I’m not usually up drafting posts at 3:48 on a Monday morning, but pregnancy does very weird things to your internal clock. For several weeks, I had been sleeping so well, but for the last four or five nights I’ve been awake for several hours in middle of the night. Baby likes to crawl way up underneath my ribs when I’m sleeping and it causes the worst heart burn. I always wake up feeling like I’m going to be sick and Josh fusses because I refuse to take Tums. I’m not convinced anything would help at this point — I just feel gross because there is no room left inside this body! I was planning to share these photos later in the week, but I’m currently waiting on a pot of coffee to brew and making a grocery list for tomorrow, so this seems like the perfect time to get a post up.
I think baby shower etiquette probably varies by region, but here in the south people take those things very seriously. I remember knowing with Ella that I would have a huge baby shower — I did, there were well over a hundred people there and we had so many gifts! — and with Sophie I already had everything I needed, so any gifts we received were delivered during a hospital or postpartum visit. I’m honestly not sure what the protocol is for having babies almost ten years later, but the fact was — we had no baby items left. I got rid of most things several years ago and purged what was left when we moved. Aside from a few keepsake items in the girls’ memory boxes, our baby supplies were down right depressing.
We have been so blessed by our friends and family this year. They have all rallied around to pray for us and take such good care of us when I wasn’t feeling well, needed help around the house, or just needed to fall apart a little. I was so grateful to each and every one of them and completely overwhelmed when three different groups of my favorite people offered to throw us a little sprinkle. I used that word on Instagram a few weeks ago and got so many questions about it! Maybe that’s a southern thing, too, but since the big baby party is often called a shower, having a much smaller one is called a sprinkle. Personally, I think it’s kind of adorable. Here is a peek into three different parties that we’ve enjoyed over the last month and so many people who mean the world to me!
Small Group Baby Shower | I have been attending a small group Bible study for right at a year and these ladies have changed my life. This is not an exaggeration in the least — they have prayed over me, helped me embrace some pretty uncomfortable (to me) spiritual situations, to be vulnerable with what is really going on in my life, and to insert myself into an already comfortable friend group, who welcomed me with open arms. I’m not sure what I would have done without them last year and I had the best time being celebrated at our last summer session.
Friends + Family Poolside Sprinkle | I shared a few photos of this party on Instagram last weekend, but my mom, sister and closest friends surprised me with a little party in our backyard last weekend and I was none the wiser! They asked me at the beginning of the summer if we could have a small party to celebrate and help stock up on some necessities, but they wanted the details to be a surprise and so I’ve not thought much about it since then. My mom told me she was having some friends over for an early supper and wanted me to join them and since it was HOT as blue blazes outside, I never even looked out the window after church. I was so surprised to walk out to the pool that afternoon and find all of my favorites with big grins on their faces! It was one of my favorite days this summer.
Dance Moms’ Fiesta | I’ve told y’all this before, but I couldn’t be happier with the group of girls my Ella does life with and their moms are just as fantastic. We’ve all grown up in the dance world together and they are one of my closest groups of friends. We don’t see much of each other in the summer and now that our girls are older and we’re those drive-thru drop-off moms, we don’t get much real conversation outside of competition season. They asked if they could take us out for Mexican food before the baby arrived and they were so so good to us! We celebrated with tacos, gift cards to finish out my registry, and the sweetest survival kits for the girls (think rubber gloves, earplugs, and clothes pins for their noses!).
There have been several times in my life where I felt friendless and abandoned, but this is not one of those times. I know that God placed me with these groups of people for all of the best reasons and I could not be more blessed by their friendships. This has been an overwhelming year — full of worry, transition, and unknowns — but I have never felt more supported and surrounded by people who love and care about me and I can’t wait for this sweet babe to know all of that love for them, too. THANK YOU, friends!
