Illinois Baby Shower

This past Sunday, the ladies up here in Bloomington-Normal banded together, with Emily as their fearless leader, to throw me a fantabulous baby shower. It was so nice to look around the room and to see friends that have become like family as JD and I live so far from Atlanta. Emily planned some great (and non-embarrassing!) games that kept us all entertained, while she, Beth, Gen, Melissa, and the host, Dr. Roberta Trites contributed a feast of homemade food. Danielle took care of filling the house with spring flowers, and Gen brought the finishing touch: some baby balloons! It truly was a great celebration.

Here is Beth Z. and one of my professors, Dr. Karen Coats, who knitted some precious baby hats.
The full spread and all the girls.

The Bible study ladies showed up in force with (from the left) Emily (or E2 as we call her), Kelly, and Ashley.

Me and the master shower planner: E1.

Why is Beth always sitting next to the professors? Here's Roberta!

Emily has hand-pieced baby Michael an amazing quilt!! He's already so loved and doesn't even realize it.

Thank you again to all the contributors! I'm 2 months out from delivery and feeling the pressure in more ways than one. Wednesday we'll have the 30 week ultrasound, so we're looking forward to some great new pictures of baby Michael. Meanwhile, Spring has sprung, and it is truly a great time of year.

Travel

Tired, so tired. I was only back for a week before I had to head out of town again on Wednesday, this time alone. I presented at a conference called The Fantastic in the Arts on Thursday morning, and the conference itself went really well. It was held in Orlando, Florida, which was colder and rainier than it should have been! I enjoyed my panel and the other 2 that I attended in the 24 hours I was down South, but it was an exhausting trip.

2 flights each way alone made for lots of stress and an appreciation for how much easier JD makes my life on a daily basis! I'm really glad that I don't have to travel any more until Michael is born. One nice thing about air travel is seeing how many people still read books (at least while they're on planes)! Sure, there were plenty of I-Pods and laptops, but not as many as I expected.

JD, meanwhile, has been holding down the fort and enjoying the improving weather by spending some time outside. I was so glad to get back home to him! Now we can settle down again for a while as I try to finish up my last semester of classes.

Nursery

Here are some long-awaited pictures of our finished nursery. So what if it's only March? Now I can relax until June! (I wish).

Thank you so much to Phillip for bringing all this furniture up to Illinois and helping JD assemble it! And thank you to all the friends and family who have contributed items to the room. Michael owes you all a hug!

Spring Break in Atlanta

There is way too much to say and to describe about our fabulous trip to Atlanta this past weekend. It was jam-packed with activities and fun like pottery painting, high tea, cookouts, church, my baby shower, seeing Alice in Wonderland, visiting the Coca Cola Museum and the Georgia Aquarium, lunch at the Sundial, and meeting new babies. Like I said, it would take me all day to write about the fun, the jokes, the travel. So, I'm going to tell about the trip in pictures so that I can get back to the joys of paper writing.

Baby Caleb Farris

Packing all the gifts for the trip homeThe one thing I do want to say here is thank you: thanks to the girls for going to Atlanta with me and meeting the crazy family; thanks to the Moms for a most spectacular baby shower that couldn't have turned out better; thanks to all the friends and family that attended the shower - you made me feel so loved; thanks to Michael and Mom for hosting four girls and all their cosmetics for four nights; thanks to Grandma, Grandpa, and Dina for traveling from out of state to be there with us. Okay, the thanks have gone on long enough, so you can imagine what the post would be like if I kept going!

Slam Dunk Contest

Here is the much anticipated video of JD's slam dunk Sunday night at the celebration of his basketball league's conclusion. He did awesome, and although the MC declared his opponent the winner, I totally disagreed, thinking that from crowd response it was a clear tie. Just look at the girl in front of me jump up and down for JD!