BABY - BABY - the shower

Previously I had mentioned my sister from my father's sister (my cousin)was having twins and since we are close I took on the responsibility of throwing her a "baby baby" shower.  Our extended family is from Northwest Iowa and they were the focus of the invites so a location in this area would be ideal.  After a couple of searches we confirmed availability at my grandma's church and off to planning we began. We??? you ask?  Since I had traveled to the Midwest a lot already this year I solicited the assistance of my mom,  sister Pam, and two sister in laws - Trish and Tina 

to help as I had no plans to actually attend the event myself due to all the planned travel.  A date was picked, invitations printed, and a Facebook event page created.  Many of my relatives who we wanted to include are not necessarily on Facebook so our first task after creating the guest list was to get mailing addresses for them all.   Fortunately her brother was the last to get married in the family and his wife had a partial list of addresses,  a good place to start.  The rest could be gathered from internet searches and a quick call to my aunt Lorraine.  She does a ton of letter writing and is always in the know about these sort of things.  

My family divided the responsibilities taking on the games,  decor and food. I was in charge of the invitations and I also had some ideas of what to serve and Pam had a local chef to create the food so we worked on that together.  Cute

 ideas all over the internet that just needed a minor tweak for twins.  Everyone took on there responsibility and the planning went smoothly.  RSVPs started to roll in and it looked like there would be a good crowd.  As the event got closer the plans were coming together nicely but at the last minute Tina's grandmothers got ill and she had to make a quick trip to see her.  My brother graciously gave me frequent flyer miles so I could come and help with the final details so off I flew once again.  I arrived in Omaha and spent the evening with brother and his family.  In the morning we loaded the centerpieces which Trish's mom had created and off we headed. Cute 

baby blue and light pink filled the back of the SUV.   It was a beautiful spring morning with plenty of sunshine.  After a short drive we arrived and began by putting up the decorations,  configuring the tables, and getting the food ready.  The table was set as we waited for family and friends to arrive.  The expecting couple were first to arrive as they also had the longest to drive and wanted to make sure they were on time.  The tables were ready and soon guests started to arrive and the diaper tower was started.  We had asked everyone to bring a package of diapers for the happy couple and we built a tower out of them. 

What a wonderful afternoon as family and friends enjoyed the games,  food and fellowship. What amazed me was that all my uncles ended up joining the festivities.  I had suggested my dad to come and maybe we could hang out while the ladies did

 their thing and I figured my mom would rather have him drive.  When they got to the church my cousin's dad showed up with her mom and one by one my other uncles showed up and participated in the afternoon.  I realized we as a family just don't have enough opportunities to get together.  I think this was probably the first baby shower many of them had attended and I was happy they all seemed to have a good time.  The party went off without a hitch and soon all the planning was behind us as well as the afternoon. It was time to head back to Omaha for the flight back and wait for the twins to arrive. 

(sorry this is out of sequence.. it has been partially written for almost a year. please accept my apology.  

BABY - BABY

Well - it has been a while but I was stateside for a bit and a kind of crazy journey.  In May of 2012 I became an uncle to twins.  A little boy and a little girl.  When they were a week old, I rushed off to see them before I headed to Brazil and how wonderful it is to be around babies.  OK - I think I need to back up a bit and say that while I am stateside I have offered to be a support for my sister from my father's sister (OK she is really my cousin and I am not really the baby's  uncle but I choose to wear the title proudly) and her husband.  Trying to spend as much time with them as I can.  A two and a half hour flight is much better then the nine hours flight from Brazil and the other

benefit is that they are only four hours from mom and dad's so a great excuse to be all inclusive.
With a spare bedroom on the third floor and a couple of planned flights back to the Midwest in April / May (details to be forthcoming),  I found myself at their home for a couple of weeks helping them get ready for the arrival of the little bundles of joy.  I first helped transform their den into the babies room.   A fresh coat of paint changing the dim gray walls to a soft green.  Second task was moving all the adult educational books from the bookshelves and filling them with baby books which were purchased over several years in preparation.  Finally I helped her pick up things like the cribs, changing table and other necessities for their arrival.  Once the babies room was put together I moved on and painted a couple other rooms in their home.  They have lived here for a little over a year and the colors of the previous owners were dark and drab so we needed to add some fresh vibrant colors more to their tastes.

It always seems like painting walls is one of those things we humans put off because it is hard making color choices, it is not fun, or we just can. Needless to say  I was so happy to have the free time and it was a great project allowing me to be involved and I also made an unexpected trip to visit mom and dad in Iowa.  After all the painting was done I began planning a baby shower for them with the help of my sister, mom, and two sister in laws.  Since I was spending this week and a half here,  I had not plans to return for the shower but thanks to my brother's gift of frequent flier miles,  I was able to fit it

into my plans. Fortunately I was able to help as my family played host to family and friends celebrating in anticipation of the twins (more details to come - I am so behind on blog writing - LOL).   I had one more visit to the Midwest planned for my nephews graduation from high school and my hope was that the babies would arrive before or during this visit as I would soon travel back to Georgia for final preparations to travel south of the equator.  Of course the little buggers defied my plans and the twins blessed this world the day after I flew to Atlanta and of course with my pending three month stay in Brazil,  I had to make a quick trip to welcome them.   They are such a blessing and I am sure there will be more updates if my readers are interested in this journey of my life.