"Growing by 2 Feet"

Our extended family is about to grow by two more feet! Soon Evan will no longer have the distinction of being the youngest in the family as his cousin Baby Dillan Oliver is on his way, hopefully to be here in just six short weeks, to take that special coveted title. Dillan will be the magical 5th grandchild for my in-laws who are absolutely thrilled to have so many little ones to spoil.

Today we celebrated his mother-to-be, Valerie's most excellent baby baking skillz of Dillan at a small cozy shower in their honor. It is so nice to see someone go through a pregnancy with practically no complications or illnesses, not even morning sickness. Val is doing great, holding up excellently, and is very ready in almost every way for her new son Dillan to make his entrance to the world in a month and a half (possibly less, but you all know we hope not too soon).

The nesting is in full swing and dad-to-be Mike is working very hard to make sure that Dillan's room is ready for him as soon as possible. Both parents are still pretty calm, all be it very excited for their first new bundle of joy to arrive and taking on the daunting task of remodeling the second floor of their home to have the perfect nursery. Well, actually I don't think the official nervousness (ie. you'll recall that moment just before you had your baby(ies) where you realized in complete terror, that moment when "holy shit I'm about to have a kid, he's coming and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it now and nothing will ever be the same" hits you) and overwhelming panic has set in yet for either parent, but that special moment is usually reserved for the birthday. You can see more about their remodeling project on Val's blog Saturn Girl's New Life, the link is in my blog roll.

They have taken on the challenge of adding a new a/c and furnace, replacing the electrical panel and the entire bathroom, in addition to adding a dividing wall and all new drywall to create Dillan's room. It is quite a project, especially for a couple who work opposite schedules. But they are making progress and it is starting to all come together come hell or high water or well... the baby. So far the bathtub and tile are in and it looks fabulous. I know once they get the walls up in Dillan's room and paint it the Finding Nemo theme is going to be over the top way cool.

It's going to be so fun having three little ones running and crawling around at Thanksgiving and Christmas time and all the family get-togethers. It will be great to have other kids playing and screeching and running about, causing havoc and running to Poppop and Mommom to ask for things that their parents have already said no to. Mommom and Poppop maybe need to consider expanding their house by at least 6 feet to make room for so many grandkids. Either that or the poor artificial Christmas tree they have is going to have to get smaller to make more room for all the presents.

To Valerie, congratulations on a wonderful healthy pregnancy and best wishes for a easy problem free delivery. You are doing a great job! To Mike, congratulations on becoming a dad, we know you will be an excellent one, and you too are doing a really great job. And most of all to Dillan, on your very first post of your own on Taylo2Babies, we are so excited and looking forward to many many many more posts about you and your wonderful antics growing up and hanging out with Timmy, Lucy, Cameron and Evan. They are all looking forward to having their new baby cousin arrive. I think my camera will have a melt down from all the cuteness about to ensue.

With much love,
Laura & Drew

Here are some shots from today's festivities:

Valerie's own Cake Wreck - Poor penmanship...


The Diaper Cake - Finding Nemo is the nursery theme if you haven't guessed. And what good Aunt of preemies wouldn't have her diaper cake accessorized with handy "Please wash your hands before touching mine" car seat stroller sign? My favorite baby thing ever!


Variation on the Baby Food Taste Testing Game: Serve baby food samples in shot glasses and have everyone guess the kind of baby food in each. Why shot glasses? Because it's often that glasses like those get the guest of honor in the condition she's in so why not use them now? You can use Gerber rubber coated spoons to have people taste the food too. Better yet, video people as they eat the food to capture their expressions!




And here is the guest(s??) of honor!


Special thank you goes out to Debbie and Lara for helping me pull together this baby shower, as I don't know if I could have done it with out you both!