Adoption Shower #3

Last weekend I had my final shower, co-hosted by my cousin and one of my friends here in Maryland. These showers have been such a blessing and encouragement to me.

The food was delicious!

My cousin Sarah arranged a scrapbook table and everyone made a page with messages to Joshua. My family also did a scrapbook table at my shower in Florida, but that one is for pictures and is more for me, whereas this one has messages for Joshua. As Joshua meets each person who made a page, I will put a picture of their first meeting on the scrapbook page with the message. Since I still have some pages open, I am going to ask each person in my family to write a message to Joshua to include in the book.

My friends Denise and Elisabeth making their pages

My friend Stephanie (she co-hosted the shower) and I

Elisabeth and I

With my friend Wakettia

Grace, Jen, and I

My former boss and friend Diane

My cousin Sarah and Julie (she is the sister of one of my closest friends - Cindy couldn't be at my shower because she is in India doing anti-human trafficking work)

With my friend Denise

 

Baby Talk book - thank you Grace!

My Little Man picture frame - thank you Jen!

Wall Hanging - thank you Stephanie!

Aveeno Mommy and Me gift basket and sun shade - thank you Heather!

Cindy purchase this with her sister Julie before she left for India - since she knew we would miss Joshua's first birthday, she wanted us to have a hanbok to celebrate Joshua's next birthday

 

Isn't it beautiful!!!

I am so grateful for such wonderful family and friends!

Shower #2

My baby shower with my family in Florida was this past Saturday, which was also Joshua's first birthday. I had a wonderful time. What I loved most was that it wasn't just a shower, but a celebration of Joshua. My mom, stepmom, and sisters did the most amazing job!

The decorations were red and blue, inspired by the S. Korean flag. And of course Joshua was prominently featured.

The favors had red or blue tea light candles with Joshua's birth date and a tin on top that had his picture, which was filled with red and blue M&M's.

"Joshua" confetti!

Scrapbook table - we ended up making a bunch of pages after the shower was over. One of my sisters bought me a beautiful scrapbook for the pages we made.

Another one of my sisters really researched Dol traditions and so she set up the Toljabee as decorations on the table. Unbeknownst to her, one of the items she selected has a very special meaning to us based on the information we were given about Joshua's birthmother.

The food was delicious! There are no Korean restaurants where my parents live, so the menu was a fusion of Asian cuisine. Since I love sushi, that worked for me!!! And no, you don't get to keep the boat. My future sister-in-law asked :-)

After we ate, we played a few games. The one below is called "Baby Love Around the World." You have to match "I love you" with the correct language. I didn't win. But I did get the Korean one right ;-)

After the games, it was time to open gifts. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone. Since I traveled to Florida, the big items were shipped straight to my house and I got to open a card or box with a picture of the item. Here are a few of the other items we received:

The last gift was from my mom and sisters - a total surprise, especially since it was in a "happy birthday" bag.

A gold ring, a traditional Korean 1st birthday gift (the pictures not so great because I was about to cry):

It meant so much to me that my family took the time to learn about Korean traditions and incorporate them into our celebration. I can't wait to be able to tell Joshua about this in the future.

And lastly, the cake (it says God Bless Joshua):

I feel so amazingly blessed!!!

A Few Shopping Successes!

I haven't had a chance to finishing registering yet, but I have to say I am feeling so much better about the whole process. I can't thank all of you who have commented or emailed enough. What would I do without all you ladies! I am starting to think the Baby Bargains book is to shopping/registering what What to Expect When You're Expecting is to pregnancy, a book that just completely freaks you out! I am realizing that while they may have some good advice, they are also likely wrong on a lot of things, and a bit over the top about other things.

I did have a few shopping successes recently. For now, I am not going to do much more shopping until after my baby showers. I am just going to register and wait and see what we get as gifts. But now that I have made my first craigslist purchase, I know where I will be starting to look for what we need.

So here is my first craigslist deal:

A BOB Revolution!!!

I am so excited!

Last Saturday, my stepmom and I went to the Mothers of Multiples sale and found some great bargains.

I got this Graco Pack 'n' Play for $15:

 

And all of this for $71.50:

Clothes

and more clothes

 84" gingham curtains from Pottery Barn

Books

PJs

 

Little People fire truck and car carrier, fisher price dump truck, and 

vtech school bus (that plays "the wheels on the bus go round and round")

And from Me-me (Grandma Karen - my stepmom) for $20:

Don't you just love a good bargain!