Big, Giant Post

Hi there. I think I'm a little tired.
Just the thought of a post detailing our weekend makes me more tired. At the same time, so many wonderful things happened - I can't just let them all slip by without telling you a little bit at least.
Mindy's baby shower was this weekend, and you know how I like to have parties! My sister-in-law, Sarah and I co-hosted, with the help of Mindy's sister, Kim. We all divided up the tasks beforehand and I was up until,
ahem,
four o'clock Saturday morning doing my stuff.
I have it on good authority that Sarah was too.
We had a vintage baby cowboy theme goin' on and it was so cute. Honestly. I sewed miles of bunting to hang from the ceiling and made rope words to hang on the walls and Sarah made so many adorable cookies and games and food and more games and...
wanna see some pictures?







Between the two of us party pros, I don't think a single detail was overlooked.




The other reason I was awake so late was that I had to finish, of course, the hand-made baby gifts. I made two sets of receiving blankets and burp cloths from a pattern I found at youcanmakethis.com and I wrapped up that organic cotton Baby Sophisticate sweater I've been working on, along with a cute little button-topped, matching hat. There will be more pictures later (due to a photography class assignment), but here's a little preview:



My brother Jon also hand-made a present for Nolan. It's the cutest little robot toy. Oh. My. Gosh. You can sort of see it in Joe's lap above. That will also be included in more detailed photos later this week. Kate? You will love it so much.
I regret that I didn't take more photos of the food. Sarah made homemade pigs-in-a-blanket and gingerbread cookies on sticks in little cowboy-themed shapes. I made a ton of cupcakes:



By the time the shower was over, the past two weeks just sort of washed over me and I collapsed. My body hurts from my accident and the resulting physical therapy, my head hurt from all the multi-tasking and was tired all the way through. Chris really took care of me and made sure that I rested as much as possible on Sunday. For a fun, family-style activity, we jammed our fists into the dirt and harvested the first of our sweet potatoes.



There weren't many yet, especially considering how the vines have taken over everything,



but at the same time, it's nice to have found a crop that we seem to have some success with. I guess sweet potatoes really love the heat and humidity of the south!
We finished our Sunday off by using up the remaining sparklers from July 4th. They've been just sitting in my room and waiting for Emma to get a bit braver. She's always been pretty scared of them, but finally worked up the courage to play with the sparkly fire.



The shower was truly a beautiful celebration of our newest little family member. But the biggest reason to celebrate was that Nolan was given the green light to come home this past Sunday, the day after his party. There are still some scary things - he will be on a heart monitor for a long time and he really can't be exposed to many people (germs, y'know), but he's home now and that's all that matters. Gratuitous baby photos, anyone? These are from a week ago or so, but still. Tiny baby. Eating. Being burped. Need I say more?