Baby shower / torrential downpour

Earlier this month I had the sweetest, loveliest baby shower ever, hosted by the sweetest, loveliest e-bff ever, Jayna, and co-hosted/planned/coordinated by the equally sweet and lovely Bethany and Christy (who was out of town for the shower itself but helped immensely beforehand).

Bethany, Me/theBaby, Jayna

As I get ready to raise a daughter and embrace my inner girly self, Jayna is one of my shining examples: she's feminine and beautiful and domestic and generous and sweet - but also bold and strong and witty and unapologetic and her three daughters mirror those same characteristics. I love being reassured that such a balance is attainable.

The perfect setting for a dainty tea party; Jayna's decor and house is ideal for such a soiree (I almost said shindig there, but it didn't seem classy enough...). 

It was so fun to walk in and see all the gorgeous little touches all around:

Some of the details that need to be highlighted:

Aren't all of the teacups and saucers darling? Jayna and Bethany have collected them (okay, mostly Bethany at Jayna's behest) at thrift stores over the last couple of years and they've been the stuff of magic at several other tea parties - mostly sweet little girl birthday parties :). The plates were amazingly discovered one-by-one by Bethany over the past weeks at local thrift stores; I wish I had gotten more individual pictures of them! (And have I mentioned yet that despite that fact that I've been to her house and read her blog fairly regularly, Bethany and I had only met ONCE previous to this day? And yet she still put this crazy amount of work into my shower? And gave me a gift? And is a stellar example of mothering three boys and one girl?)

So many wonderful women came to support me and baby girl Izatt: (clockwise starting top left) my cousin's wife Stephanie and their oldest daughter Kara (who is now taller than me! Yikes), Kara and Emily (who both took time out of a crazybusy Saturday to be there), Heidi and Courtney (all the way from Utah! more on their trip to come...), Kautri (who has the cutest little baby bump and just found out she's having a girl this fall), Maren (whose constant friendship and support mean soooo much to me), and the amazing Judy and my amazing mom.

Guests who slipped out without being subjected to my camera were: Aunt Iris, Nicole and Paulina, Janna, and Tasha. Sweet ladies who couldn't come but still sent gifts were DeArley, Karlina, Shelly, Christy, Emily  K, Tawny, and Gloria.

Everyone was so thoughtful and generous and this baby girl now has a wardrobe to be envied:

Seriously, so many cute clothes and accessories that I hardly know what to do with them all! In fact, as we discovered at the shower, I honestly don't know what to do with some of them - the gift bag from Nicole and Paulina and Kara included some little pink flowery items that I [naturally] assumed to be headband/bows only to discover they're [allegedly] sandals of some sort. I'm withholding judgment until after the baby comes and Kara shows me how to put them on her, haha.

Adding to the fun of the shower was an awesome 'Hair Bow Bar' where guests could avail themselves of flowers and clips and ribbons and Bethany's expertise to make little adornments for the baby's hair (which if genetics and my ridiculous heartburn are any indication will be plentiful - so I obviously am very appreciative of any and all help in that department I can get!).

After all of the fun, I took my station wagon full o' girliness home and promptly held Chuck hostage until I had unpacked every outfit and onesie and dress and shoe and bow and ruffle for his admiration.

And then in a time honored pattern of mothers and daughters, I channeled my own dear mum and did the exact thing that I had mocked her for like three hours previously: sat and smoothed out and folded tissue paper, hahaha.

Obviously much thanks to Chuck for taking this picture (the three shots previous to this one I was unaware of and are thus more hilarious and even less flattering, haha). 

Thanks again to everyone who has been so supportive and generous as we get ready for this baby! Two and a half weeks to go, yikes! And yay! Equally!