Quite a few ladies from the branch were able to come and I am so grateful that they were willing to play games, eat cake and help spoil our Little Bandito. Here is Becky Niles (in pink sitting on the floor - she's due with a little girl in July) and Leslie Songer (in white - who just had a baby boy), Billikee Howard (in blue), Genan Sorenson and Jay Songer (Leslie's son) and Jana Howard (in blue sitting on the floor. The bright yellow and pink dress on the left side is either Hallie Songer or Amelia Niles - I can't tell which from this picture.)
Chris Sanderson (hot pink), Becky Niles (pink), Leslie Songer holding Amelia Niles (Becky's daughter) and Genan Sorenson (hot pink) and Billikee Howard (blue) and more in the background I can't see.
Jessi, Sarah and Jessica Hamberger, Crystal Stamper and Denise Hamberger.
Kathleen holding Hallie Songer (Leslie's daughter) and Leslie Songer holding Amelia Niles (Becky's daughter) The girls are cousins and looked so cute in matching dresses.
Kathleen organized a few games (thank you!) - unscrambling baby words (like prdeai would be diaper), making baby names using the letters of James' and my names - If you include my maiden name there are all the letters for Lincoln! My favorite game was the 'guess the baby's birth statistics'. It will be fun to see if anybody came close!
Date of Arrival - guesses ranged from September 4 to September 17
Time - 1 a.m. to 10:43 p.m.
Birth Weight - 7lb 3oz to 9lb 11oz
Length - 19 in to 22 in.
It was fun to open presents! and I really, really wanted to try the cute little clothes on baby Jay... but I don't know that he would have appreciated dress up time - especially as it was bed time. Can't believe I was sticking my tongue out, but Sharon caught digital proof - Thank you for taking photos! That's Aunt Terry's arm in the background. She fell off her bike (yesterday? or the day before?) and was sporting a swollen wrist. And she still let us come to her house for a party - Thank you!
Dr.Suess quilt made by Aunt Terry. So fabulous! And it'll be perfect in his room. We're going with bright primary colors like the gorgeous red and bright yellow and white. So fun. Even more incredible because she had to finish machine quilting with her fingers taped together after that fall off her bike. She also started our little kid library with a couple fun books. Sooo excited for that too! Thank you!
Lincoln's first Copper River Fleece from his Grandma McCalvy (Thank you!!). These jackets are fantastic! Windstopper and water resistant on the outside and fuzzy soft on the inside and I got to pick out the trim! I had a half a dozen favorites and James finally helped me narrow it down to this blue 'Alaska' style ribbon. It is a size 2T. I'm hoping he can wear it for a few years and for jumping in a ton of puddles. I'm going to need some bright yellow galoshes!
We got quite a bit of bath stuff. Two hooded towels, wash clothes, baby shampoo and baby body wash, a little grooming kit (finger nail clippers, brush, toothbrush, etc.) and even a tiny rubber ducky. Our baby should be clean, so excited to try everything out! James did model the hooded towel from the Hambergers (thank you!)...
I brought two suitcases up to Alaska, and the big one was mostly filled up by James' waders. So I thought I might be able to get away with only one bag on the way back home. Lucky for us, the ladies filled up the big suitcase with stuff for our Mini McCalvy. A million "Thank you!"s for a fun party and the wonderful gifts. (Another bonus, my Father-in-Law is the Postmaster in Cordova and was able to 'rattle off' everyone's PO Box for me before I left town. Thanks!)
Oh, "Grandma McCalvy", please let me know if I got anybodys name wrong... I tried to learn them all while at the shower, but I might not have remembered perfectly. THANK YOU!!
