Wednesday, February 4, 2009

A SUPER Surprise!!!

No, despite the fact that I'm two days away from being 36 weeks and Mr. Kolbe was born the day I turned 36 weeks, the baby is NOT here yet! But I did receive a HUGE surprise this past weekend on Saturday in the form of an awesome surprise diaper shower!

I guess I've just been so consumed with trying to take care of myself through the end of this pregnancy and taking care of Kolbe that I didn't even imagine having a shower at all. Besides, showers are for first time Mamas, right!?! So apparently Abby, being the amazing sister-in-law that she is, was the original ring leader behind this entire operation and had been trying to plan it for months! She managed to wrangle in two of my co-workers and my cousin, Mandi to help out.

In order to keep it a secret from me, they got Mark to disguise the shower as a date for the two of us. About a week ago, Mark gave me this whole shpeel about "Well, for once, I don't have a test on Monday morning so I'll take a break from studying and lets go out to lunch on Saturday afternoon." Typically, since Mark doesn't get to see Kolbe all week either, we just take him wherever we go...even on "dates!" But on Friday night, we were all hanging out over at Popo's and Mark (in front of me) asked if anyone would be available to watch Kolbe for our date. Abby quickly volunteered but said she wouldn't be able to watch him until around 2pm because they had Raider Awakening stuff to do in the morning. Thinking nothing of it, I was just so excited that Mark and I were going on a real date! Things got even more exciting when the next morning Mark told me that he had made reservations at the restaurant for 2pm and started ironing an outfit to wear. Heck, if he was going to get dressed up, I guess I needed to too! Still completely naive to what was going on, I even called Abby shortly before 2:00 to make sure she was still on board to watch Kolbe and finished with her RA stuff!

As we arrived at Abby's house, I was chatting away with Mark and apparently paid no attention to all the cars lining the streets. Besides, it was the weekend anyway...someone was probably having a party or something... The only thing I noticed was Mandi's van in the driveway. I told Mark, "Oh, that's Mandi's van. She must be over here dropping something off or something." (since they're sisters-in-law) As soon as the front door opened and I saw the huge crowd of people, I was completely shocked and overwhelmed at what was going on! Being the hormonal, pregnant woman that I am, I immediately started bawling and couldn't stop! They TOTALLY got me! And usually I'm such a busy body that nothing gets past me! Honestly, I should allow myself to surprised more often. It was SOOO exciting and I was just totally overwhelmed that everyone had pulled together to make this so special for me. I felt completely unworthy and so blessed! (and still do!)

As for the shower, since Kolbe and Reagan are only going to be 15 months apart and Kolbe was in preemies for so long, I just assumed that we had absolutely all the clothes we need in exactly the right seasons and sizes, not to mention ridiculous amounts of toys and various other baby gear! So wisely, everyone pulled together and brought TONS of diapers and wipies for Baby Reagan! Not exaggerating, I think we tallied up over 1600 diapers and probably double the wipes! We are definitely set through the (possible) preemie, newborn, size one, AND size two phases of Reagan's life! What a HUGE blessing! This will help out SO much!!!

Thanks again to everyone who helped out with the shower or attended. It was honestly such a special and touching moment for me and just meant the world! See pictures below!

P.S. Since I didn't know to bring my camera, I didn't get any pictures of my own. If you happen to have any on yours from the shower, I'd be so grateful if you'd email them to me! Thanks!



Mark and me shortly after walking in and everyone screaming SURPRISE! (I was still crying, of course!)

Yummy!

The ADORABLE diaper cake that Abby and her sister, Jenny made! (I think Erin might have helped too!?!) Looks like I need to brush up on my domestic talents! Last thing I made was some hot chocolate this morning...

I finally stopped crying long enough get a good family picture before Mark ran at lightning speed from the girl packed event!

3 comments:

Amy Kinney said...

How fun! :)
We're keeping you in our thoughts & prayers as Reagan makes his way into the world!

The JP Behnkes said...

What a fun surprise! I'm so glad someone else got the wool pulled over their eyes!! ;) You, Mark, Kolbe and Reagan are in our nightly Rosary intentions. I can't wait to see you guys! :) We will be there for Easter, most likely and I would love to see you guys then!

Sarah Busby said...

What a fun day full of sweet memories! Wish I could have been there to help celebrate!