one very special momma.

first off, let me say THANK YOU for sharing in our joy regarding our EP submission. we are so grateful for your love and care for us and could not imagine enduring this wait without your support! we've still got a little ways to go, but, my goodness, your cheerleading is surely helping us persevere!

one of my friends IRL has been especially special to me during this entire process.

two years ago, when we were both in the thick of our infertility woes, tina and i got to know each other quite well as we shared honestly and openly in the way that only those who have traveled similar journeys can. the hubs and i became very close with tina and her hubs and leaned on each other and held each others' hands (the wives literally, the husbands figuratively) as we supported one another through different doctor's appointments and rough days. we were and are SO incredibly blessed by their friendship. we always say that our friendship with t&t is one of the best things that came out of this often grueling journey...the best thing being choi boy, of course!

tina and her hubs got pregnant through ivf earlier this year and she is due at the end of november. we are ECSTATIC for them! they are having a little boy and we are so excited to watch our sons grow up together. tina has always said that we might be bringing our boys home on the same day. and as much as i didn't want to believe it earlier on (because i was holdin' out for august or september, friends!), now that that is a very distinct possibilty, it is pretty darn cool. :)

we celebrated tina's bun in the oven on saturday and i was so honored to help host her shower. it was absolutely gorgeous, but i really can't take much credit for it. our friend, gloria, did an amazing job planning and coming up with the garden party theme, decor and menu and the rest of us were little worker bees.

look at this gorgeousness:

i love the giant balloons :)

and a better shot of the spread in better lighting. look at the miniature candied apples we made! SO cute. a bit hard to eat, but SO cute.


we had lots of floral centerpieces around the house and made these fun dessert kabobs as centerpieces, too.


here was my one major contribution to the shower:

the favors! my favorite kind of favors are edible ones, so i loved doing this.

as i made about 21 dozen cookies (256 cookies, to be exact!), i realized the full potential of my beloved kitchenaid mixer. apparently, a quadruple batch of chocolate chip cookies is all it can handle. hello? 9 cups of flour, 6 cups of sugar, EIGHT sticks of margarine, 4 eggs, etc...phew! good job, mixer.

the shower was a beautiful way to honor a beautiful momma...but, my favorite favorite part was the excuse to make stuff for her little man. remember how i said i had one more name plaque in the works? tina said she read that and thought, "that better be for me!" heehee, i love her!

her little guy's room has a train theme, so i set to work making some choo-choo goodies!

i'm not the best drawer, but i can manage copying something if i have a really good image to look at. as i looked through different train images, i couldn't find one that i liked and then remembered this amazingness that christine created for a certain two-year old funnyman. it was *perfect* and christine was so sweet in letting me use it as inspiration.

here's the finished name plaque with choo-choo ala christine:

(please don't judge me by my dirty windows. my mom judges me enough for all of you.)

i also made some bookplates:


and painted some wooden train items that tina and i found at m*chael's.



i loaded everything up into a basket with 10 of my favorite books and voilà, shower gift complete!


tina, i love you, dear friend, and i am so very excited for you! it's been a long and hard road to this point for both of us, but i can't imagine traveling it without you. i am so excited for our happy endings and for the little boys that will soon fill our arms. you are going to be an amazing and awesome momma...i am so privileged to know you and call you my friend!