Natalie & Ryan: FINITO!

FINALLY! I feel like turning on the theme song from Rocky, and jumping up and down with my arms in the air. I did it! One post a day for an entire year. I gotta say, that was quite the task. Some days I'd forget until the last second, some days I was too upset or tired to post, so the post was lame, and sometimes I wasn't near internet. But there ya have it! A look into the lives of Ryan and I. I will continue posting quite frequently, as our lives are about to become way more interesting, but you won't get posts every day anymore.

I'm happy that my last post will be written about my baby shower. We had baby shower #2 today at my mom's house. I didn't think it would happen, considering the rough patch we just came out of, but she was awesome and threw it anyway. Not a single person that I invited came, but hey, that's the life of being loner Natalie. I did have 3 [ex] co-workers come, and Ryan's mom and sister. It was small, but fun. My mom had lots of fun thinking of creative baby shower games to play. When she sent out the invites, she asked everyone to bring a baby picture of themselves so that we could have a "guess that face" game. Then, we had a vase full of animal crackers, and she had us try to guess how many were in it. 250-something, and I guessed 213. I technically won, but I gave my prize to the next closest guesser. My mom has recently discovered the amazing world of Pinterest, so she made a very adorable diaper cake; complete with lots of little trinkets. She gave everyone 10 seconds to look it over, and then made us write down as many of the items on the cake that we could remember. I had a hard time recalling everything with how bad my prego brain is, but again, I won. Ryan's momma got the prize, since she had the second highest score.

My favorite part of the entire shower was, what I like to call, "sympathy time." I've said it once, but I'll say it again, I don't think men appreciate what women have to go through during pregnancy. Sure, we whine, sure we're needy, but come on! I can't bend over, I can hardly move...Ryan needed to know that inconvenience. My mom devised a game just for Ryan. He put on one of my maternity shirts, and stuffed it with a giant beach ball and some balloons. Then we made him attempt to tie his shoes, change a diaper (he put it on the doll's head), and do other things that are hard to do with a giant belly. He cheated through most every task. He pushed the ball around to his back half the time, so the game was a bust. But we still had fun laughing at how adorable he looked. My hubby is a good sport. Anyway, we got lots of cute gifts. It was funny because we were sitting outside on the patio, discussing baby, and I was telling Jan about all of the necessities that I still needed. When present time came, I got almost everything I told her we didn't have yet. Yay! I can tell you now, tomorrow is going to be full of me playing around in the nursery.

When we got home from the shower, I took a quick nap, and then was super delighted when Ryan suggested we go to Target to spend some gift cards. He usually hates shopping, so this made me really happy. I can usually get him to go to Target with me (and have a good time) if we buy him popcorn from the cafe, so that's what we did. We got some random items that I've been needing; hangers, clearance outfits, bottles...fun stuff. Next weekend is girl's weekend. My mom, Jan, Erin, and I are all going to go out shopping for the last of the needed baby stuff. I'm excited!! Oh, and then I'm getting a MUCH-needed pedicure. :D ONLY 16 MORE DAYS!!!

Items on the cake included: binkies, stuffed animals, diapers, ribbons, rattles, baby powder, desitin, diaper clips, binkie clips, socks, and a bib. On top was a Spongebob and Hello Kitty. She got the Hello Kitty with glasses, just to poke fun at me for having glasses. We called her "Nerd Kitty."

I will admit, I got this from Pinterest. SO cute!

Hated these dang cupcakes, but everyone seemed to enjoy them, regardless

Awe, so cute!

This was my present to Ryan. I was going to try to put together a kit like this on my own because he's been showing fear of having to change a dirty diaper. I was going to get arm-length cattle gloves that go to the shoulder, as well as most of the stuff included in this kit, but when I saw that they already had one assembled, my work was done. So hilarious! And guess what? He's legitimately going to use this. Jan brought him an extra "daddy" present today....a box of surgical gloves. Ha!

I so didn't want to eat one of my ice cream cone cupcakes, but Ryan insisted I have a bite. When I refused, he shoved it into my face. I guess this makes up for the fact that we didn't smear cake on each other at the wedding reception.