Ty's Utah Baby Shower

My mom, aunt Kathy, and Oscar's mom also threw us a shower while we were down in Utah. They did a great job! The food was fabulous and the games were super fun. My friend Lisi made the cake. Since Tyler was conceived with IVF, we thought a science cake would be appropriate. It was adorable! Beaker and Bunsen from the muppets are conducting an experiment (the purple cloud is cotton candy) while a baby Tyler sits on a periodic table. The front of the cake says "Made with Love and Science."

Unfortunately I only got pictures of the cake. I wish I'd had someone taking pictures of the whole shower like Waleska did at the first one. Lots of people gave us adorable baby clothes, but since Ty's already so big, I requested anyone purchasing clothes to buy them extra large. I'll post pictures of Ty wearing them as he grows into them in future posts.

I loved the diaper game from the Washington shower, so I requested Martha mom have it at this shower. It was fun, and Shannon got some cute pics

 As for non clothing gifts, Pam got us a pacifier clip, soothie binkies, and disposable diaper bags.

Ann gave us $10 and a cute fleece blanket that burrito wraps around him nicely.

Jasmine gave us the elephant rattle, Somphien gave us the blanket toy, and mom got us the colored rattle, portable vibrator, music toy, binkies and teether bear. Mom got us lots of gifts actually, including 2 baby gates and lots of diapers. I'll post pics of the gates once we get them put up when he starts moving around.

Erin Jensen got us outlet plugs, nasal aspirator, ventaire bottle, and some dark chocolate goji.

Vivianne got us an all in one health care kit and a safety first ear thermometer.

 Chante got Tyler an on the go baby first aid kit (it's in the car and I keep forgetting to take a picture), and aunt Sylvia gave us $20, which will most likely be spent on diapers.

 Heidi gave us a shopping cart cover and an enormous box of diapers.

Shannon's family got us several things, including this cute baby mobile.

They also gave us a childproofing kit, a "baby" photo frame, clothes, baby eating set, a boppy, and Grandma Yoshi crocheted Ty a lovely blanket. A couple of those things were duplicates (the Lawrences also gave me a boppy), so I returned them and will be buying a jumparoo for Ty. There's one at the childcare at the gym and he loves it, but we didn't start going to the gym until after we got back from Utah, so we had no way of knowing about it beforehand or I would have put one on my registry. I'm glad there were some duplicates since it's not cheap, but by combining several returns I can afford it.

Some people wondered why I wanted another boppy when I already had one. The reason is because I want one upstairs and one downstairs. I never know how I'm going to feel at a nighttime feeding, so whether I feed him upstairs or downstairs is always up in the air. If I'm really tired, I do not want to come down the steep stairs. I nearly fell down them once from the dizziness (fortunately I just fell into the side of the wall). But if I'm reasonably awake, I do come down since the changing table's downstairs and I can grab some water and watch TV while I nurse him.

 

Because I don't know where I'll be feeding him, I can't just grab the boppy and take it with me when Ty goes down to sleep at night. Even when I was trying to do that, I kept forgetting it, or I'd come downstairs to feed only to find I'd already brought it upstairs. I tried feeding him upstairs without a boppy a few times, but he feeds terribly without it, plus holding him up with my arms wakes me up, which of course defeats the purpose of staying upstairs in the first place. I may be spoiled, but that 2nd boppy has been one of the best gifts I received. Plus now that he usually sleeps in the crib during the day, it's nice to use just to help rock him to sleep in the rocker near his bed (which Oscar got me for my birthday). Ty's so heavy now that I really need the support if it's going to be more than a couple minutes.

Oscar's cousin Natalie got Ty this cute owl blanket

Mom got us these two 3 month outfits that fit him already. Fortunately they're stretchy and will fit him for awhile.

Mom, Kathy, Manda, and Heidi gave us lots and lots of diapers, which are greatly appreciated since this boy is being nursed and goes through several diapers a day.

Aunt Kathy got us this 3 month onesie. It was adorable, but he could only wear it once since it was already a bit snug. Fortunately I took lots of picture, and hopefully we'll have another baby boy who can wear it too.

Oscar's aunt Erin made us bibs, burpcloths, and a blanket. The pattern on the blanket and burpcloths is adorable! It has Book of Mormons, bikes, and missionaries and says "I want to be a missionary when I grow big and tall."

Shannon bought us these bibs when she came up just after Ty was born. At the time I thought these would be the only bibs I'd ever need since they're great for eating solids. I'd never even heard of burp cloths before I had Ty, and I didn't understand why you would even need a bib before solids. Then my boy started spiting up...

Shannon also got us a nice baby walker. Pics will follow once he's able to use it.

Jasmine and my mom gave us sippy cups, and Arlene Hawkes gave us a portable baby food masher.

Oscar's aunt Kat gave us this baby proofing set and her daughters gave us cute little gifts too.

And Grandma Hatch made this amazing science blanket! What an incredible job she did!















Thanks to mom, Kathy, and Martha mom for a great shower, and thanks to everyone for coming and for the great gifts!

Ty's Washington Baby Shower

One June 8th, my friend Cari was nice enough to throw me a "sip and see" baby shower. "Sip and see" means the baby's already been born when the shower takes place. We kept trying to plan it for before Tyler was born, but there wasn't a good Saturday that would work for me, Cari, and my sister until after Tyler's original due date (May 23rd). It was fun to show him off to everyone.

This was during the week that mom came to visit before the rest of my Utah family came up, so she got to be at the shower too. She had a hard time letting go of Ty so everyone else could hold him.

Ty slept for most of the shower.

Everyone had a fun time holding him. Kathryn, my former sunday school teaching companion, informed me about breast milk helping with baby eye gunk. She was right! Ty had lots of gunk in both eyes, and mother's milk always made it dissolve and take longer to come back. 

Here's my visiting teachette Corinne. She was about 20 weeks pregnant with her second baby. She's due next month.

3 generations - Cathy Watkins and Malia and Hana Kawaguchi.

And Cari holding Ty like a natural with her little boy Liam.

Waleska (left) took all these lovely pictures and Marianna (right) helped out with the games and the food.

Waleska brought along her husband, my cousin Chance, so that he could visit with my mom. They hadn't seen each other in years.

Out of all the pictures Waleska took, this one was by far my favorite. I'll cherish this photo forever. When I told her how much I liked it, she made me several cute versions of it.

We played some shower games, including fill in the blank nursery rhymes and guess the candy bar in the diaper. It was hilarious seeing people sniffing what look like poopy diapers!

Cari themed the shower "my favorite things" from Sound of Music and asked everyone to give gifts that were their or their kids' favorite things. She gave me this truck that was Liam's favorite toy.

Corinne gave me this formula dispenser, cute baby shoes, and her favorite candy - ferrero rocher.

Malia and Hana gave me several gifts, including this "Sense and Sensibility" book and this milestone poster.

Ann Wilson gave me a cute boppy cover and hand painted this adorable Tyler sign that hangs over his door.

She also gave Tyler these toys.

Cathy Watkins gave Tyler a baby towel and a hat. Even though the hat says infant, it nearly fit me!

Casey gave me a baby book and made a cute craft out of diapers and burp cloths.

 

Liz handmade a toy for Tyler (apparently babies like triangle toys) and gave us an Amazon gift card (which went to buying Ty's 3 in 1 super seat). Kathryn gave Tyler adorable baby shoes and me a candy bar with spiced cookies.

 Marianna bought Ty this adorable baby gym, and Wendella Porter send this cute crocodile outfit.

And mom got us a whole basket full of fabulous stuff!

We had a great spread! Marianna made the punch and Lia picked up a delicious cake. The frosting was slightly salted, which I loved! It had "raindrops on roses" to go along with the theme.

The food was delicious! Marianna made "crisp apple streudel" and a breakfast lasagna, Cari made french toast kabobs and cinnamon rolls, and my sister made the lovely fruit bowl coming out of the watermelon.

Cari also requested that people bring "brown paper packages tied up with string," and the sign in book above represented "snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes."

It was a great shower! Thanks Cari, Marianna, and Malia for making it happen, and thanks to everyone for coming and for the all the great gifts.

Several people that were unable to make the shower sent gifts. The sesame school books are from mom and Corinne, and the school house rocks dvd and Pride and Prejudice baby book are from Lia. The parenting book is from Terri Gilliam along with an Amazon gift card, and the kittens book is from Oscar's parents.

Several people from Oscar's work sent gifts including the picture frames on the left and right. Oscar's brother Will and his wife Camille sent us the one in the middle.

Bryan Falvey from Oscar's work gave us this keepsake kit on the right. I'll post of pic when we make it up. Oscar's sister Emily gave us the forehead thermometer on the left.

Oscar's mom brought up this dog blanket (left), red blanket (right) and several other blankets.

She also brought gifts with her from friends and family, including this "bless this baby" blanket, and this cute "Cars" bouncer from grandma Hatch.

Oscar's mom also gave me this baby carrier for my birthday. She felt bad that she didn't send it until after my birthday, but since he hadn't been born yet when it did arrive, it really wasn't a problem.

I'm not sure about this outfit (complete with bib), but I believe it was sent by someone at Oscar's work.

Another coworker of Oscar's gave us this set of Gerber onsies.

And another sent these two onesies,

And another gave us this monkey set of short sleeve onesie, long sleeve onsies, and pants. Pat Butterfield ended up getting us an identical set at our Utah shower, but in 12 months size, so he'll get to wear it again when he's older.

Mike and Shannon bought us this wipes warmer, several outfits, and some cute bibs for when he's eating solids. Josh and Rebecca Robertson and several others gave us baby diaper care products.

Chance and Waleska and someone from Oscar's work gave us Babies R Us gift cards. With the store credit we bought this monkey cover for the changing pad as well as liners, a driving mirror, driving shade, portable changing pad, mittens, and several other needed items.

We were given another expensive thermometer, so we took it back and got loads of baby wipes. We can never have enough.

And several people gave us bibs, burp cloths, receiving blankets, and hats. One gave us matching hats and bibs like the ones above. They also match some burp cloths and mittens we had already since Gerber reuses the same designs. I'm sorry I forgot to record who gave us everything, but thank you so much everyone. It is all greatly appreciated!