Week 35: Floors, Family and a Party!

This past week was super busy and so great! Super long post alert! :-) The first half of the week was pretty low-key, but bright and early on Thursday morning, things got crazy!

A home project we've wanted do for a VERY long time is replace our flooring in our living areas and bathrooms. The floor that we've been living with for nearly 4 years was there when Austin bought the house and it was pretty awful. The dark brown carpet showed everything and the gray/brown marble-ish looking vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms just looked dirty all the time.

Since we will have a little girl crawling around before too long, now seemed like the perfect time to do something about it! After much deliberation and learning tons of information about flooring in general, we decided on a wooden laminate for the living room/kitchen and a special order tile looking vinyl for the bathrooms. We are so pleased and it makes SUCH a difference! I will post before and after pictures sometime soon.

We bought the floors through Lowe's and paid to have them installed. DIY home improvement projects are not our forte! The stressful part was having to vacate the house for a day and a half before tons of family came in for our last baby shower in Jackson. My sister graciously opened up her home to me and I used some of my nesting urges to help her clean up her apartment :-) I'm so thankful so have our new floors, but I don't recommend undertaking such a large home project when 8 months pregnant!

Thursday night, I went to a breastfeeding class and it was so helpful! I won't go into detail, but I feel so much more informed about everything. Its also so comforting to know that the nurses and lactation consultants will be there to help while we're at the hospital.

Friday afternoon, our floors were finished and we had just enough time to clean up (Austin really did the majority of the work) and then we went out to dinner with Dad and Aunt Meg! Aunt Meg flew all the way from Chicago to attend my baby shower! It was so great to spend some quality time together and it meant so much that she came!

After a fun Friday night out, we slept in Saturday morning and got ready for other family to arrive for the shower! It was such a blessing to have so many family members and friends celebrate Claudia Grace with us. 

Mary, Jessie, Amy and Kayla hosted a lovely shower for Claudia Grace at H.R.H. Dumplins in Jackson! Nearly 40 other friends and family joined us to celebrate and it was so fun! Of course, I must share photos!

The food table! There was Fruit Salad, Baked Brie with Crackers, Spinach Dip, Chocolate Cake and Strawberry Cake

The present display! This is the basinet that Mary and I used as babies and what Claudia will sleep in too :-) 

The sign in for the guests! I'm looking forward to putting this in Claudia's baby book! 

The drink station. Dumplin's has the most delicious iced fruit tea! 

The pretty little centerpieces for each table! I adore pink roses! 

The food table centerpiece. Austin gave me the Willow Tree piece shortly after we knew Claudia was on the way :-) 

The lovely Garden Room filled with wonderful friends and family! This makes my heart so happy! 

The cute candy on each table :-) 

Opening gifts! I was truly overwhelmed by everyone's generosity. Claudia has sooo many beautiful things! 

This lady. I'm so blessed that she is my sister. She did such an amazing job putting everything together! 

With some of the hostesses! Jessie, Mary and Amy! Love them! 

Mom and me!

Grandmommy and me! Words can't express how wonderful it is that she is here to walk through this season of life with me and meet her Great-Granddaughter! She has influenced my life in so many ways and I love her so much! 

This is classic :-) 

4 generations of women! Yes, the color coordination was intentional :-) 

I adore this photo! Claudia with her Grandmothers! I'm SO glad they were both there.

My aunts! These women are so incredible and have been huge role models for me! I'm so blessed and so happy they came for the shower! Aunt Joan drove from Lexington, KY, Aunt Sherry came from Paducah and Aunt Meg came from Chicago 

The adorable party favors containing Hershey's Kisses and Hugs. I probably ate 5 bags of these ! :-) 

Most of the relatives who were at the shower! Aunt Meg, Aunt Joan, Aunt Sherry, Grandmommy, Mom, Carol and Mary! We were just missing Granny and Kayla in the photo- I was so happy they came! 

While the ladies were having fun at the shower, the men hung out at our house. They kind of had their own party! Austin, Dad, Larry, Uncle Richard and my cousin Michael were there. Here is the photographic evidence :-) 

Following the shower, all of the family went back to our house (braving the pouring down rain) and hung out. I loved having a full house of people I love so dearly! 

Then we all headed to a yummy dinner at Red Robin! Despite the fact that it was freezing (it didn't help that we were all a little damp from the rain), we had a great time! 

Following dinner, everyone parted ways. Aunt Joan and Michael stayed in Jackson at Mary's apartment and we were able to spend some good time with them on Sunday! We went to church together, had lunch at Wall Street Grille and took Michael on a tour of Union. Just because of the distance, we really only get to see them in Paducah, mainly at Christmas. It was such a treat to have them in Jackson- we just missed having Uncle Wesley and Matthew there too! 

Austin and I ended the week feeling so special and loved by our family and friends. Sunday afternoon, we enjoyed sorting all of Claudia's new things and assembling the larger items! This coming week, we're anticipating our first childbirth class and getting packed for the hospital! Hopefully I can get nursery pictures done so the anticipated "nursery post" can happen soon!