A little Leni celebration

 

Early yesterday morning my friend Ryan came to my house and starting hauling stuff in.
She was throwing us a little baby party for Leni!
I knew she was up to something and that it would be at our house on Sunday, but I didn't know details. Who/what/how, etc.
I got dressed and headed out to do some errands.

 

I left Andrew and Anika at home to help Ryan as well.  Anika saw some croissants Ryan brought in and wanted one right away. ha

  While I was out, I actually went to a cheap chain hair salon to have my hair blown out. It was a last minute idea and my normal stylist doesn't work on Sundays.  I hate blow drying my hair. I only own a hair dryer for guests! I always plan my normal hair appointments with my lady on special event days just so I can have good blow dried hair! haha
Well, the chain salon girl didn't talk to me, so I was kinda bored while she did it. I didn't want to be rude, but I ended up playing on my phone out of boredom!  She also must have had a cheap straightener because it just didn't look as good as when my lady does it. My lady leaves it silky smooth (even though I do have a lot of breakage and fly always). She was also taking a long time and I had to leave by 11. I got out of there on time and drove back home.

 

My house had been transformed and looked great. It was really intimate and nice.  Just a small group of friends and my mom and Gram. Ryan wanted it to be small and picked my closest people. Also, close geographically :)
It was really nice to celebrate Leni a little bit.  This baby has kind of been neglected as a 2nd child. Even one of my close friends emailed me a little while ago and said she forgot I was even pregnant because I never talk about it! She only remembered because she popped onto my blog and saw my pregnant photos! ha. Until the last couple weeks, I had nothing on fb really, either.  I have been posting pics on here quite well, but that's about it.
I have always thought showers/sprinkles/blessingways/parties for 2nd children was ridiculous and rude, but this was more a brunch of close people,  and  it was nice to focus on my OTHER child and just to visit in a small gathering setting.  One of my friends texted me late rand said how much more she enjoyed it than big parties/showers. 

 It is hard the 2nd time when ALL our attention is always on Anika.  I am so appreciative to my friend Ryan who organized it and thought of our family. She also had help from others and I appreciate them too! I think everyone brought a dish. The food was fantastic.

 

These photos are from my camera. I wanted Andrew to take a lot, but he slacked.  There are no good ones of me and there are none of me with guests! boo.

Ry even brought a lot of her own dishes and stem wear! ha.  Also, I will add that everything was cleaned and put away after! I didn't have to do a thing!

I am almost 38 weeks so I indulged in a mimosa. Yum.

S and her daughter walked the breast cancer walk right before they came over.

Anika was NOT herself!! She was sooo whiney and clingy!  She usually loves parties and people. I usually don't even see much of her at parties because she is too busy playing and talking to everyone.  That morning when I left she was so excited and when I got home  and walked into the house she said, Come in to Leni's party!! She was fine a lot of times and played with kids- so it wasn't like nonstop, but she just wasn't her! You know your kid and when they are off you know it.  Her being off was definitely a distraction to me.   She even took a nap in the afternoon and when she woke up she still wasn't herself. Just clingy/whiney. Andrew and my friend thinks all the junk she was eating all day had a role. She just doesn't get a lot of treats and sweets and she was eating a lot. I don't know. Could be that and could be just the attention shifting from her! haha. I really do think she will be a great sister, but I also think she will have a hard time sharing us.

Those pumpkin whoopie pies were so good! After I ate, I had to pick the best dish and the winner got a bottle of wine. I chose this  gooey bread with nuts and stuff. I had no idea who made it- but guess who? My mom! ha.  There were several quiches and I didn't try the best one until later after people had left! We polished that off for dinner!

Andrew helped Ryan move our picnic table onto the deck and some people sat out there.  IT was a little chilly, but enjoyable! Last of this fall weather.

They had the fire pit going too.

The plate on the small table has beads on it. Each person was asked to bring a bead for a necklace. Remember I made one for another friend a while ago?

Anika picked out a bead for me too! She had the matching bead on a necklace my mom had made for her. She picked purple- her favorite color :)

N assembling my necklace after I opened the beads and read the notes.  

I had my friend S take a picture of who each bead came from. I remember most right now but want it recorded for Leni's memory book/box.

hard to see, but this one was animal print.

A princess crown! haha.  This is from a friend I've been friends with for 13 years.

There are other beads on there too that were sent to me in the mail by friends who couldn't make it.  I have individual photos of their beads as well.  The big white one in the center was dropped off to me by a friend, L,  last week! It was an excellent center bead/shell. L also gave me a pinkish bead that's on there.  And a  really neat book that I will take a picture of and post later.
My friend E (College roommate) sent me 5 beads. haha. One was a butterfly because she said it reminded her of me because I decorated our freshmen dorm room with butterflies. ha.  She sent some others that reminded her of me and a purple one because purple has always been her favorite color too!

For Anika's shower people brought pieces of fabric for a quilt.  Anika and I each have special quilts made from all the squares people gave us at her shower. Very special.  The necklace is a little piece of people in our lives and I will wear it for strength and positive energy during labor!  I cant wait. N didn't clasp it yet because she actually forgot her bead at home, and a few others said they are sending some, so we are going to clasp it next weekend. I better not go into labor before then! ha.

A little candy bar.

 

I ate my face off yesterday and want to be much better the rest of this pregnancy! ha. I think I keep saying that.

I did get my butt to the gym this morning. 
I spent a lot of the weekend preparing for Leni's arrival and cleaning and being really anal about everything. Andrew is used to it by now :)  We need one more weekend as a family of 3. Actually, I would like Leni to wait until after Halloween so I can do that with Anika, but then its fine to come. ha.  This whole pregnancy I just assumed I would go to 42 weeks again like with Anika, but now I am thinking maybe not. I feel like it may be sooner, like maybe only a couple days past 40 weeks.

Only time will tell!!