I have the best sisters and friends in the whole world. This Saturday, they threw me a surprise party. Better yet? It was a surprise maternity wear shower.

What’s that, you ask? It’s an original idea my sister Ashley came up with (seriously, try and find something about this type of shower on Google or Pinterest … you can’t!).

It was seriously the sweetest, most unique and special shower I’ve ever been to, and it was all mine!!!!! And talk about helpful! They stocked me up on the most adorable maternity fashions for my baby bump. Not only that, they were thoughtful enough to buy me stuff for the seasons (fall/winter) that I’ll actually be wearing the maternity clothes. Such dolls! PS: Who knew maternity clothes are so expensive! Just visit www.apeainthepod.com – holy crap! One sweater tunic is like $200.

My hubby (the best hubs in the world) conspired with my sister to get me to Dallas for the weekend (oh the lies!) and did a dang good job at keeping a secret it’s almost scary! My friends all avoided my calls just enough to keep me out of the loop, and my moms (the three grandmas) all surprised me by being there too – they all told so many lies about their whereabouts this weekend that it still makes me laugh!

So, without further ado, here are snapshots from the shower and notes about what my sister and friends did to make this one of the most memorable days of my pregnancy thus far (and my life, really):

1) The Hanging Wall of Maternity Wear Gifts:

Notice the adorable baby tags on the clothes (with mini clothes pins)? Those had the names of the gift giver on the back, and the girls made me guess who gave me what. After a couple guesses, if I hadn’t gotten it right, I turned it over to reveal the name of the person who gave me the maternity garment! So fun! I got a couple of them on the first try, which was cool. Almost more fun to guess wrong though. So funny!

2) Old-Wives Tale Chalkboard Game:

Mrs. Christensen kicked off the shower with having me sit down and answer these fun little questions and my answers indicated whether it’s a boy or girl. The board revealed: IT’S A BOY! hehe. We’ll soon see if that’s true in October!

3) Baby Prediction Chart

Before I arrived to my surprise shower, the guests filled out this chart of baby predictions. Everyone had to guess the baby’s gender, hair color, length, weight and date and time of birth. It was so fun reading everyone’s predications and hearing why they guessed that. Will be fun to see who comes the closest when the baby is born!

4) Baby Trivia!

Boo! I didn’t get a picture of Ashley doing this game at the shower, but thank goodness for Google! We did this baby coaster  trivia game and it was VERY enlightening.

5) FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD! 

Cake from one of Dallas’ best; the best chocolate chip cookies ever made my Mrs. Fincher; a delicious feta, greek yogurt pasta salad made by Mrs. Christensen (YOU BETTER BLOG ABOUT IT MISSY – I NEED THE RECIPE); mini chicken salad sandwiches from Ashley (the chicken salad by Eatzi’s in Dallas – AMAZE!); fruit; punch; sparkling non-alcoholic wine for toasting; cheese, crackers and much, much more!  All so yummy to my growing pregnant tummy! I just wish I’d had time to grab seconds when I was there.

6) Memories!

IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE. AND I CAN’T THANK ASHLEY ENOUGH FOR WANTING TO DO THIS FOR ME AND TO MY BESTIES FOR HELPING HER. SO GENEROUS OF YOU TO SPEND YOUR TIME, MONEY AND ENERGY ON THIS FOR ME. I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT IT WAS A PRICELESS EXPERIENCE AND REALLY GOT ME SO EXCITED NOW FOR MY BUMP TO GET BIG AND TO WEAR ALL THE NEW MATERNITY OUTFITS! XOXOXOXOXOXO!!!!!

More great details: