Showered!

In the past year it seems we have crammed in every life change possible: engagement, wedding, graduation, moving, and now our first baby! With that has come many showers and parties and each one has left me feeling completely overwhelmed (in a great way!). So many of our family and friends have generously given gifts, sent meaningful cards and messages, and faithfully showed up for wedding showers, our actual wedding, graduation, Robbie’s graduation party, and now our baby showers. I feel like it is about time for us to give everyone a break! I have never in my life been so aware of the reality that Robbie and are are very unusually blessed with amazing family and friends. I don’t know many people who have such genuine supportive and loving people in their lives – people who give without a second thought motivated only by love and excitement, people who think of us and encourage us daily, and most importantly people who support us with their thoughts and prayers. I am beyond words.

One memory that I will share, knowing I will absolutely never forget this moment in our lives. The day after our wedding Robbie and I stayed at our apartment since we had decided to wait a day to fly out for our honeymoon. Our bridal party had graciously cleaned up after the reception and brought the gifts and cards to our apartment. I will never forget being alone with Robbie, sitting on the couch opening gift after gift, card after card and reading each and every message of support people had written for us. It literally took us hours to complete the process. About halfway through we both looked at each other realizing we hadn’t said a word for quite awhile. I knew he was thinking exactly what I was at that moment and I asked, “Are you as overwhelmed as I am?”. Robbie just shook his head and said, “I don’t even know what to say. I just can’t believe all this.” It’s rare that I ever see him look unsure or overwhelmed but at that moment the look on his face was of someone who is completely stunned and humbled. I know we don’t get the chance to say it often enough but I truly hope everyone in our lives knows exactly how much we appreciate your generousity and support. Not just the gifts but everything – the phone calls, cards, emails, facebook messages, visits, and your genuine excitement for us during our first year. I know without a doubt we will never forget the day-in and day-out support we have received from each and every one of you as we are starting out. We regularly pray that we will try to live up to the examples you all have set for us – generously, selflessly, loving and supporting the people in our lives.

As for the showers, as I mentioned earlier, this has been a whirlwind of a first year (in fact we are still 5 weeks from finishing our first year of marriage but it sure seems like we’ve been through a few already!). Our Iowa baby shower was held on August 13^th one year exactly after our Iowa wedding shower – I couldn’t help but notice the coincidence. If you had told me a year ago I would be back in Iowa (from Cleveland of all places…) for a baby shower the very same weekend I would have thought you were crazy. Yet, that’s exactly where I found myself and I loved every minute of it! My brother, Seth, was back from Afghanistan so it was not just a shower but a family reunion of sorts. My sister, Jolie, and brother-in-law, Mark, were able to make it up from Nashville which was really exciting for me. I love that my sister got to see my pregnant tummy before Annabelle gets here! My brother, Neal, and his girlfriend, Ashley, couldn’t make it but I am really excited we are now close enough to D.C. that they will be able to come visit us in Cleveland in a few weeks before the baby gets here! The Iowa shower was decorated with little owls and had one of my favorite desserts – flower cookies!! In college I worked at a local Danish bakery one summer and flower cookies one of their signature items. My mom ordered them in pink with little brown sprinkles…so absolutely adorable! A lot of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were able to make it for the shower and it was so nice to see them since I had originally been unsure if I would be able to make it back to Iowa before the baby. I was touched that so many of them drove out to come celebrate with my family. I was able to work in some visits with my friend Beth in Davenport, Krystal in Des Moines, Andrea in Altoona, and the Mosher family in Bondurant as well during the week I was home. My friend Tara who I studied abroad with also drove down for lunch the day before the shower since she would be at a wedding on the day of the shower. She is such and encouraging, positive person and I am really glad it worked out to meet up. I am so thankful I got to see so many people while I was back! Here are some photos of the shower – there are a few missing that are on Seth’s camera so sorry if you took a photo with me that is not here!!

Banner over doorway

Banner

Advice cards

Flower cookies that I love in bottom left

Diaper cake!

Owl and bouquet of baby clothes

Me and my sister Jolie

Anne, Mom, and me

I'm just a little bit bigger than dad now!

Me and my dad!

My aunt Bonnie with her granddaughter, Sophie

Aunt Cheri - her first granddaughter is scheduled to arrive just a few days after ours!

Aunt Marva and Uncle John

Uncle Johnnie and Aunt Kathy

After the Iowa shower, I drove to Chicago for a shower the next day, August 14^th. Rob’s mom and Shelly did a great job putting the shower together and, fittingly, had some adorable cupcakes and cookies in pink and purple! Check out the photo of them below! Again, the house was full of well-wishing friends and family members. In the beginning of our relationship I had a hard time keeping everyone straight in Rob’s life because everyone is an “aunt”, “grandma” or something even if they aren’t related. There is nothing quite like a Tanzer holiday or party since everyone makes a point to stop by or send a message over to let you know they are there in spirit. Everyone had a great time guessing how big my belly was – some tried to flatter me with a teeny-tiny measurement and others WAY over-estimated…good thing I am not easily offended – ha! It was a great shower and I had a smile on my face heading back to Cleveland that night. Below are some photos of the Chicago shower.

Yummy cute cupcakes!

Kara, Libby, and Annie :)

Dawn - look how great she looks!!! A fellow runner now :)

The Smit family women

Karen and Audrey

Aunt Marie, Hannah, and Kelly

Libby got the grand prize!

The fabulous hostesses - Mrs. Tanzer and Shelly :)

So, in summary, an amazing weekend of “pink” baby showers (I purposely left pink out of all wedding décor so I LOVED that the baby showers were filled covered in it!). Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came out and to those who couldn’t make it – you were very, very missed!! We are finally ready now to start putting that nursery together!!