Nashville Baby Shower 2 (The scary Halloween one :-)

Just thought I'd do a brief post about the Nashville baby shower outside of work. Tracey, Michelle, Nichole and Amber hosted it at Michelle's house and we had a fabulous time. My one caveat was that I didn't want it to be too girly as I wanted it to be co-ed so Turner could be part of it and I think the Halloween theme was perfect. I can't get over the work that everyone put into making it a super-Halloween themed shower.
There are tons of pix out there, but Turner and I didn't take many of our own as we were kind of busy a lot of the time so I will try to get more up later.... Meanwhile here are a few:

This was the centerpiece. Our friends did a great job of making really usable centerpieces with lots of burp clothes and diapers that also looked amazing.

Just a small sampling of the food. There were more things than I can probably remember to list and everything was great. A few of my faves were the taco soup, vegetarian chili, Hallow-weenies, petit-fours, choco-krispie treats, and monster eyeballs. Keeping in mind I'm pretty food focused now, I was in heaven :-) There was also some rockin' punch! (I think now you are seeing just how excited I get about food, eh???)

This is just a shot of everyone hanging out during the party, but thought I'd include it. Again, I'll try and post more later.


Finally, a shot of Turner and I getting ready to open presents. I had a special hat that said "Quinn's Mummy" and Turner was appropriately labeled as "Baby Daddy" (if you are unfamiliar with the term, you should spend a little quality time in the court system :-) I'm pretty sure there is a picture of us where you can read the hats better so I'll make sure to find that.

All that said, we had an absolutely wonderful time and so enjoyed hanging with our Nashville friends and framily (a term that I learned from Tracey for friends who are like family). Between this and the other showers, Quinn is starting out as a very spoiled boy. I'm not sure we'll be able to live up to his expecations. We feel so lucky to have so many people who love and support him (and us!!!). We're hoping that it stays that way as maybe we can parlay it into free babysitting-HA! We went yesterday and spent gift cards, etc, on a few other things he needed (thermometers, changing pad and such). Oh, and a toy box, as though he isn't even here yet, he has more toys than his shelves can accomodate! I'm going to put some updated pictures of his room and set up on the blog soon, but in truth, there was so much to assemble and do that we haven't managed to get it all done yet.

Thanks to everyone who hosted and came to the shower and also to the spouses of the hostesses as I know they put in some extra time, also!

Love to all,
Jessica

Updated link to luau pix...

Hey!
Since Walgreens and Kodak weren't cutting it, here's a link to our Picasa album of the Luau:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jessicajturner/TurnerSBirthdayLuau#

Work Baby Shower....

So we've entered Nashville Baby Shower season... Yesterday we had our work baby shower at the DA's office hosted by Becky, Kari, Mindy, and Nichole. It was a lot of fun, though I'm pretty sure I was still pretty awkward at opening gifts and being in front of people. I'm including a few pictures and will also put a link to the Picasa album (I've made the switch from Kodak as Kodak was being REALLY annoying). Pardon all my crazy expressions, I've discovered that alas, that's just my face :-)

Anyway, we really enjoyed celebrating with everyone and all went really well. We got lots and lots of baby stuff. Quinn is a lucky little cantaulope sized guy.

You can see the rest of the pix at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jessicajturner/WorkBabyShower#

Love you!

Week 34 Update....

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

Turner's Birthday Luau

So, on Saturday I had a luau for Turner's 30th Birthday. He knew he was having a party, but he didn't know the theme. He did get to open a present a few minutes before coming home with an Hawaiian shirt in it, so I'm pretty sure he was on to me by then. Meanwhile, at 8 or so months pregnant, a biggish party is hard to pull off so thankfully I had the help of my friends. Kari, Craig and Corbin came over in the morning to help decorate and Craig and Corbin stayed at the house to watch the smoker (I smoked turkey breast and legs) while Kari and I went to the Meet Us at the Bridge event. After the event, we did some decorating and then Nichole and Pete came over to help decorate as well. After that I was on my own for a bit and finished up some cooking I had to do. Nichole, Kari, Craig and Pete came a little early also to finish set up. In the end, not only did Kari and Nichole bring several dishes, but Kari, Mindy and Carolyn brought some beverages to share. It take's a village to celebrate Turner's 30th....(especially when his wife weighs 500 lbs and moves as slowly as molasses-just kidding!)
Turner spent the day golfing with Frank and hanging with Frank, Amber, Corrie and Bennie who kept him entertained. When he got home, I gave him his video camera which was his big surprise present that I'd saved for him. He seemed pretty happy with it, I think.
Then the party officially started. We had a ton of food (turkey, coconut chicken rice, sweet potatoes, cheese cubes, a fruit tray, taco dip, a cheese ball, oranges with coconut cake inside, ambrosia, the list goes on....) and I think everone had a pretty good time. We ended up watching some SC football, which of course made the bday boy very happy. The dogs were delighted to entertain so many guests and I think everyone enjoyed getting Hawaiianed up.... As a side note, they don't make a grass skirt big enough to go all the way around my giant belly so I had to wear a skirt underneath :-)
I'm including a few more photos...

The fellas sporting their leis in honor of their dad's 30th!

Susan, Kari, Mindy and me... Susan had earlier said that I was photogenic. I think I proved her VERY wrong!

Me and Nichole (if you can't tell, I'm a little intimidated by her hat)

A little of the outdoor decor (who says Nashville's not Honolulu???)


Aloha from me, Turner and Quinn!!!


If you can't get enough of the luau pix, you can see them all at:
http://photo1.walgreens.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=45645194/t_=17999355
(Kodak gallery started acting odd so I had to switch it up)

Love to all,
J

Turner's Official 30th

Hey, all!
So Thursday was Turner's 30th birthday. He knew I had a party planned on Saturday (though he didn't know the theme) but we decided to do dinner with some friends, in particular Tracey, Matthew, Brandon and Michelle since we knew they wouldn't be able to make it to the official 30th bday party. We went to Sportsman's Grill where Turner and I both love the fried bologna sandwiches (gross to most people I know, but it was one of our early bonding points when we started dating).
We had a great night...
Here are a few pix:

Turner and I, I was showing off my belly and Brandon got confused....

Tracey and Matthew (who got tired of me taking his picture as I had the camera on the wrong setting at first)

Michelle and Brandon (who NEVER gets tired of having his picture taken)

Nichole and Pete (who was super-excited about his brand new NY Giants shirt)

And a final belly shot...Quinn wanted everyone to know he was there, too!

If you want to see more pictures, you can see that at our Kodak Gallery. The link is:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=5ufnunyr.2dtlz92b&Uy=-le4kcd&Ux=0

Week 33 Update... (Better late than never...)

Hey, all!

Sorry for the delay in the update. It's been a hectic week. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and this week we had the Law Enforcement Talent Show to benefit the Nashville Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Child Advocacy Center on Tuesday. Then, Thursday was Turner's birthday (his 30th!). Saturday I sent Turner off to play golf and hang with Frank and Amber so I could prepare for his birthday party, and I also went to the Meet Us at the Bridge Event which is another Coalition event to honor members of the community and organizations that work to increase Domestic Violence awareness. The event also honors those who have lost their lives to Domestic Violence in Davidson County and this year, a new award for DV Survivors was added and a victim that I had worked with, Yeni Acosta, was the recipient. All in all, it's been crazy, but it's finally Sunday and we're slowing down a bit. Granted, we have a shower at my work on Thursday and an outside of work shower on Saturday, so I guess we won't get too much rest....

I'll post more on Turner's bday and his party later.

So now, for the week 33 update:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.