Full…

We are full…

Full in many different senses of the word, one of them being absolute and total love and support. We had our baby shower for family and friends this weekend and it was absolutely amazing.

We are not incredibly religious people, but the word that keeps coming to my mind is blessed. We had family and friends come from around North Carolina and some from as far as Texas to help us celebrate Doodle.

My sister and mother hosted the shower and it was so incredibly nice! We got tons..and I mean tons of stuff off of our registry as well as elephant themed pieces for the nursery. It took us a solid hour and a half to open all the presents that we got!

I am usually not an extremely emotional person, but all the love felt in the room along with the fact that I was PMSing was enough to push me over the edge! I cried like a baby when opening presents  and also could not read any of the cards that people had written because they were making me cry.
We were able to video record us opening hand knitted washcloths and a blanket from Machelle’s Grandma and Grandpa in Illinois and she was able to send it to them because they were not able to make it! We recorded it on the video recorder that Machelle’s aunt got us for Machelle graduating in May and the video quality on it is amazing!

My aunt had told me that she was not going to be able to make it to the shower and had gone as far as sending the presents to our house before the shower. When we walked in, she was there and Machelle and I were so surprised! She is my only aunt and it meant more than she will ever know that she was there. I had originally said that I was fine with her not coming, but it still made me a little sad to think that she wouldn’t be there. I am so glad that she could make it and I also got to spend this afternoon with her and my parents watching home videos and we laughed until we cried!

Machelle’s aunts were also able to come. One aunt lives in Raleigh, one in Virginia, and one in Texas. They came in to town yesterday and we had brunch with them and then they came to the shower and we had breakfast with them this morning before they left. These women are some of my favorite people to be around, besides my family and it means the world to me and Machelle that they would come all the way to Wilmington to celebrate us and Doodle.

There were so many people there from all over that made us feel so special–Brandi, one of the godmothers from Charlotte, 4 of my dad’s cousins from Greensboro, 3 of the “Greensboro Girls” as they are affectionately called–they are friends from high school and some of the best humans around and also Kari and Kaida from Raleigh! Kari was my suite mate in college and Kaida is her little girl. Kaida just turned 5 and she is cute as a button…and incredibly well behaved. This post can’t be completed without mentioning Shelby–she is the other godmother and she could not be there. Her dog recently had surgery and she could not leave him alone–which I completely 100% understand. I know that she was sad, as were we–but I know I will see her soon and we love her so much!

Brandi stayed with us Thursday-Sunday and she was a huge help with putting the presents away as well as being a nice dinner date to one of her favorite restaurants in town! She made Doodle one of the most quilts that I have ever seen..I will post a picture of it. She also took pictures of the shower and I am so thankful for that. She is so sweet and has a heart of gold. I am very thankful to be able to call her one of my best friends. We also go to go wedding dress shopping for her on Friday–she is getting married in April in Charleston. Every dress she tried on, she looked beautiful in.

Machelle is 31 weeks pregnant and doing great! She was such a trooper yesterday and powered through not only the shower, but also putting everything away when we got home. Her ankles swell if she is on her feet for an extended period of time, but over all she feels pretty good!

I was riding in the car the other day and I thought about how lucky I am. I often think about the day that I met Machelle and the day that I realized that I was falling in love with her. There have been times that I thought that there is no way that I could love her more than I did at that very moment, but she constantly proves me wrong. She is exactly why they write love songs–and because of her I am able to understand what all those sappy love songs mean. She looks absolutely beautiful pregnant. She has always told me that she thought that I would be beautiful pregnant..and secretly I think that she finds pregnant women, sometimes, more attractive than non-pregnant women. I have never really seen pregnant women as something that was “more beautiful” than when the women were not pregnant, but Machelle is beautiful. She just looks like she is complete and happy and full.

While I got ready to leave my parent’s house this afternoon, my dad hugged me and said something really sweet–he said “I sure have had fun with you as my daughter, and I sure hope that you have as much fun with Doodle as I have with you.” We are so lucky, so blessed, and so full.

Y’all be kind to one another and yourself!