A Man Shower

Blane came home from work the other night all pumped up and excited. Earlier that day, his co-workers had surprised him with a mini-baby shower in his honor. The cherry on the cake was that everything was Miami Heat themed for baby!

The pic on the left was the one he sent me from work. It's a little blurry, but I had to show you because he's so excited :). Their caterer created this "Little Heat Fan" baby cake just for him. How cute is that?

Blane had recently been saying that we didn't have any "Sports stuff" for his son, haha. Everything that we've gotten is way more my style-chic or cutsey-and I know Blane was thinking "we need more manly boy things" haha. Well, he got his wish!

His co-workers not only gave him the baby cake, but also a real cake with a fondant-baby dressed in Lebron's jersey! On the back was our name and Blane absolutely flipped out when he saw it. He's known for having the best reactions to things and this day was no exception.

They also gave him cards, some gift cards, had baby decor and flowers around the room and a banner with his name spelled out. He brought it all home to show me :). I love that they celebrated with him and that it was a surprise to boot! 

Later that night he came home and we took apart the baby cake. These are all the goodies that were wrapped up inside. Blane laid them all out on the kitchen table and took this pic which he immediately posted to Facebook with the caption, "Now we are 100% ready for our little guy to enter the world. Thanks to my team at work for hooking it up!"

Of course, the first thing he told me was that we finally had a take home outfit for the baby from the hospital. -__- Umm...I've had a perfectly cute baby blue one complete with little hat and tiny socks all ready for weeks now! Fortunately, the onesie above is a size 18 mos. so he'll have to wait a bit to rock the Miami gear ;) *Phew!

Thankful for baby blessings!

Aim

False Labor

This week has been a study in human reaction and hilarium.

Yes, we are in our 38th week of pregnancy. We're way past the "premature" time and in the "safe zone" where the baby could come "any day now." 

The above information has caused those closest to us to become quite, shall I say, jumpy, in the past few days especially.

Case #1: The Anticipatory Auntie: I called my sister on Tuesday "just to say hi." She didn't answer-no big deal. Then I went to staff meeting at church. When I got out, I had two missed calls and a message from her demanding to know if I'd had the baby and if she'd missed the phone call.

Case #2: The Edge-of-my-Seat Dad to be: Oftentimes during the week I'll call Blane at work just to say hi or to check in. This week everytime I call instead of his usual, "hey babe" I'm getting a more urgent, "Hello?" He was at dinner with his boss tonight and his phone rang three times. He grew frantic that it was me and ran to the restroom. False alarm-it was one of our conference youth stalking him instead haha.

Case #3: Texting Misconceptions: Blane texted Grace this week about something totally unrelated to baby. Her response back to him was, "Oh shoot, I thought you were texting me that Aim had gone into labor." Then, I texted Linda the following picture yesterday and her response was, "When my text said 1 new picture I got excited and thought he came early!!! :D Ok...this is not as exciting of a pic, but still cute. :) hee hee!"

Case #4: The trying to act casual but really are so excited in-laws: I've seen Blane's parents every. day. this. week. Haha. They are really helpful (bringing by food, wanting to help clean the house, iron Blane's shirts, etc.) but I know really that they are just excited for the moment when baby comes and they don't want to miss out.

Case #5: My Mom: My dear Mom started her last year of teaching this week and she's been busy up the whazoo. Still, though, she has called every day and in our conversation somewhere she always says, "Are you dilated any yet??? Don't forget, I already have someone to cover my class the moment you go into labor!" :)

So everyone, today we hit the under two week mark. No, I have not felt any contractions, I don't think I'm dilated at all, and yes, I'm still growing and pregnant. You're lucky I stopped Blane from pulling an "August fools" (he just heard about THAT this past weekend) where he thought about falsely announcing to you all that the baby was here. -__- We ain't crying no wolf about this one!

Thanks for being excited along with us. We love you all!
Aim

Thoughtful Surprises

I <3 thoughtful gifts. In the past week or so, Blane and I have been the recipient of many. Had to share some of them :)

Dawn, who is my one and only friend from high school (so sad, I know :) handmade this beautiful quilt for the baby. I love the chevron and that it matches his nursery so perfectly! The colors mesh nicely with everything in the room. I'm so in awe of people like Dawn who have the skill and patience to sit and craft something so beautiful! 

Blane's dear Grandma Julie crocheted another baby blanket complete with ruffles that line the entire perimeter! She is so talented with the needle. Gma J told me that she started the blanket as soon as she found out we were expecting, hence the pink and blue color, as she didn't know then if it would be a boy or a girl. Once she found out it was a "he" she added the blue border beneath the ruffles. I love that he will have this momento from his great-grandma in the future!

Then this past weekend, one of my former youth-ers who is now in college casually handed me this~

 OMG! It's a toddler Olympic "Team GB" straight from London and the Olympics! :D He had been in London during the Olympics and thought of how much I LOVE the Olympics and picked up this for the baby. How sweet is that?!? Thank you Ben for your thoughtfulness!!!

I love snail mail and a few weeks ago my dear friend Christina sent me the card on the right. We don't get to see eachother as often as I'd like, but it's nice to know that she is thinking and praying for us! Leah sent the card on the left a few days ago. It's full of encouragement and a bible verse as we prepare for delivery. Thank you for that Le! So sweet and thoughtful of you and Sherwin :).

Sometimes it's the "little" things in life. Thank you all for your thoughtfulness!

Aim

Risen with Christ

This past weekend I was able to witness one of the biggest blessings of all this summer. Eight of "my" youth and two of the adults at our church were baptized at the beach and oh what a wonderful celebration it was!

"But you who were dead in your transgressions are now alive in Christ!"

Ephesians 2

Despite it being the busiest beach day of the year (parking was a beast, the main lot was closed several times, it took many people at least an hour to find a spot!) we forged ahead and did not let that stop us from celebrating God's gift of life in each of these young hearts.

 All the baptisms peeps with some of their family members~Sydney, Kurt, Max, Rebekah, Ryo, Katsuya, Jenna, Kathy, Kevin and Kurt.

I love my church family. I love that God is working even more :) 

Our God IS able!

Aim

Shower Blessings

This past weekend, Grandma-to-be S hosted a family shower for Blane's side of the family. Amidst her crazy work schedule, she somehow managed to cook a full Mexican feast, host 17 of us in her home, decorate with beautiful arrangements, come up with three games+prizes for all, bake a huge chocolate cake, handmake mini pins in the shape of little diapers with blue bows on them for everyone to wear, and have individually wrapped See's Candies favors for each guest to take home. We don't call her Superwoman for nothing :)

 I was so touched that everyone made it a point to be at the shower. We had family come from as far as Las Vegas, San Diego, Camarillo, and San Jose. Even though we don't get to see this side much, it was still fun to be around so much family and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Best part of the night was when Blane, both Dads, Blake and great-Grandpa-to-be-Paul joined the festivities for gift opening. Sometimes it's fun to have the guys around! :)

Our little son is so very blessed. 

Hope you have a blessed Monday!

Aim

Staff Time

This weekend we are headed down south for a Youth Staff Retreat. I'm looking forward to spending some quality time in fellowship and learning with these people whom I serve "in the trenches" with on an almost daily basis. I'm praying for a rich time together, for God's spirit to be strong and for us to all come away relaxed, refreshed and excited about what's to come this year. 

*Photo is missing Quiddie who happened to be in Vegas the weekend we took this. :D

Won't you join me in covering our weekend in prayer?

Have a great weekend!

Aim

Validation

I was validated in my blog post from yesterday today when I opened my Yahoo! homepage and saw this article by Chris Chase. Preach it!

And another Nike fail podium pic from the Olympics. Apparently the medal jackets for the outdoor events are different than the cement gray indoor jackets that I spoke of yesterday. And, hold your breath, they are even uglier! Ahhh, the horror. Care to guess what color they are?!?

Burnt. Orange.

All together now-Ewwwwwww!!! I mean, really Nike. C'MON! In comparison to these burnt orange babies, yesterday's gray jackets look stunning. Maybe that was their plan all along.

So sorry outdoor medalists. We know that this is the Olympics and not a University of Texas medal ceremony. Maybe someone needs to clue Nike in to our country's colors?

Go Red, White and Blue!

Aim