Carter's showering Baby Carter

I apologize in advance for baby shower post overload!!  This past week we have had our last 2 wonderful baby showers and then we are showering Baby Calcara this weekend - so lots of showers, lots of friends and lots of fun!!!

First up was the Carter family baby shower!  My wonderful sister-in-laws threw such a great shower that was so fun on Saturday afternoon.  While we see each other pretty regularly, it was so great to see the rest of the Carter clan that could make it, which included Jimmy's aunts and cousins.  We haven't seen most of them since Bobby and Hillary's wedding, which was a year and a half ago!!

The decorations were so freaking cute and went along with the very cute invite that was sent out.  The cake was pretty much to die for - lemon with a delicious frosting.  I love lemon, especially during the summer!! The blocks by the cake are so cute - the writing says "When I grow up, I want to be like my daddy".

Shellie (and Libbie I'm sure) put together all the really cute banners!  After some mingling and catching up, we started with a really delicious lunch that was chicken salad sandwiches, a really good spinach salad, couscous (which was awesome!!) and of course, cake and cookies.  I have to say that Baby Carter was very happy and full with the meal, so it was a success.  Then the game started, which was everyone had to cut a ribbon to guess how big my stomach is.  Was pretty funny to see everyone measuring versus their stomach to see if they could get it right.

And then the gifts started.  And of course, I had some wonderful helpers that asked if they could help open all the presents - in which the answer was, of course!!  It's always more fun with little helpers!

It started out with Kenlie handing me presents and Norah opening them.

One of the first few presents that Kenlie passed me was from her older sister, Libbie.  Now let me tell you how sweet this present was.  So Libbie has been VERY interested in what we are thinking we are going to name this sweet baby.  And for the record - Jimmy and I have no idea and have made no decisions at all, but we do have discussions about it a lot.  Every week when we see Libbie, she always wants to know if we have made a decision and usually has some ideas for us.  It's so sweet and I love how interested she is and I love her suggestions!!  Long story short, she knows that Jimmy and I are struggling with making a decision, so her present to us was a book that she handmade for us titled "Name that Baby: the good, bad and popular baby names".  It was SO cute and wonderful!!  It had lots of baby name suggestions, including some tips like "a name is always fun that you can make a nickname for" and then she listed off some of the nicknames in our family, she listed some names that are not-so-good and are better for dogs and then to make sure that the first name and middle name are fluent sounding!  She wrote it all by herself and illustrated it and it was such a great read that I took the time to read it out loud to everyone.  At the end she even put an activity for Jimmy and I to complete where we write down our favorite first and middle names for 1 minute each and then compare to find our favorites!  She is SOOOO creative and it was probably one of my favorite presents. 

Reading the book and Kenlie (Libbie's little sister) looking on

Then we started up the unwrapping and tissue paper throwing again! Katy and Maren joined in because I guess it looked like Kenlie and Norah were just having too much fun.  They loved looking at all the presents and even got in the habit of holding them up for everyone to see!!

Love this picture of Norah holding up the stuffed kangaroo!  Looks like she likes it!

Norah is hidden somewhere behind those baby clothes.  Check out Maren's lip!

And then it was time for the sentimental things!  Sue (my mother in law) gave us a bag of some of Jimmy's baby clothes that she kept.  One was the outfit he wore home from the hospital (he said it looks like it was a girl's outfit) and then the one that he got baptized in.  And finally - check out that plaid baby suit!  Hilarious!  It is always fun to get special hand me downs, especially we all know Jimmy wore them!

This was a blanket that Jimmy's great grandmother cross stitched the bunnies and then they made it into a blanket.  I love it!

These two in their matching outfits wanted to get a picture in!

After presents, it was time to see who won the game!  Shellie measured me around and then went around to see who's string that they cut was the closest to how big I really am.  We were talking about if this was a self-esteem boosting or hurting game - haha.  In the end, everyone guessed WAY bigger than I really am, so I deemed it a self-esteem boosting game!  And my mom actually got the closest with her guess!

While we wrapped things up and packed up the car, the girls enjoyed the bubble wrap that came with the baby bathtub!  They enjoyed smashing it and popping it all!  Did you ever do this as a kid??  I had to tell everyone the story of one Christmas when there was a HUGE box under the tree for 2 weeks when my sister and I were little.  We were convinced it was a dog (not sure how we thought a dog could survive there for 2 weeks....).  We were so excited to open it on Christmas morning and when we did it was a HUGE box of these things to pop.  And guess what?  We popped them all day long.  We popped them down the stairs, in the basement, in our rooms, etc. Funny how easily children are entertained right?  And it's good to know that kids still are!!

Finally, I had to grab some pictures with my mom and sister and the wonderful hostesses!  I usually get all the way through the shower and people are walking out the door and we never get any pictures - so here we are!

Wonderful sister-in-laws that hosted the shower! (Trish, Lindsay, Hillary and Shellie)

All the Carter family girls...Sue and Granny joined in!

It was such a fun shower and so great to see everyone!!!  We were super excited to get the nap nanny and pack in play too - so we are slowly but surely collecting all the essentials we need for this baby to come.  Only 6 weeks (give or take) until he's set to arrive so we are getting more excited each day!  I do know for sure that he's one lucky little boy to be blessed with such an amazing family on both his mom's and dad's side!!!  His cousins are VERY excited to meet him and give him lots of love pats each week when we see them too - so he better be ready!!