My Husband Rocks Fridays....and an update

My husband rocks because: he insisted that I go see my new nephew this week....He asked me if I was going on Monday morning like it was even a question...even though we really can't afford a trip like that right about now since I'm still a stay-at-home wife not using my very expensive degrees...He knows how important my family is to me and how close we are to one another.
____________________________________________________

Here are some pictures of the baby:

We (my mom, younger sister, grandmother, and I) decorated the mailbox...We also printed some pictures from after he was born and filled some empty frames for when they got home and made my older sister's favorite meal so she didn't have to cook.

Here's a picture of my nephew, *Paul. As with all of my pictures, I'm not posting any pictures of faces for his privacy.

His feet are so small! (He is only a 6.5 lb baby!)

He had a head full of hair.


*I've also changed his name for the family's privacy.

____________________________________________________

It's been quite a week, I'm sorry that I haven't really posted...It's crazy when you're last-minute traveling and don't have your own computer with you. I had planned on Menu Planning Monday along with some other stories. Fail. I need to get back on the creative blog train...My friend, Lexi, and her fiancee are visiting this weekend. I hope that I'll get some inspiration from the weekend.

Yay!

Today was Mr. H's day off. We had a wonderful day planned full of going to the mountains, hiking, and a great steak dinner to be followed by Shaun White on Wii.....what really happened? My sister called me at 8:00 and woke me up...not so happy, until she told me that her water broke! I hopped in the car, drove to my parents house, then to the hospital with my mom, other sister, and grandmother. We got there just in time....it was a little shaky for the first couple of minutes (his first apgar score was 1)...but he quickly improved and both mom and baby are doing wonderfully now. Not to brag, but I think he's a really cute baby (especially for a natural birth, hardly any cone headedness going on)....I am so excited for my sister and brother-in-law!

Baby Shower Photos....awhile later

I posted about ideas for my older sister's baby shower about a month ago. I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of decorations and the gifts that I gave her...sorry, I completely forgot to actually use my camera once the shower started so none of other gifts.
Here's a picture of the diaper cake that I made with the help of my dad and younger sister. I must say that I have the best father on the planet, and he was so into figuring out the more efficient way to tie the diapers and put everything together (he's very science-y).
Mr. Happily-ever-after priced out diapers and diapering supplies with me for weeks before we bought anything (seriously, those things are expensive!). He also had the brilliant idea to use diapering items, i.e. wipes, diaper genie cartridge, diaper ointment, in the center of each tier. That way it would cut down on the amount of tying and it was all usable. My sister is having a boy and the nursery is blues and greens...which are the colors that we used for everything that day.
My mom suggested that my younger sister and I use a tea party theme, which was amazing. The food was great! We had chicken salad in pastry shells, salad, fruit, cake, and tea (of course!).
We carried the idea of a diaper cake over to the centerpieces: diaper cupcakes. It's a smaller 1-tier version of the diaper cake. I've seen it done before with using a small stuffed animal as a topper and pacifiers/other small toys to decorate. We decided to use ribbon instead to make it similar to the large cake...plus it added color to the otherwise white table.


I made a basket full of 'SLP' items. What can I say, it's hard to get me out of speech therapist mode. It included: a variety of books, feeding items (SLPs work with dysphagia...aka feeding/swallowing), oral care items, a crib mirror, and other goodies (the monkey items match the nursery). Instead of putting newspaper in the bottom, Mr. H. suggested using diapers and covering them with a receiving blanket. She loved it, especially the diapers since she had not gotten any yet. She also liked the actual basket since he had not gotten a hamper either.
I also got a little creative and made some burp clothes. I used cloth diapers and added flair with fabric and ribbon. It's a great way to personalize a gift, plus it really does not take that long. (sorry about the lighting, I took these really quickly)
My younger sister made the most adorable onsies (I wish I had gotten pictures). She usually doesn't like to sew or do crafts, but is really artistically talented. Each onsie had a different item on it, frog, whale, etc. So cute, and really easy. She also made a memory box out of a wooden box that she stained and put pre-made jungle animals on the outside. Once again, so cute, wish I had gotten a picture.