Little Events Past and to Come.

 (Image: http://ilovedyouforever.tumblr.com/page/2)

On Sunday, Josh and I went to a mini family reunion in Rural Hall, NC. That city sounds like the setting of a Poe story to me, but we had a nice afternoon.

Josh's great-aunt Linda crocheted a beautiful white blanket with blue ribbon for Oliver.

The lemonade was in a bowl with floating lemon slices. I stuffed my face with barbeque sandwiches (two), potato salad, cucumber-y salad, and baked beans, and just-right German chocolate cake. German chocolate cake isn't too sweet, and it has nuts and coconut--perfect.

After we left, Josh stopped at a cemetery to take photos of family stones. He is a major genealogy nerd. Major.

 (Remember SNL's Tunsis? Image: http://pinkklemonade.tumblr.com/)

This week is a bit (a lot) crazy. We drove about five hours on Sunday, I'm going to campus to do some work and attend a baby shower today (I think five babies are on the way in all!), we have more driving to go to a concert in Charlotte on Wednesday, I have class on Thursday, and our moving saga begins on Friday.

My own first baby shower is less than a month away. Oh my! Josh's mom is hosting it at her house on the coast. She says it won't be a "nuts and mints" kind of shower. I'm a little obsessed with food these days (not that I'm not always a foodie), so I'm really interested in this. But she says it's a surprise and only let "shrimp cocktail" slip. Josh's sister, Sarah, is getting excited about decorations.

I can't really imagine how having a baby shower will feel. It will be like a semi-grown-up birthday party. It will be for me, and for Josh, and most of all for the most wonderful and important critter we've ever known. Every little romper and baby sock and receiving blanket will make us more aware of how real and near he is. I want to soak all that up. How did we get so blessed to fall in love and then make a whole new person with that love? A page in Oliver's scrapbook has photos of Josh and I and says, "Love is the magic that made you."

 (Precious book-themed shower in Martha Stewart. Image: http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/a-book-themed-baby-shower#slide_2)