Easy to fool... but not easy

So noone has ever accused me of making anything easy. Yesterday morning I was very frusterated because the dog refuses to go potty outside in the rain and therefore will only use the hardwood floor as his own personal bathroom. I was wondering how much my parents would freak when he used their rug as a bathroom. So it dawned on me that my parents and sister could just come to my house for the birthday party, instead. Afterall, everyone who was celebrating a birthday this month live in the town where I live, anyway. I offered to make a cake and all but stomped my feet when my mother said it was too late to change the location. Little did I know!

Let me just start out by giving some advice to other mothers-to-be:
#1. Got cute maternity clothes? Wear them. Even if it's raining. Even if you're tired. Even if it's cold out. Don't opt for the "is that a Hefty bag that you're wearing" all black sweatsuit that would fit a pregnant elephant. ALWAYS WEAR THE MATERNITY CLOTHES WHEN LEAVING THE HOUSE!
#2. Always wear a bra. Even if your ginormous breasts no longer fit into your sister's double D hand-me-downs and the seams are causing a ginormous bruise underneath the 14 pound weight that is your right breast. Just do it. Just put it on and endure the pain. And when you arrive at the "family birthday party" and you know with absolute certainty that you will not be greeted by 30 of your friends, then take it off.
#3. If you're having a baby girl, DON'T SHOP FOR CLOTHES BEFORE YOUR SHOWER. Buy diapers instead. I didn't get any diapers - although I did get about 4,000 of the cutest baby girl outfits i've ever seen.
#4. Bring a big car. My sister's new 1800 sq. foot Yukon and my husband's tiny Ion could barely do the trick. When I asked my husband if there was room in the car for me, I was told that there was certainly room for Manny, me he wasn't sure (he was probably looking at my Hefty bag outfit and assuming I'd actually take up much more room than I actually did).
#5. Don't just assume that since your due date is light years away and noone has shopped off your registry that you can't be having a shower anytime soon. You can.

Wow. Everyone insisted that I must've known. Wha? Did you SEE what I was wearing? Trust me... I didn't know. Shock was the understatement of the century. It was so exciting... and I loved everything (even though the first hour that I was there was a total fog!). So many of the people I love were able to make it which made it even better. Everyone was SOOOO generous. I'll have to take pictures of some of my favorites (how will I choose?!) to post later. Some thank-yous: (even though only like 2 people that I actually know in real life read this anyway) :)

• Thanks to everyone who helped put it all together! Darcy bought all of the adorable decorations, tons of people helped out to making food, Michelle bought the huge yummy cake, my mom and sister decorated mom's house that morning and tons of people helped keep it a secret (esp. my mother in law who had to spend the evening before with me without spilling!).
• Thanks to all of you who drove far-far-away (in the rain) to make my day extra special.
• Thanks for everyone's generosity and all of the sweet, adorable things that will welcome Rylee home after the holidays. Even those who couldn't make it were very generous and thoughtful!