Surprise!

I had a big surprise this Saturday. Ryan came up to the hospital with the kids and we went for a walk. I am allowed a 30 minute wheelchair ride each day and it's kind of a tradition for us now, Kaydree likes to walk by the nursery and see the new babies and I'll do just about anything to get out of my room for a little while. We walked downstairs near the cafeteria and Ryan opens this random door and says, "Lets go in here"...meanwhile I'm thinking 'Ryan this is a hospital, we can't just go walking into random conference rooms'. Low and behold everything is decorated and my friends are all sitting there to surprise me with a baby shower!

My sister-in-law Emily is so awesome, she can surprise anyone I tell you (I am now seriously wondering if she might be an undercover operative for some government agency: think Jack Bower meets Martha Stewart). Last year she surprised me with a baby shower for Carver, and I never suspected that she would be able to pull it off again. I really thought that I just wouldn't be having a shower this time, here I am stuck in the hospital and I figured after my babies came I probably wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. It was such a fun surprise, everything was decorated perfectly (by Emily aka the young Martha Stewart) with pink, brown, birdhouses, and birds (my nursery theme).

Let me just take a moment to applaud my awesome friends. The hospital is a good 30 minutes from where we all live and I have never had a shortage of visitors, phone calls, emails, or offers for help with whatever I need. And for everyone to show up on a busy Saturday in the rain, I just could not ask for better friends. I got some super cute gifts: you gotta love all the coordinating twin outfits, diapers and supplies, not to mention the really talented ones who make stuff. My friend Wendy painted the cutest tree in my nursery to go with my decor, Lisa made me a sling out of some really cute fabric, Kathryn is hard at work on my newest carseat covers, and Rachel (the domestic diva herself) has offered to make me a diaper bag or matching outfits, whichever I choose. I will have to post pics of all the finished products once I get home.

And I really ought to devote an entire post to my mom who has been taking care of my kids, house, and (lets face it) just about everything else in my life this whole time. She and my sister drove an hour (probably longer with traffic) on one of her few days off from my kids to be there for my shower, what a gal! If she doesn't deserve the mother of the year award I don't know who does.

Finally, props to Ryan for coordinating with Emily behind my back for the past few weeks and managing somehow to keep it all a secret from me. We both realized after the commotion that there may be a few who did not get invited or who he remembered just a little too late to send an invite to. So if you're reading this and you got missed, all I can say is give the guy a break...he has tried to fill my shoes the best he can but he's still brushing up on some of the finer points of domesticity - i.e. cake decorating, girls hairstyling, and party planning. Sorry!

Anyway, after a long, boring, and at times never ending hospital stay, it was so nice to reconnect to my old life and be myself for a little while, not just the pregnant girl in room 210.