32w3d: a baby shower

Sorry I have not written, as I had mentioned I had friends and my sister coming into town.  I want to acknowledge all the kind and supportive comments I got to my posts about freaking out and the good baby news.  I am excited that I have readers out there for whom this is helpful, and I enjoy sharing our milestones and accomplishments.

Today was the big day for the shower!  There are tons of pictures of family and friends, and I am including a select few, but they all have me in them (well, it is my blog, after all).  The shower was at my mom's house, and my sister and my friends Molly and Alex did the organizing.  My mom also did some cooking, and as usual with my family, there was more than enough delicious food.  I am a little concerned that we have good turn-outs at family events because of the food and not so much because of the event itself... But no, I am kidding.  Today I felt extremely loved, and there is so much happiness and excitement surrounding these babies, I just can't wait for them to be here.  I think we will have the two luckiest babies in the world, and this is a big reason why I wanted to have kids in the first place.  Eric and I have a strong and loving relationship and a happy home, and are surrounded by support and caring.  You couldn't ask for a better start in life.

We got so many gifts.  I think we are pretty much set for their arrival now!  The only thing we don't have (other than the baby furniture which has not yet been delivered) is a changing table cushion to put on top of their dresser.  Other than that we have car seats, strollers, bouncy seats, swings, a high chair, clothes galore, diapers, burp cloths, blankets.  Oh, and speaking of blankets, today's sweetest surprise was two hand-crocheted baby blankets from Molly's mom.  Beautiful colors and so soft!  It was unexpected since she wasn't at the shower.  My mom and dad gave us both car seats, since I had continually expressed concern that we wouldn't be able to bring the babies home from the hospital!  I figured once we got them home we could figure out what happened next but I would really be screwed without car seats.  Problem solved.

So, here are some photos from the day.  First, me talking as my guests arrive:

 

Opening gifts with help from my friends.  Shoshana was in charge of cleaning up wrapping, and Alex was the secretary, writing down gifts.

 

My aunt Sharon (previously known for her excellent job babysitting me in week 27-28) sent a gift, including these adorable socks that look like shoes!

Here is a picture of me with my doctor's office friend, Elizabeth.  We met in the waiting room while doing our IVF cycles and are due 4 days apart, although she is having one little girl and is likely to go full-term, so our babies will probably be born about 4 weeks apart.  It is amazing that we are here, glowingly pregnant at 32 weeks after all the hardship it took to get here. 

Then, once we came home again, Cass took a few pictures of Eric and me, and a few of me alone.  Here I am with Eric:

 

And again, with Eric.  We do love each other and do like to smooch, even if we found out the hard way that's not how babies get made if your name is Becca.

 

And then a shot of me alone, I swore I wouldn't do bare belly, but decided to do a few without too much skin hanging out.  My belly is still stretch-mark free and I still have an innie, so in a way, that is worth commemorating.

Thank you to everyone who came today, and who was so generous in the gifts to our boys.  Eric was thrilled to open everything and see it when we got it home, and he is now opening and assembling the pack n play (which matches our living room perfectly!).  He is clearly getting excited about the impending arrival of our babies, as am I.  Tonight I feel so lucky, and so loved.  Thank you everybody.