Kitchen Shower!

I had my first shower right before the snow hit this weekend :). Some of the women in Wade's mom's covenant group hosted it, and it was so sweet and such an honor for me to experience.

First gift - a 6-sided cheese grater, which will no doubt be 50% better than my existing 4-sided cheese grater!

Opening up something else

Dad came and chatted it up with all the women :). My aunt Laurie (mom's sister) gave one of the devotions, evoking several tears in the room!

We got all of our silverware - so exciting!

Love this lady! Mary Ruth gave the other devotion and encouraged me to always give Wade respect, even when he doesn't deserve it. I know that will be a sound piece of advice for me to remember!

My aunt Lisa came down from Hickory - always fun to get to see her :). Hope she made it back in the snow!

Some of the ladies (and dad).

Margarita set! Who wants to come over for the first party?

Reading sweet cards from people :).

My dad's so cute back there :).

We played a game where everyone had to answer a multiple-choice quiz with questions about Wade and me. I think dad technically won, with 22 out of 26, but since he probably didn't have a lot of use for the gift, it went to my aunt Lisa with 20/26.

Lots of good food going on. Also, check out my sister in the striped sweater... yes, she just had a baby 2 weeks ago! It was Madelyn's first trip out besides the pediatrician, and she did great (sorry no pictures of her!). All the women were like, "does this baby ever actually cry?"

So all in all, it was a very fun afternoon. Wade and I also bought our wedding rings this weekend! I still need to pick mine up from being sized, and then we just need to find the best place to keep them for 3 months where they won't get lost!

Name Game

I saw this on Amanda's blog and couldn't resist!

YOUR REAL NAME
Kimberly

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME (mother and father's middle names)
Carla Whorton

NASCAR NAME (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad, add "Jr" to the end)
Albert Gary Jr.

STAR WARS NAME (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Johki (soon to be Tapki)

SPY NAME (favorite color, favorite animal)
Brown Dog

SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, town where you were born)
Dale Charlotte (I don't know about that one)

SUPERHERO NAME (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning)
The Blue Milk (haha)

FLY NAME (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Kins (soon to be Kipp)

STREET NAME (fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Heath Sugar (ok, so I adjusted my favorite ice cream flavor a tad to make this cooler)

SKANK NAME (1st pet's name, street you grew up on)
Molly Asherton (excellent)

GANGSTA NAME (first 3 letters of first name plus 'izzle')
Kimizzle

GOTH NAME (Black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Paisley (also excellent)

STRIPPER NAME (first pet and name of car you drive)
Molly Civic (maybe Molly Honda - that sounds better)

HIPPY NAME (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy)
Dangit, I can't remember the name of my perfume. I like too many kinds of candy to choose anyway.

MAFIA NAME (Dad's first name, animal that scares you, add "da" in between the two)
Greg da Roach

NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (adjective that describes you, problem body part, add "Chief" to the beginning)
Chief Run Ragged Tummy

SAINT NAME (Start with "Saint", Grandma's first name, fav alcohol)
Saint Carla Baileys or Saint Dottie Martini

EASTERN EUROPEAN HOCKEY PLAYER NAME (Your first name, middle name adding "ski" to the end)
Kimberly Daleski

The first week

The first week of aunthood has been SO fun.  I think I'm dangerous because I'm about as obsessed as a mommy in terms of taking pictures, but I have a lot more time to post them on Facebook and blogs!  I've gotten to go over and visit two afternoons this week, so in the 4 total visits I've had, I've taken 148 pictures (not counting the ones I deleted for being too blurry, etc.).  It doesn't help that I love my new camera too!

Today I was there for all kinds of activities - bath time, tummy time, fussy time, feeding time, and sleepy time.

I just can't get over the sweetness of her!  I can still smell her little baby scent on my hands after I get home and it's the best thing ever.

It's been really fun to see my sister become a mom.  She's a natural and it's just so cool to see her love this little person SO much.  Here she is giving Madelyn a little encouragement for tummy time :).

Doesn't she look like she's always been a mom?

Post-bath, the hair was a little fro-ish, but so soft - I love it!

It doesn't get much better than a clean little baby wrapped up in a towel!

100 days!

As of today, there are just 100 days til the wedding! Hooray!

Love has a new name... Madelyn

We had a surprise little Valentine join us today...  Madelyn Marie Starrett was born at 9:33, weighing 6 pounds, 9 ounces.  I am so in love with her already, which is why I'm up at 2 a.m. posting this on the blog!

Everything's so cold and bright out here!

Hillary called me at 8 a.m. to say she was having contractions.  They went to the hospital around 10, got admitted a few hours later, and finally she got the epidural, which made things much better!  We all sat around for the afternoon, until the nurse kicked us out when she was 9 cm.  The rest is history.

My first bath was not my favorite thing.

Big yawn.

Aunt Kim!

Future Tar Heel.

Grandma would be so proud of her girls!

Precious.

All the preciousness.

I'm a daddy's girl already!

The new Starrett family!

I'm so proud of you Hill!  You were a champ!

Night night.

Proud to be a Tar Heel!

Ahh, does this bring back memories or what?

Rushing Franklin Street

Go Heels!

Wedding hair!

I had my hair consultation for the wedding the other day!  I went to the girl Hillary goes to at Ulta at Stonecrest, and she did a great job.  She gave me strict instructions NOT TO CUT MY HAIR one iota between now and the wedding!  Haha.  I was planning on getting one more tiny trim before then, but I guess I won't :).

She wants my bangs to grow out at least another inch (which they will, no problem) so she can sweep them better... right now they don't reach my ear on this side.

I may or may not have her do the back a little looser on the wedding day.  Tight is kindof nice though so it definitely doesn't go anywhere for the whole day!

On this side, we'll probably put a flower of some sort.  I need to figure out what kind it should be.  Do hydrangeas look good in hair?  Those are the wedding flowers, but we shall see.

Last night I made 3 new RULES for the remaining 116 days til the wedding...

(1) The Bride must get 8 hours of sleep every night.

(2) The Bride must have 30 minutes of alone time each day in which she is not doing wedding plans, anything on the internet, chores, cooking or working out.

(3) The Bride must take time to buy and prepare balanced meals instead of grabbing random stuff on the go.

I think those 3 things will go a long way in keeping me sane, helping me enjoy the planning & preparation, and ensuring I feel healthy and well by the time the wedding comes!