NJ Baby Shower

Its better late than never! I got some great photos that my cousin Alex took at my baby shower in NJ, held March 27, 2010. I know its over a month late, but here it is. I still have to get the ones from the MN shower! Yikes!

Everything came out great. My sisters, my mom, and my friends did an amazing job with the planning.

Think blue!!!

Candy Bar!!Cupcakes and cake!yummy dessertsDelicious food my mom cooked :)Opening gifts with my amazing guestsMaternity Outfit:

literally bought that morning because I couldn 't fit into my original outfit

Simply Vera Wang: Navy satin dress

Kohl's: white shawl sweater

Lauren Conrad -grey stretch belt with stud closure

TJ Maxx - silver sandalsCute favors -courtesy of my dad :)

Baby Shower

Last weekend my mom, sisters, and friends in NJ threw me an amazing baby shower at the house. I was hoping to have some pictures to post which is why it took me so long to write this, but so far i don't have any. I just have a few that I wanted to share.

It was so nice seeing everyone and catching up with people. I do have to say, I hate being the celebrant b/c i feel like don't have enough time to hang out with everyone and i always worry whether people are having fun. But it was a great turnout.

My dad unfortunately was in the philippines but i know he was just as excited. Baby showers are his forte :) His thing are baby bottle favors with candy inside - of course that's what he prepared for the party -they came out great! He got personalized ribbons made. It was kind of funny they said, "Karen's baby" and i kept thinking, it definitely takes two to make a baby - but i know, the shower was for me.

My sister really wanted to display the favors nicely so we got this awesome 3 tiered silverset from HomeGoods (i looove this store.) The display was fab!!

While we were at HomeGoods, i found the best thing ever!!!!!! The world's roundest pig - i was so excited to get this for Wil - not for baby, for Wil - i just knew he would love it. In fact, he hand carried him on the plane back to Atl. Luckily the flight was empty so "baboy" (wil's name for him) had his own seat :)

Sorry, i look gross, i was so sweaty that day from doing errands with my sis. But i was wearing:

Banana republic creme long sweater

Zara miliary green tunic with emroidery on shoulders

Target Maternity skinny jeans that my mom bought for me at 8 weeks-they were a bit tight at this point....

Steve Madden gold ballet slippers (not pictured)

Louis Vuitton Bag

My mom did such a great job cooking and getting everything ready. I tried to help as much as I could, but i got tired so easily!!!

Eddie even helped make cupcakes, well he helped a lot more than that. Let's just say, he doesn't like being the Wil proxy. He gets stuck doing all the dirty work. lol. Wil was stuck in Atl for work.

My friends, Arch, Cheryl, and Joanne coordinated the games which were a hit.

My favorite part of the shower that was new to me, was included in the invites, was a little insert that read something like this:

A card is nice, its sentiment is sweet,

But a book will keep baby on his feet.

For years to come baby will read

Longing for stories will never be a need.

A shelf full of wisdom for all to give

For baby to keep as long as he shall live.

Filling the shelf should not be hard

If you would please sign a book instead of a card.

My sister came up with this and it was such an appropriate idea. I loved it. In fact, i've been reading baby books from these every night. I'll have to post a pic of the bookcase once its all set up :) Hopefully i'll be getting more pics of this shower and even the mn showers. As soon as I get them, i'll post them up.

Pig Roast

This past weekend was a big weekend for us. We had our baby showers and it was also Wil's 33 birthday!!! It was so nice being with family and friends again. We did see them last week for tita esther's funeral, but it was so nice to see everyone for a happy occasion. I could tell though that Tita Esther was looking down on us. :)

So we had 2 showers. One Wil's mom hosted for us for wil's side of the family and the "adults." It was a lot of fun - there was tons of great food and it was hilarious watching the aunts play the dice game and fight over a green ceramic dish :) i even fought for it a few times. The second was hosted by my favorite cousins Rg and Carneth, with the help of our friends. I can't even tell you how much work went into the details of this party. As i mentioned before it was pig themed :) for our little round piglet. As soon as we got to the complex there were signs everywhere directing people to the "Leano baby shower!" Then in the actual room, each table was adorned with fab diaper cakes, topped with pig oven holders on top :) They were surrounded with little hershey kiss giveaways.

Even the games were so organized! for one of them, the guys had to race to finish the juice in the baby bottle so they had to wear these pink pig bibs. hahahaha. i loooved it. And for "feed the baby" there were life size pics of wil and i for the baby head. They even had a recording of a baby crying in the background for the full effect. So many little things that made it special.

I have to say, for me, it was so surreal -thinking that this shower was for me - for baby. We've been waiting so long to have a baby - trying so hard, and now he's finally coming!! He got so many cute things :) cute outfits, little onesies, bibs with witty sayings like "spit happens", his little froggy robe, rattles - i can't wait!!!!!!! We're so lucky.

And my hubby turned the lucky 33 this weekend :) we celebrated the day after at Pinz, a local arcade, restaurant and bowling alley. I have to say-it was a great venue - i think everyone had fun - including the birthday boy. This is what happiness is.

Its raining babies

So, the festivities are starting this weekend :) i'm flying to Minnesota for 2 of the 3 showers planned for this baby of mine. I'm sooo excited because 1) i'm a little lonely here in Atlanta and would love to see my family and friends and 2) i'm excited to start getting things for baby. i can't wait to start decorating his room, washing his clothes, and getting everything ready, lining up his diapers, etc. The first shower will be hosted by my mother in law for her friends, the "adults, " and wil's side of the family. the latter half of the day will be the second shower hosted by one of my closest cousins, Carneth, and 3 of my closest friends, Richelle, Ann, and Shirley May. This party is more for friends, people our age, and my cousins on my side. I know it took a lot of planning on everyone's part so im so grateful for everything.

The one my cousin is hosting is a pig theme -in honor of Wil's love for pigs. Coincidentally, its his birthday on that day. Here's a pic of the handmade invites by my friend Richelle. They're so perfect - the blue and brown match the decor i'm planning for baby's room and the little onesie even has a pig on it :)

So the hard part was shopping for a fab outfit for these showers. first of all, at this stage, your energy isn' what it used to be. you get tired VERY quickly. Plus, like i said, i hate looking for specific maternity clothes so i literally have to scour the racks for regular looking clothes that would still fit and somewhat enhance the bump instead of making me look like the pear shape that i am. So they say to accentuate your best assets and i have to tell you, i have none at this point. The weight gain was everywhere- not just my belly. my arms are so flabby. I thought i had thunder thighs before - now they're like hurricaine thighs. My face is super round. Even my calf muscles grew - put it this way, i had a hard time zipping up my boots today over my calves.......so wrong! Heidi Klum and all these celebrities make it look so easy to look good pregnant, but in the real world, its so not easy. Plus you want to maintain and small budget since really, my money should be going into baby's piggy bank.

So here's what i came up with:

Its a sheer floral tunic from Forever21 from their in house line twelvebytwelve. I tried not to get anything too billowy because i really think the more fabric a piece has, the more

frumpy you look, but in this case, the sash (as most sashes do) accentuated my waist - or what i have left of it so it didn't look as bad. Plus it had a gorgeous neckline adorned with rhinestones which i think helps draw attention away from the roundness of me. lol. I plan to wear this with black leggings, peep toe heels, my pearl button earrings, and a black cocktail ring. Hopefully this executes in pictures b/c these are the memories i'm going to have of this pregnancy. i don't have many pics in general of this pregnancy so im banking on the fact that i hope to look good at the shower, and hence in the pictures. wish me luck.

So, i bought another outfit for my shower in NJ -which is in a few weeks. I'm kinda regretting what i bought:

Don't get my wrong, its beautiful - its a sleeveless tunic bubble dress from one of my favorite stores, Zara. I love everything about it- the gauzy, feminine material, again, the statement neckline adorned with rhinestones, the mink color. But i just don't think i can wear it the way its meant to be worn. the dress comes up short, mainly b/c my belly holds it up - so then i was planning to wear leggings with it/or skiny jeans. But then, my arms are flabby and you can see my back fat, so i was then planning to put a grandfather cardigan over it. But then really, doesn't that defeat the purpose of the whole outfit? So frustrating. So, i might have to go back to the drawing board for that outfit. And don't tell me to use the same outfit as my mn showers. Again, i barely have any pics of this pregnancy and if i'm gonna have pics from my showers, i'm going to have different outfits and i'm determined to look good!