Sweet Surprises

How is it already April?  What even happened to March!?

Way back in February, I was lucky enough to be involved in two surprise parties. Once on each side of the surprise - the surpriser and the surprisee.  

First up was a surprise party for my wonderful Dad to celebrate his 50th birthday!  My mom, grandma, and I (along with help from others along the way!) schemed for months to coordinate the plans.  We threw the party at my parents' house so we had to find a way to keep my dad away for the afternoon.  We lucked out and had great weather (for February), so my brother and my grandpa made plans to golf with my dad.  The first surprise of the day was that my Uncle Scott met them on the golf course.  My Uncle Scott from Wisconsin!  We were a little nervous that my dad would think this was suspicious... but luckily, he fell for the "just needed a weekend getaway, heard there was golfing weather in Texas" story line.  Little did he know that his niece Rachel had come along too!  But that was a surprise for later. 

Once we got my dad out of the house, we got to work.  First, we ran errands to pick up last minute groceries and party supplies.  Then we decorated!  We went with an "old guys rule" theme and had lots of adult beverage decorations.  The afternoon flew by, for us and for the guys.  We got the red alert text message that they were finishing up with golf... more than an hour early!  We begged for the guys to stall him, by any means necessary.  Which, as you might guess, four guys on the golf course... resulted in substantial consumption of alcohol at the clubhouse.  But, the stalling worked!

Friends and family began arriving and we assumed our places in the living room and kitchen, prepared to shout SURPRISE!  But of course there had to be one more kink in the plan.  My parents' garage door had stopped working for some reason that day.  My mom warned my dad, and we thought it might actually work in our favor because he'd be forced to come through the front door.  So we all waited, quietly, patiently, for the guys to arrive.  We saw the golf carts pull into the drive.  Then we heard voices as they came in... the side door.  That we forgot to lock!  And being the handyman he is, my dad headed straight to the garage to try and fix the garage door!!  We all did our best to stay quiet and finally, my mom convinced him to come inside and worry about the door later.

"SURPRISE!!!" I loved seeing my dad's face as he took in the scene - friends, family, food, balloons!  Everyone had a great time visiting, eating, drinking, and especially giving my dad a hard time about being so OLD! :)
Surprise party success.

 

 
 The following week, I headed up to Dallas to spend a few days in the office up there.  Busy season was kicking off, and I usually try to make a trip at least once a month to keep in touch with co-workers.  My manager, Lauren, arranged a client lunch while I was in town.  And I had no reason to suspect it was anything to the contrary.  But when we walked into the restaurant, we headed straight to the party room.  It all happened so fast, I still didn't have any suspicions.  Suddenly there was a lot of commotion, and it took me a few seconds to process that this table full of lovely ladies was yelling SURPRISE, for me!  My awesome co-workers and friends had coordinated a surprise baby shower lunch for me, and I was completely caught off guard.  We had a great time at lunch and boy, did they spoil our little sweetie!  A car seat, high chair, sweet little onesies, blankies - just to name a few of their sweet gifts.  And most special of all, an adorable little framed print that they all signed.  So cute, and so perfect in her nursery.  I really wish we had taken a photograph of the whole group, but we forgot.  Luckily I did catch a photo with my friend, Mary!  Don't mind all that wine in the background, it was only a minor tease ;)

So that was February.  Valentines day, taxes, and sweet surprises. 

These pictures are from Valentines day (that pink drink was pretty much straight grenadine and a splash of Sprite, ha. It had me all hopped up on sugar, ready to dance the night away at our neighborhood Valentines Day dance)

Then came March, I think?  Wait where did March go?  Somehow it came and passed very quickly.  In a nutshell, here is how we spent March:

Taxes, newborn care and labor classes, taxes, more trips to Dallas, taxes, doctors appointments, taxes, I got in a minor fender bender, which sent us to Labor & Delivery for monitoring (everyone is ok!), more taxes, and then we ended the month with Tom's 27th birthday! 

If you have to work on a Saturday, you might as well do it outdoors.

Look at that proud papa, learning how to care for his new baby! (I see the resemblence, don't you?)

Our house is being taken over by baby gear.

Bailey loves to lay in her baby's room.  She can't wait!  Or maybe she just likes the rug.

Look at that cutie!!  We were able to squeeze in a quick visit with Tom's older brother and our sweet nephew, Connor.  Such a happy-go-lucky guy at lunch!  (PS - do I look like a natural?? It is difficult to hold a baby on your lap with a big pregnant belly)

Sad car.

Happy 27th birthday, Tom!  Spent some time at the driving range.

And here we are, on April 1st. Today marks 37 weeks 0 days - no foolin'! We have officially made it to "full term". This is also my last week at work - hooray! I'm most excited because it means I don't have to get dressed any more. I do not own pants that fit. And I'm not buying anything else!! Sweats and nightgowns will have to do for the next three weeks. Speaking of which, everybody cross your fingers that she keeps on baking alllll the way until April 22! I would really love to have my two weeks off - nesting, napping, niiiice. I'll also plan to do an end-of-pregnancy update post and a nursery post during that time :)