Just Some Catching Up

It's hard to believe that in only a few short weeks, I will be a 24 year old, married, mother of one. Seriously, where does the time go?? I feel like so many exciting things are happening so fast. It's an incredible journey, and I'm very grateful to be on it.

SO, here's some catching up:

Firstly, I was thrown 4 amazingly wonderful baby showers, by some even more amazingly wonderful people, and was overwhelmingly blessed at each one...

My Logan cousins threw my first shower.
It was a coed shower which was really nice just to have my hubby there - after all, it's his baby too!! ;) My sister made pumpkin rolls which were amazingly delicious, we played some men vs. women trivia type games, and we opened all of our extremely thoughtful gifts. It was so much fun, and it was great to celebrate our little Judah's coming with the Cache Valley Crew.

My sister-in-law and good friends, Amy & Nicole, threw my second shower for/from the woman at God's Place. This one was supposed to be a surprise shower, but that didn't exactly work out to be the case. I love my church family SO very much, and when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to have them at any of my other showers, I was trying to figure out some way to have one with them in Ogden. Finally, Richard couldn't take my sad face anymore, and he told me not to worry about it - that I was going to have an Ogden shower. He wouldn't, however, tell me how, by whom, nor when. A few days later, my mother-in-law called me and said that we would just plan a shower after my Salt Lake one, and unaware of the surprise shower already in the works, I assumed that this fake shower was the one in which Richard was referring.

The week before the real shower, all the men made plans for a guys night out, and since Richard wouldn't be home, I decided to make some plans with some of my friends from Weber State. Thankfully, Richard knew about the shower, and he called his sister informing her that I had made plans. I then received a text message inviting me to a girls night, but not knowing that it was really my baby shower, I declined on the fact that I had already arranged plans elsewhere. Finally, the surprise was tossed out the window, and she responded to inform me that I was a having a baby shower that night. I changed my plans, and when that Friday rolled around, I went to my baby shower where Lydia had made me an adorable (and delicious) chocolate cake, Judah was given the most encouraging prophetic blanket (that I need to get a frame for), and I was blessed so much by my amazing family. I love those women so much, and I had an exceptional time!!

My mother-in-law hosted my third shower. That was at Grandma Lillian's house (richie's g-ma), and I had an absolutely wonderful time. Four of my old friends from Jr. High, my aunt on my mom's side, and her daughter (my cousin), all whom I have not seen in quite some time, came to this shower, and it was SO nice to catch up with all of them! Then, of course, being with Richard's side of the family is always a delight. I am immeasurably blessed by Richard's family; I love them all so very much, and I am still amazed as to how I ended up with such an incredible man with such an incredibly welcoming, loving, generous, caring, God-fearing family. I am most definitely proud to call myself a Rivera!! Oh, and Grandma Lillian made her super yummy sugar cookies which she cut in the shapes of little baby feet and frosted in baby blue icing <3

Finally, was "Baby X3!" Two of my dancer friends from Weber are also pregnant. Jenny is due November 3rd, and Christina is due November 29th; so the three of us are all right there together. A few of our friends decided to throw us a triple shower, and it was really one of the cutest things I've ever seen. They made the invitations to look and read like show announcements staring Jenny Devlin, Brittnie Rivera, and Christina Taylor. They made it a donation event at the "Nicholl's Theater," and when we got there, it was a lot of fun just to visit with everyone. Not to mention that we had the most amazing brownies on the planet!! Jarren (sorry if it's spelled wrong) made these chocolate-caramel brownies that were seriously gone in like ten minutes - oh they were SO amazing!!

Thanks to everyone from our showers, we now have just about everything we need for baby Judah's arrival. There are still a few odds and ends that I would like to get, but for the most part, we're pretty set; so thank you all again SO SO very much!! I still need to get your thank-you cards mailed out, which I promise to do soon!!

Anyway, the nursery has literally become my favorite room in the house. It is SO cute and I just love being in there. We still need to get some white paint and touch up a few small areas, and I need to find another animal (preferably a lion) for the middle square above Judah's crib, but all-in-all, it's looking fantastic! Our travel system was delivered last week, and after Richard set it up, I spent about 15 minutes perfecting my stroller-folding/unfolding skills; I think I've finally got the hang of it. Our baby swing and diaper bag should be here any day now, and my in-laws are hoping that our glider and ottoman will be in by this weekend. I also bought Judah a baby book, and I've since been trying to fill out what I can. It is such a cute book, and there's a place for Richard and I to each write him a letter before he comes. I'm really looking forward to that; I just want him to always know how much he was/is loved and wanted even since before his birth. Yup, everything is just coming together quite nicely!! =D

I had my weekly doctor appointment yesterday. They did a Strep B test, and she checked my cervix. I am currently 1 cm. dilated, and Judah is very much head down and firmly planted into the birth canal. That is all VERY good news - no breech baby scares! AND while my doctor did inform me that women can remain dilated at even the 3s-4s for weeks, I really feel that the Judah's God-appointed arrival date and time is near; I'm thinking we've got maybe 3 weeks at most (which is when I'm due anyway)! I am so excited, and I cannot wait to hold my little baby boy in my arms!! =D

Also, my birthday is on Saturday - YEAH!! I'm one of those weird people who actually likes their birthdays. In fact, I pretty much LOVE my birthday!! :) It always makes me very excited. Richard's taking me out to Sizzler (which is one of my all-time favorite restaurants), and I fully intend on ordering the Teryiaki Sirloin burnt (just the way I like it - no mooing cows for me, no sir), complete with a baked potato and salad bar, YUMMMM, YUMMMMM!!! Then after Vertical Worship, a bunch of us are going to go to Burch Creek Mercantile for some Farr Better Ice Cream!! I am seriously so excited, I can hardly contain myself!!