What a Big Week!

What a busy, wonderful week we've had! It's been a tiring one, but fabulous. To start, almost all of my family (just missing my sister, Genevieve) was able to come to Wichita to visit us. We celebrated the 1st birthday of our niece, Emma. She's just amazing... and a fantastic birthday girl, I have to say. She was SO excited about her presents and her cake. She's so much fun. It seems like most babies I've seen at their 1st birthday's are pretty clueless about everything that's going on. Emma was all about the birthday celebration! We just got a new video camera that I have not yet figured out how to work, but once I do, I'll post a video of her present-opening extravaganza. Here are a couple pics, but without the squealing and spinning around in circles, it's hard to really get the full effect. :)

We also had our 2nd baby shower this weekend! We really weren't sure if we should have one or not, since we know so few people in Wichita, but we figured it would be a good chance to the family to get together, if nothing else. My sisters-in-law had a great idea to make a scrapbook instead of doing the usual baby shower games, so it didn't matter how many people came. As it turned out, we did have a few neighbors and ladies from Ian's work come by, which was so nice of them. We also received a ton of gifts from people here and from our friends & family all over the country. We are SO thankful for everyone's generosity! We're especially thankful to Jill, Mandy and Cortney for all their hard work to make the shower happen. You girls are the best!!

Last night, I went to a meal swap with the moms' group I've been getting involved with. I really am so thankful and feel so blessed to have found this group of women so quickly. I've only had the chance to go to a few events, but each time, I'm amazed by how warm and welcoming everyone is. Someone asked me recently how this move has compared with our move to Charlotte and it's really incredible to think of how different it has been. In Charlotte, I felt very lonely and isolated for the first several months and had a hard time meeting new people. I really wish we had family or friends close to us now, but I've also found it relatively easy to meet people and start making friends at least.

On the baby front, things are moving forward very quickly. It's hard to believe how fast the time is going by now! It really was great to see Emma this weekend... it's helped me to focus more on being excited to meet our own little girl and get to know her. Everything's been very smooth with the pregnancy. The baby's moving well (especially ramming her bum into my ribs) and I've been feeling pretty good, all things considered. I actually start my every-week OB appointments this week, so the time is coming close! Not too much longer and we'll be able to share pictures and her name with everyone! Until then... here's your letter for this week (and a little nod to the Bears fans out there)! (And I promise to stop with the alphabetical order after this one.) :)