Update, maternity tour & baby shower #1!

Hi there everyone! I.am.SO.happy.right.now. The end of the our busiest season at work was today, so even though it was my day off - I went in to finish up some last minute stuff. I worked SOOOO much overtime this week, it's insane, so I am really looking forward to coasting the rest of the way through the time until I go out on maternity leave, lol. The good news is, all the extra time I worked, I am getting compensatory time off so that's extra hours that I don't have to telework or use leave without pay during maternity leave. I am taking 12 weeks off, but only have just a little over 11 weeks of paid sick & annual, so with all the extra hours I worked during the month of September, I should have an additional 2-3 days of comp time, woot. But I am literally exhausted...so tonight, I'm looking forward to curling up on the couch & catching up on all my DVR'ed shows that I missed during all the fall premieres this week! So anywho, sorry for my lack of posts (& comments on all of your blogs) recently, but I'm back & my life will now return to normal - that is until the little one gets here, which is actually pretty soon! And I promise that I will be posting my fall decor inspiration this weekend or early next week & also show you what I have done so far! Today, I want to catch up & tell everyone about our hospital maternity tour & Baby J's Shower #1 thrown by the hubby's family!

So our hospital tour was last Thursday, September 16th. I had, of course, worked late & so did the hubbs, so we actually were kinda close to missing it! However, we did make it in time - even a few minutes early & I was able to turn in my hospital pre-registration paperwork, so that's DONE! Our tour guide was awesome - she started out showing us where to go when we arrived at the hospital, then we went up to labor & delivery. We walked through & she showed us the family waiting area, which is nice with TVs, vending & toys for kiddos. She told us about the hospital's security procedures - as soon as the baby is born, me, the hubbs & the babe get the same ID bracelet & the staff will not allow anyone to take the baby from the nursery or make decisions about her care without them checking the bracelets first; they also put a "baby low jack" (lol) on the baby's umbilical cord & it sets off an alarm anytime someone takes the baby near a stairwell. I think that's it, but there may have been more. Then she showed us what we were all waiting to see - the labor, delivery & recovery rooms, which are all private with private bathrooms & really nice & so spacious. Only 4 people are allowed in the rooms with the mom at any given time & she told us all the procedures/rules. Finally, we stopped by the recovery rooms, which are also private, but not as spacious. The good news is, they have free Wi Fi, TVs with cable & free "room service" meals for the hubbs & I. We finished the tour looking at the nursery & the babies in there - they were all so cute! I LOVED the tour & am so happy we made it...makes me even more excited to be there & bring our baby girl into the world!

Now on to our baby shower! It was held on Saturday, September 18th & was in the hubb's hometown (at his cousin's beautiful home), which is about 3-3.5 hours away from where we live. I was expecting something small & laid back, no games or favors, homemade food & a homemade cake since it was supposed to be just the hubby's family & a few of his mom's friends. Well this was not at all how it was, it was SO nice with decorations & games & favors & a professionally made {yummy} cake & lots of family & friends! I was so overwhelmed to see everything his mom had put together for us... she loves her granddaughter! Here are some pics from our awesome shower #1:

The hubbs & I when we arrived:

Us & MIL, who hosted the shower:

The cute cake & favors:

  

Games:

 

 LOL, we forced the guys to play - the hubbs won!!

Opening gifts:

That's the "man"/mini diaper bag!

Cutting the cake:

And all the cute stuff when we got home:

We got lots of great stuff including her bouncer, her activity/tummy time mat, a cute piggy bank, some bottle cleaning & other accessories, a baby vaporizer, a "man"/mini diaper bag for the hubbs, first aid kit & of course, some cute clothes, adorable FUggs (faux Uggs) & a cuddly blanket! We were planning to stay down there, but Dennis wanted to head home, so we did & got home around 2am! We passed out that night, but on Sunday, I went through everything, organized stuff & decided what we needed to return/exchange - there's not much, so that's great!

Whew, I guess that's enough for today..I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. And I promise I'll be back to my old posting/commenting frequency now that work has calmed down a bit! Right now my DVR & comfy couch are calling my name, hahaha. 'Till next time!