disposable items such as diapers, wipes, and bath stuff.  I think it's safe to say that we won't be purchasing diapers for a LONG TIME.  When I saw the stack of diapers that we received, I couldn't help but laugh, thinking to myself what a nice treat it will be to not go searching for specific diaper sizes.  There were also plenty of gifts for Miles that will come in handy!  He got some cute, cute, cute onesies, pajama outfits, camel rattles, (what else did you expect?), and he even received his first LSU item- a tooth pillow with Mike the Tiger for when he gets older.  

Okay, so there is a really funny story that goes along with this picture...  I'm laughing hysterically because a lady was at my shower, who is from Singapore.  She had never been to a baby "shower" before in her life.  When she received her invitation she asked a few ladies (who are jokesters themselves) what you do at a baby "shower".  They proceeded to tell her that they were all going to "bathe" me.  She was really confused.  They also told her it was required to wear a white t-shirt to the shower.  She was semi- confused, but thought maybe this was a REALLY weird American tradition at baby showers.  Needless to say, they had her going for a while, until she realized it was a joke.  But, she shared her story with us while I was opening her gift- and we all went NUTS listening to her!  We're glad she came-- without a white t-shirt on-- and we're thankful we were able to show her what a real baby shower is like.
 

....And with this picture, you see I'm holding a hat.  It came with a matching pajama outfit in THE.CUTEST.CONTAINER.EVER shaped like a pint of ice cream.  It was called a Pint of Pajamas!  The hat is made to look like ice cream with sprinkles and a cherry on top.  SOOOOO CUTE!!!

There's another picture of me holding a green gun.  One of the ladies thought it would be sweet for Gavin to get a present in the midst of all of Miles' gifts. HE LOVED IT and was very appreciative that he got to open a gift amongst all the bags that came home with us.

There was one "big" baby item that did not make it to Saudi with us and that was our bouncer.  I was shopping with the hostesses a few weeks ago and saw this bouncer and commented on how we needed one.  It was the last present I opened at Miles baby shower.  Now, all we need to do is set it up and it will get A LOT of use from Miles.   Brooks came over to the shower to help with something and got to see all the goodies that we were blessed with!  He had the same reaction he did when he walked into the room from Gavin's baby shower.  It was cute and a priceless memory.  

Just to show you how much we are loved- here are some of the beautiful women that have become a part of our lives over the last few months.  They have also been the ones taking care of us this past week while I've been on bed rest.  Oh yea, haven't mentioned that have I?!?!  The day of my baby shower, I actually started having contractions around 10:15am and they didn't stop until 10:15PM (this was my 3rd episode of contractions in a week).  It was a very long day, one in which I stayed in bed ALL day, except to go to the shower.  There was a car waiting on our compound for us to call and say "let's go to the hospital".  We had packed a bag and were prepared to meet Miles.  We spent a lot of time praying that my contractions would stop and that we wouldn't be meeting Miles that early.  Praise the Lord, they stopped and we didn't go to the hospital- my contractions never became consistent the entire day- they were all over the place.  

After this episode, and being given this information at my previous doctors appointment, Brooks and I decided I needed to go on bed rest for the next 2 weeks, just until I could make it to 36 weeks!  We weren't really sure how bed rest would work, being all the way over here, but God is soooo good! We have meals being cooked and delivered for us every night and in the mornings, different ladies take turns coming and getting Gavin so I can lay down.  Gavin has enjoyed the attention and is loving getting to go to the playground, riding his bike around the compound, and he even got to visit the preschool classroom at the International school and play with the kids.  He watched them put a play on at the school, behaved himself very well, and went to Burger King and got a kids meal.  

It has been a true blessing knowing that he is getting taken care of and is in good hands!  I made it another week and am now 35 weeks.  Our goal is to make it to this Thursday, when I'll be 36 weeks.  At that point, we will feel comfortable welcoming Miles into the world.  However, we're hoping he won't come until closer to his due date, or better yet, once my parent's get here, but we have no control of it and will welcome him when he comes!  

Thank you ladies for a wonderful, memorable shower.  We truly were blessed by all of you and are so grateful and thankful that you are apart of our lives!  Miles Lee Perry is going to feel so loved!