DOUBLE Baby Shower with my BFF!

Last weekend, my best friend Gina and I were honored to share a DOUBLE baby girl shower hosted by our bestest friends from high school and their sweet mama's. It was such a perfect shower and a dream come true for Gina and me. We used to dream about having babies at the same time one day, especially little girls and even having a double baby shower (like they do in Father of the Bride, Part II)! Well... our dream came true!

We had such a fun time and our baby girls are definitly spoiled and blessed by so many friends and family that love them already so much. This was extra special for Gina because she was able to fly in from Virgina for the weekend to celebrate and squeeze in time with her friends/family before her baby girl arrives in December. It's so hard that she now lives in VA.

The shower was held at my mother-in-law's house (which was super nice for me because I didn't have to go anywhere.. being 34 weeks pregnant and not supposed to travel, made it super nice!)

Miss C received so many wonderful things... LOTS of clothes (and the last bit of my own baby clothes that I wore as a baby, my mama is incredible for saving all of these for me one day...), drying rack, hooded towels, her pink spa bath tub, diaper genie, my STROLLER (given by my amazing mother in law), gift cards, toys, books, her first American Girl doll (given by my first and oldest friend EVER)... quick story about that one... Mary and I have known each other since before first grade and our entire childhood was centered around our own American Girl dolls (I had Kirsten & she had Felicity) so needless to say, I LOVED that she gave Charlotte her first doll, our hostesses gave me my pack n play, and I also received another incredibly special gift. Gina's mom is an artist and she painted this incredible piece of art to hang in Charlotte's room (it's a painting of a little girl kneeling by the side of her bed... Lucy is even curled up in the corner and in between the curtains is written the prayer that my Daddy and I used to say every night before I went to bed, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, stay by my side all through the night, and wake me with the morning light." I can't wait to say that with Charlotte!

Enjoy these pics from our amazing shower :)



Baby D's diaper cake

Baby L's diaper cake

My BFF and me with our baby girls... Sweet Pea & Peach Plum!



Opening her first American Girl doll!



We were opening our gifts at the same time... downfall I didn't
get to see everything she got!
 



More cute clothes!

monogrammed burp cloths that match her bedding :)

The last bit of my baby clothes that I wore as a baby

The incredible painting by Gina's mom



Opening our hostess gifts!



I got my pack n play and Gina got her swing :) Our friends
are too sweet!

Our bestest friends!

Two more girls to add to our bunch!

Our amazing hostesses, our sweet mamas and mother-in-laws... Goodness our girls are sure blessed!



My sweet sister in law, Codi, she will be Aunt Cece!



Our cute diaper cakes!

Hard to believe we are due 5 weeks apart!



Two grandmothers awaiting Miss C's arrival!



My sweet Mama!

Nesting

With only a little over a month left before Charlotte arrives, I've begun NESTING! I never knew that it truly was a real deal... but after this past weekend I can honestly say that it is :)

I've been having a lot of anxiety in thinking about all the things I must do before our little angel arrives... such as:

• Getting house deep cleaned by a maid service
• Arranging a carpet company to come steam clean carpets
• Washing baby clothes
• Finishing up getting our "musts" from our registry
• Packing hospital bags
• Installing carseat (which we have left to get... we will after this weekend!)
• Wrapping up everything at work (that is a WHOLE other issue)... Ugh!

I mean I could literally go on and on... however I'm not going to bore you. But I did have some fun with checking off one thing from that list... this weekend I started washing all of Charlotte's clothes. This girl already has a loaded wardrobe and I get so giddy thinking about playing dress up with her when she arrives. I mean she is going to be my live real baby doll that I always dreamed about, right??

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell of Dreft. The original baby detergent that even my Mom used to use to wash all of our clothes with. It's so heavenly and those little baby clothes now folded in the drawers and hanging in the closet are just even cuter now that I know they are really ready for her to wear :)

4-5 more weeks to go! I have another doctor appointment tomorrow so maybe we'll get more of an accurate date of when she will arrive... Have I mentioned that I'm not patient?? Praying for patience :)

Dear Sweet Charlotte,
Mommy cannot WAIT to dress you in all of these cute clothes, but more importantly, I cannot wait to meet you. Keep growing and growing and staying healthy. I love you more than you know.

Love,
Mommy

The BEST smelling detergent ever!

Newborn size drawer...

 

3 Month Drawer... (lots of pink) BTW, I'm still working on the next drawer (6 mon)

Special blankets

Hanging clothes

More hanging clothes and some of my bonnets that were mine when I was little :)

Houston Shower

Last weekend, Drew's aunts hosted the sweetest shower for me and Charlotte. It was honestly the best weekend I have had in awhile. My sister, Amy and niece Kaitlyn, drove in from Corpus and Mom drove in from Seguin and they all met me at school... They got to see me teach and meet my students. After school, we ran some errands and went to dinner. That night we set up most of the nursery! It was so fun to have all of this girl time... I haven't had that in quite awhile. It was also fun to show them all of the wonderful things we've been getting for Charlotte in the mail and things we've bought and put together. The nursery is almost complete... pictures to come soon :)

The next day, we all got ready for the shower. We headed over to Drew's aunt's house where my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and my other sister, Katherine, were there waiting to help get the party started! All of my guests started arriving. It was such a nice group of women who definitely spoiled Charlotte! I invited some friends from school, Junior League, Bible Study, Bunco and some of Drew's friend's wives. I felt so blessed that day to have so many sweet friends in my life here in H-town.

After the shower, we headed back to the house and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law spent the night too. More girl time! It was the best! Even Lucy loved having all of this girl time... I have to mention that Drew went to Corpus for the weekend for opening dove season. He was glad to be out of the house with all of this estrogen :)

Sunday rolled around and I shed some tears privately when everyone went home because I didn't want any of it to end. I wish that all my family lived closer and in the same city. I miss them so much.

Next event on the agenda... my DOUBLE baby shower with my BFF Gina (check our her cute blog!). We are both having GIRLS and our best friends from high school are throwing this darling baby shower for us. Two more weeks!

Here are some of my favorites from the Houston shower:

Me and Drew's aunts... sweet hostesses (Mitzi & Lana)

My Girls! My sisters, Katherine & Amy, my niece Kaitlyn and my Mama




Kenedy got Charlotte Tri Delt bloomers :)

Baby Bullet...homemade baby food, here we come!



My Mom gave me another treasure chest filled with treasures!
Old and New... This was my homecoming outfit I wore
when I came home from the hospital... Charlotte will wear it
too along with my bonnet and little pink shoes :)

There was also my baby jewelry, a nightie for me and Charlotte to wear in the hospital, and the baby blanket my grandmother made for me that I was swaddled in to come home from the hospital in (Charlotte will too!) Sweet treasures, I will treasure!

Baby Aidan due in January, Baby Charlotte in November and Baby William in October... Charlotte will have lots of little boyfriends soon :)

Sweet teachers from my school! Tamara & Tori

My adorable friend Kenedy! She is not only a good friend but a sorority sister and even sometimes like a real sister, Charlotte can't wait to meet her Aunt Dede!

Drew's family... Aunt Mitzi, Drew's cousin Laci, Drew's sister Codi, Drew's mom and Aunt Lana

Charlotte's Grandmothers... Her Grammy (my Mama) and her Grandma (mother-in-law)

Maternity Pictures

I could not have been happier with our beautiful maternity pictures that we took a couple of weeks ago. There were so many wonderful shots that the incredible Aubrey Torrey took! We headed over to the Outdoor Learning Center here in Katy... it was the perfect location. The amazing thing is that 5 minutes after taking the last shot, (the incredible sillouette), it starting pouring down rain. God answered my prayers that day in holding off the rain until we were done.

Here are some of my absolute favorites!

 

 

 

3D/4D Sonogram

Today was such an exciting day! We finally got to do our 3D/4D sonogram. Drew and I couldn't wait to get a glimpse of what our daughter actually looks like. It was a little tricky because she loves to keep her hands in front of her face and constantly squirm. But we did manage to get some images.

I love her sweet little cheeks (they are chubby like I imagined!) and her precious little lips! Her nose... I'm not quite sure about that one. We'll have to see when she actually arrives who it really looks more like. 9 more weeks sweet girl (or less!) :)

Sweet Charlotte,
Mommy cannot wait to meet you! Keep growing healthy and strong. I love feeling your little kicks and rolls. I don't think I'll ever tire of feeling you. It's a constant reminder of what a little miracle you really are. I dream about the moment when I get to hold you for the first time and shower you with love and kisses. I pray that you are smart, kind and more importantly love everyone. You are such a blessed little baby.

I love you,
Mommy

Look at those precious chubby cheeks!

Button nose

Full precious lips!

Kissing your hand :) I can't wait to read one of my favorite books to you... The Kissing Hand

Third Trimester... Large & In Charge!

I can't believe that I'm already 31 weeks and in my third trimester. Time is flying by so fast it's almost as if you blink it's soon going to be over and I will no longer be pregnant but holding my sweet sweet girl.

Since my last post, lots of things have been happening in the Dueitt house. Such as:

1. We have the nursery ALMOST complete!! We have all the furniture assembled and we are waiting now on the bedding from my Mom (she will bring it on Friday!) Yippee! We still need to hang pictures, wall hangings, etc and get the wicker rocking chair cushions recovered.

2. Nesting has officially set in! I have been cleaning the house like a mad woman and scheduling: pest control, a carpet cleaner, a maid to come DEEP clean, and decorating for fall. I just love FALL! And it's super exciting that I won't decorate my house again until AFTER Charlotte gets here!! So crazy!

3. I started back to work... BOO on that one. I do have to say that it is making the time go by faster and when you work with a fabulous team who've become some of your best friends... it's not really that bad. I just am SO TIRED all the time and literally out of breath. Some days are harder than others but I just take it day by day. Luckily, my class is the BEST I've ever had so it makes things easier.

4. I'm getting larger... larger... and larger. Technically, I've only gained about 12/13 lbs which is unbelievable to me, since I thought I was already closer to 20 but wow, I guess I am doing great :) My doctor said I could drink milkshakes and have dessert and not feel guilty... umm wish I had known that so I could have indulged more :)

5. A couple weeks ago we went to Louisiana for Drew's cousin's wedding reception and I ended up with food poisoning and had to be admitted to the ER because I was severely dehydrated and we were worried about baby girl. Everything turned out okay and it was scary but I'm fine and she is too :)

6. I'm now going to the doctor every 2 weeks. It's so fun! I LOVE going to the doctor. In fact, we just had our 3D/4D sonogram and video... (next post!)

7. We had our maternity pictures with the AMAZING Aubrey Torrey Photography. She's posted 2 pictures as a sneak peek on FB but I can't wait until she posts more on her blog. Hopefully soon I can share with all of you her amazing work. I just love them already!

8. Drew and I are counting down the days for our sweet girl to arrive... only a few more weeks baby girl. Technically 9 but I'm secretly hoping she comes a little early. I can't wait to hold her. My impatience is setting in and I dream about the moment when I get to meet my little girl.

My 2nd baby shower is this coming Saturday. I'm so excited and blessed to have wonderful family members on my side & Drew's that love spoiling us. I will blog all about it once it happens. More importantly, I'm excited for all my family to be in town celebrating. My two sisters, my  niece, Mom, mother in law, and sister in law will all be here this weekend... seriously. can't. wait!