Kristen's Baby B Shower

The first weekend in February was a grand reunion to celebrate Kristen's baby shower.  She and Daniel flew in from North Carolina and friends and family gathered at one of her mom's best friend's houses for the party.

They were able to get a few photos with some of the guys before they headed on to a brewery tour to celebrate Daniel, the daddy-to-be's birthday!

 

Ari and Amanda finally got to meet baby Rishaan!

We played some silly games, including Smell the Poop, where everyone had to guess which stomach-turning melted candy bars were in each diaper. 

 

 Ari seriously almost vomited, it was great.

These two ended up winning!  Great doodie skills, ladies.

There was also a lot of baby playtime!

 

Diving into lasagnas and salad, it was fun catching up with old friends, and Kristen made the rounds as she visited with so many wonderful ladies filled with love for Baby B (some from far away-Amanda flew in from New York and Mary was in between island sea turtle assignments)!  Lots of thanks to Monica and all the aunties for throwing such a beautiful shower. 

 

 

Next, everyone made their gender bets by choosing either blue or pink yarn and cutting it to the length they guessed to be the circumference of mommy's belly.  A few length guesses were surprisingly accurate, and Brooke won with an almost identical length of yarn!  This was a game Carolyn, Kristen's mother, played at her own baby shower, and 31 years later, she still has the length of yarn that measured baby Kristen that day.

For the final game, we played Baby Sketch Artist, where everyone blindly drew a portrait of the baby on plates atop their head.  Kristen then got to choose her favorite, the honor of which went to Brittany, whose baby-scape incredibly even had blocks and a rattle.

After the games, we all gathered together to watch Kristen open up her gifts.  Of course, since she lives in North Carolina, most of them were shipped directly to her house, but there were still some fun ones to shower her with in person!

Baby and mama sloth card

Fortune says one day the baby will be a hot realtor!

Handmade knit blanket

And to cap it all off, there were a couple very fun stories and surprises shared!

It was such a lovely day filled with so much joy and laughter.

The next day the Suite 108 crew (minus sleep-deprived mommy Pree and plus a couple husbands) met up at Lake Merritt for a picnic, a few rounds of baby-themed Scattergories, and later on a bit of Superbowl watching at Drake's Dealership (where I got to feel a baby thump!  It was definitely a thump, not a kick).

 Mentally returning to this moment brings me bursts of joy

There was a lot going on that weekend.  Some of us were grieving, most of us were sick.  But being altogether and focusing on the gem growing inside Kristen was extremely healing.  It's hard when your loved ones live far away, yet it makes the time together kinetic and impossible to take for granted.  We love you Kristen, and can't wait to meet Baby Brontosaurus Brookshire (name in progress)!