Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Baby Showers

The excitement for your arrival is contagious. There are so many people that can't wait to meet you, and it's very evident in the love that they've shown you at your baby showers. You've officially had 4 showers, 2 of which were surprises. The first was the family shower at your 'cousin' Alex's house in Davis where she goes to school. I highlight cousin, because she'll be more like an aunt to you, as she's more like my little sister than a niece since we're only 10 yrs apart. She'll be your favorite babysitter, cause she's a pro. In fact, I need to take some lessons from her.


Here we are with cousins Madison, Gabby and Alex, Auntie Bobi and Auntie Mia

The tea party was hosted by Alex, your Grandma Marci and aunties Mia and Bobi. We even used your Great-Grandma Helen Stilwell's beautiful china for the tea party, which was such an honor. It was a great opportunity to have the family and close friends get together to celebrate you.



Here we are with both of your grandma's :)

The extended Hinchey family was there (aka the Griswalds when in combo with the Stilwell's). Above is Bobi, Shannon, Nancy, Maddie and Bev.

Your Grandma Ruth and her best friends were able to come, and we were so honored to have them. Everyone had fun guessing how big my belly was so far. Pictured here with Grandma Ruth are her best buds Debbie, Ginger and Annette.

We have to give a big thanks to Alex's roommates Kendall and Lauren (pictured above) for letting us invade their house not only for the weekend, but more like the whole week, and also for being such good friends to Al.

It was very exciting to celebrate with your aunt Mia and cousin's Madison and Gabriella since they moved to England the next week! Even your little cousin Conor was there and had a great time with all the girls. Here we are with your cousins, aunties and extended aunties Lisa and Jennie.

The second 'shower' was a surprise all-girls day that kicked off with lunch in Santa Cruz with your Mickelson aunties; Janese, Mindy and Alena & Grandma Ruth. The day was super fun and filled with lots of advice from these experienced ladies. They love you already and are so excited to meet you. I'm so thrilled for you to be joining us all at the Mickelson get together next summer.

The third was another surprise and was from all of my friends at Barclays, where mom works. They tricked me and asked me to participate in a meeting, that ended up being a fun celebration with delicious Kara's Cupcakes and lots of talk about how much fun we are going to have with you, and how sleep deprived your dad and I will be :) They gave you your first high chair, that is all set up and waiting for you in our dining room.

The fourth was hosted by your mom's friends Christina, Meg and Jennie. They completely outdid themselves with a beautiful party at Pres a Vis in the Presidio in SF. They are such good friends to us, and we are so blessed to know them.

The long table was set beautifully, with special menus and adorable chocolate bars celebrating "Baby Mick". I was very impressed with their amazing creativity! It was such a gorgeous room on a lovely foggy day in San Francisco. A fun tid-bit and piece of history is that when your Grandma Marci was pregnant with me, and Meg's mom was pregnant with her, a mutual friend threw them a joint baby shower (we were born 2 weeks apart). The guests all came with double gifts, so Meg and I wore matching outfits for a long time as babies. The fact that she is now hosting a shower for us is really special, and kinda ironic.



Many guests commented on how the girls missed their calling in the party planning business.. We were in a beautiful room for the afternoon enjoying a delicious lunch at a long table with all of your mom's best friends. The food was amazing, and the girls did a great job picking out the menu! I couldn't believe how much you were showered with love that day, and gifts! Here we are opening some of the loot!

Everyone had so much fun catching up and it made me realize how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends around us, and how blessed you are to be able to grow up with amazing role models that care so much about you.

Christina, Lisa and Allegra

Eva, Laurie, Mom, Katie and Jennie

Allegra and Danielle


The college roomies, Jen, Heidi, Mom and Ashley


Katie, Michele (who came all the way from Kingsburg!), Alysen (who came all the way from LA!) & Kristin.

Here's the whole group :)

Your dad even snuck by and left a big package for you and I. Here I am checking out Daddy's gift. He really is such a sweetie and I hope you grow up to be as sweet and thoughtful as he is. He really loves us a lot, and we are so lucky.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Your Room

Your room is starting to come together. Getting new carpet in the house forced us to start moving furniture around and setting up your new room. I can't believe how much stuff you have already! Here is a 'before' pic of your room: I think you'll be happy with the result when we're done, I just hope you like lime green and navy blue!


Seeing the baby gear starting to fill up the house is making us really excited for your arrival. You'll be happy to know that you will be quite the stylish baby boy. I'm excited for you to see all of your cool stuff. If your dad and I can't decide on a color for something, I've been known to ask you, I know you can hear me, so I'm hoping a little kick will help us decide what you like. So far you're quite the kicker, so I'm pretty sure you agree with us.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Santa Cruz


Every summer, the Mickelson's get together for a week during the 4th of July holiday at a beach house in Santa Cruz. This year was no exception. The whole family got together including the 3 of us ;), 3 aunts, 3 uncles, your grandparents, and 9 of your cousins! We always have a lot of fun, and some years it is the only time all year that everyone gets together in the same place, so we definitely look forward to it! Brian is the official family photographer, because he's the best at it, but this year your dad got in the action with his new dad camera and took some pics too. Here is a shot he took of everyone trying to get all your cousins to smile.


The week was filled with hanging out at the beach, bocce ball, basketball, rides at the boardwalk, making fun dinners, rocky road milkshakes and the tradition - taking a family picture. The family seems to get bigger every year, so an update is necessary and Grandma usually uses this as the Mickelson Christmas card.

During the week your Grandma Ruth set up a baby shower luncheon for you for all the girls one day (more spoiling..) and we had a great time. We decided we should have a girls lunch every year, because it was really fun for us and it's funny to hear about what the guys decided to do with the kids all day.

Here is a preggo pic of mom, you are getting big!