Showered

      

What an incredible weekend. I’m still reeling, trying to find a some time to process the events of the last few days, its been such a happy whirlwind.

I knew that my dad was driving out to finish working on the baby cradle, but when he stopped by my work when he got into town, he brought a stowaway with him – my little sister Lizzie!

I was SO HAPPY to see her! She lives a province away and  I wasn’t expecting her to be able to make it – so much has happened since I last saw her and it was amazing to see her and hug her and simply have her here.

(Also amazing? Her cooking. The cooking gene skipped me but seemed to double up on Lizzie, and we’ve been reaping the benefits of her culinary talents all weekend. Adam tried to hire her as a personal chef but she’s waaaay out of our price range.)

That was one piece of the amazingness. The other was two MORE sister surprises! Adam snuck down to the city on Saturday night and picked up my two youngest sisters so they could spend the night with us rather than just coming up for a few hours during the day on Sunday.

This was a stroke of absolute genius, and although I always get a bit twitchy when the anarchy descends en masse, it is always so much fun to have them take over our house. (Although all of this visiting is making me realize that we really need a bigger place – preferably one that can house all of them at once so they never have to leave.)

        

This is what it looked like for most of Saturday night and much of Sunday – wall to wall clothing, a giant blow-up bed bed taking up my living room and 3 out of 4 sisters playing strip poker (whaaa?) with Adam into the wee hours.

      

(Fortunately my sisters wear lots of layers and jewelry. Also fortunately, Adam started winning again shortly after he lost a few hands and his shirt[s].)

And then Sunday, SUNDAY! Sunday a wonderful friend named Saren (Hi Saren!) threw me a baby shower. None of my close friends have babies yet so this was my first baby shower ever. I didn’t know quite what to expect, but I was absolutely blown away by how much time, effort and love got crammed into just four or five hours.

        

                          (Mawney, Claire, me, Lizzie, Hilary…all of the sisters!)

There’s no way to say this without being cheesy, so I’m just going to go for it on this one (I’m 9 months pregnant, if I can’t get emotional now, when can I?): Sitting in that room full of people who had taken time out of their weekends to come to this party – the majority of them traveling huge distances to get there (including my mom and my friend Celene who came over from the Island, plus Adam’s family who made an 8 hour round trip just for the baby shower!) – it was overwhelming.

      

(Adam, me, our nephew, Adam’s dad, Scott,  & mom, Cathy, his older sister Christine, and our niece)

I just couldn’t believe that so many people put in so much time and effort to make such a special day for us- all of it to celebrate our little family. I kept reflecting on how incredibly lucky this baby is – it’s not even here yet, but it’s already so welcomed, and so loved. It was a lot to take in.

And then, just as quickly as they came, everyone left. I woke up early this morning to see off our last guests (Lizzie and my dad), and now my house feels huge and empty, if a bit disheveled.

I thought I had an IV this morning so I got all dressed and packed a bag with snacks and books and thank you notes to complete over the course of the 5 hour drip, only to discover that it’s not until tomorrow, so now I just sitting here in the middle of this too-quiet house, thinking, thinking.

(I seriously wish my brain had an off switch sometimes.)

How did we get so lucky?

      

Saren even made a beer cake for Adam! I think this was his favorite part. At least until this happened: