Baby shower at Cornestone!

Yesterday we had a baby shower at Kelsey's school. Instead of doing individual gifts, the school had families/kids donate and they bought our gifts with that money. Two women were "in charge" of it and they did the most phenomenal job. It was really amazing how much love they poured into us. I just am blown away about how much people love this little guy, and he's not even here yet!

The theme was "monkeying around", just like the theme of our nursery, and it was in nursery colors, too. Most of the kids at the school wore baby blue in honor of the shower and our baby! We walked onto the patio and they were serving banana splits. The tables were decorated with bananas and balloons, and there was a diaper cake on the side. For those of you who don't know, here is it:

Basically, it's diapers made into a shape of a three tiered cake. This one was made from a whole case of diapers and had little odds and ends stuck into it, like baby nail clippers, swabs, lotions and that kind of thing. The monkey was like a little cake topper!

There were a few individual gifts, like some clothes, a little picture frame, lotions, little storage containers, and a few other things. Then we got into the rest of the gifts from the offering. Our nursery has little blue, green and brown storage boxes, so some of the gifts were placed in those. We got all sorts of clothes, hats, booties, sleepers (which we needed), mittens, gowns, bath stuff and other goodies. We got our diaper bag, which was a "5-piece set" including a smaller diaper bag, a changing pad cover, a "dirty duds" bag and an insulated bottle holder.

Another set of gifts were in a monkey hamper...SO glad we got that one! This package had a lot of nursing things, like the breast pump I registered for, some bags, then lots of sheets, flannel pads for the bed, and pack and play sheets.

The "big gift" from the staff was a second car seat for the other car! We were super excited about this one, as it was really the only other "big ticket" item that we really needed to get. It's a booster carseat so he can use it when he's bigger!

I was just overwhelmed by the love that the school showed to us, for a little baby boy who isn't even born yet!! I just feel so blessed that he's being taken care of.

Nesting

I've got some major nesting going on, at least I think that's what's going on.

I got on a kick this weekend to clean. Maybe it was because Kelsey was gone Friday and Saturday and I had nothing better to do. I started with laundry folding, then decided to tackle our bathroom which was absolutely disgusting. I've been meaning to scrub the tub, but it's way too hard to get on my hands and knees and do it. I just felt so much better -- more at ease -- when it was done.

Then I started on Luke's nursery and his clothes. He has A LOT of clothes! We bought some bins that will go in the storage unit. It's great because they are little and his things wont' get lost in the shuffle.

Here are the bins. They match the bedding (brown, green and blue). The brown ones have little monkey faces on them. So far I have onesies; sleepers; socks, hats and pants; receving blankets; and bibs & burp cloths. I have about 4-6 more bins, so I'll have plenty of room for other stuff.

How cute are all these socks?? They barely covered the bottom of this tiny laundry basket. LOVE IT!

I continued with my productivity by cleaning out underneath the guest bathroom sink and making room for his bath supplies and his tub, then making his own shelf in our hallway linen closet. This is where I have his little hooded towels, washcloths, crib sheets and blankets.

I have never been able to fold fitted sheets, and as I was folding his freshly cleaned stuff, I realized that was ALL the sheets he has!  So they look terrible. Mom has tried to teach me and I do ALRIGHT, but it still bugs me. I like having things really folded nicely.

I went in his room and tried to put things away as much as I could, but there is still so much to do with the nursery. We need to get the curtains hung, the furniture painted, toy box painted and covered (Kelsey is going to put padding on top and make it an extra seat) and also paint the little wooden LUKE letters that will go in his room. We also have some cute stick ons for the walls and some other artwork to hang. I know we still have two months, but that is going to go by so quickly.

I literally worked until my body just gave out, but it felt so good to be able to look at all those clothes and make some sense of it all. 

A couple friends had babies this weekend, and seeing their pictures makes me want to see him even more!

Obsessively shopping for baby

Y'all, there is just way too much cute stuff in this world for babies.

Last week we got our stroller and carseat, swing and some other stuff at a huge consignment sale called JBF (Just Between Friends). It's held twice yearly and people take their stuff there to sell from all around the area. It started last Sunday and we didn't get there until Thursday so we didn't expect much from it. So as we're walking in, and there she sits -- the exact stroller that we have on our registry...same color and style and brand. I thought to myself, this is way too good to be true. We checked it out -- "kick the tires" if you will -- and didn't see a flaw or stain on the thing. The note said the seller's baby grew out of it too quickly and they didn't use it more than 6 or 7 times.

It's a travel system where the car seat fits into the stroller, but then it is a regular stroller after he gets bigger than 22 lbs. I have no idea when that'll be because I know nothing whatsoever about babies. But I do know that this is like, the mid-range sedan of baby strollers. I am going to say the "Caddy" of strollers because clearly it's not, but it does turn on a dime and folds up REALLY easily (with one hand).

The best part was that this stroller retails for over $300 and we got it for $200! It was a steal.

We also got a baby swing:

Luke, if you're reading this later, let me tell you how much your Daddy LOVES zebras. It's his favorite non-domestic animal and there is a zebra right there on the tray, so he felt that it spoke to him. It also has jungle critters all over and matches our monkey pack-n-play. This is a Graco swing with 6 settings, nature sounds and classical music sounds. It retails for probably $80 to $100 and we got it for $40!

We also picked up some cheap Christmas stuff, since he'll be around 1 month at Christmas:

STUPID CUTE. Look at the little fake boots! Now all we need is a santa hat!

Also stupid cute! Two bibs for the holidays and that little hat was only 50 cents. I have a plan for that hat and his newborn pictures...stay tuned.

We are pretty much good to go on clothes, so the only other thing I found at the sale was a little sleeper that was $1. We also found a diaper warmer for $8, some little toys and some safety equipment (latches and that kind of thing). All together we spent $289, which is less than JUST the stroller retail! I think we made out!