farytale blog: showers of blessings

Earlier this year, Fred's family blessed us tremendously with a surprise baby shower for our little Eva. At the time I was early into my second trimester (about 16 weeks) and we didn't know whether we were having a boy or girl. It's hard to imagine us having anything else but our little Eva, but there was that time of uncertainty.

We were so blessed by their thoughtful gifts, words of encouragement, and wonderful fellowship. Every single family member was present, which was another blessing! Helen had asked what we call our little one. I told her Fred and I call each other "big bear" and "little bear," so we call our little one "baby bear." She structured the whole shower around that theme, and it was the cutest thing! We had paw-print cupcakes, children's books about bears, teddy bears, honey bears... Fred's mom even made salmon for supper, which was included into the shower.

Everything was so lovely, and we had so much fun with all the games during and afterwards. One of the absolute softest teddy bears I've ever felt in my life were gifted to little Eva that day by Elizabeth. I'm certain Eva's going to love it!

We always have such a great time with Fred's family when we visit, and I'm so thankful we will be seeing them for Thanksgiving. To all of you Bowmans: thank you for all the gifts and love you have shown us and our little one. We love you all. I can't wait to introduce you to Evangeline next year!
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We recently were blessed again by another baby shower. This time we knew that our baby was a girl, so we had a registry at last! (although we dragged our feet on that a bit... I think I felt overwhelmed picking out everything we need for a baby... how does one do that?!) My sisters and Aunt Tammy hosted, and many friends and family were there to celebrate this new life and shower us with gifts! My mom and Suzanne even made it up from Florida, thanks to theirs and my Dad's dedication. That was a very special blessing of itself. Crystal and daughter, Kaylee, spent the majority of the week preceding the shower with us in our home, and that was one of the best visits we have had! We had the best time.

We received so many wonderful gifts, and had many laughs. I had lots of cider and I felt like I could have eaten the entire array of food I was that hungry. Denise made these amazing s'mores cupcakes and I just had to break my sugar-fast for them. I should have taken a close-up of them but I didn't take many photos. I just enjoyed spending time with everyone there.

Crystal and Haley are both pregnant (Jan and Apr due dates, respectively), so we had some pregnancy photo shots taken of us and our growing bellies (although they weren't showing much yet). By Christmastime we will all be showing somewhat, so we will have to get more.

I have yet to finish writing thank-you notes for this last shower, but to all of you who were there, and some of you that couldn't make it, but showered us with gifts anyway: I have every intention of sending words of appreciation your way to let you know how you blessed me and have helped make my pregnancy so special.

One of the neat things about this shower was the amount of children present. It really felt like a baby shower! There were two babies, two toddlers, and quite a few young girls. Three of my nieces are in this picture on the right: Shiona, Scarlett, and Katrina.

I have just finishing washing all of the clothes, towels, stuffed animals, wraps and whatnot for Eva. It was so fun washing those tiny little outfits! Fred and I were oohing and ahhing over how cute everything was and how tiny she is going to be. Everything smells like baby powder, and we're finishing up the major renovations for her nursery. It's all becoming so real, and I can hardly stand it!

Little Eva, take your time coming until you are fully ready, but when you do come we have so much love we can't wait to show you.

(here are a few more pictures of our time with the Bowmans. Since we were all together we took some family photos)

These two got engaged right before our trip out there! I've so enjoyed getting to know her better.