At the beginning of April, Jay & Jack had their 8th annual charity podcast for Autism Speaks. It was a blast, as always. We had a fun filled weekend with minimal sleep, lol. The total raised was $3,000. Donations are being accepted through the end of April, so if you’d lke to donate, here is the information on how you can. I know it’s been a few weeks, but I wanted to recap the weekend for my own memories.
Everyone rolled into town on Friday, April 4. We had a different hotel this year, which I was a little nervous about getting everyone’s reactions to. Thankfully, everyone reported back mostly positive reviews. Whew. One anxiety attack avoided, haha. The plan for Friday night was to meet for dinner at an Italian restaurant in Raleigh at 7 p.m. then possibly see Captain America. I thought dinner was just going to be another meet-up to kick off the weekend, but boy was I wrong! The gang, led by Maggie & Sara, had managed to completely surprise me by turning dinner into a baby shower! I am not an easy person to surprise at all because I can sniff a plan out of someone just by the littlest thing being off, but they did get me pretty good. To be honest, I thought maybe some people would be polite enough to bring little gifts because well, we have really, really nice and awesome friends. I did not think it would be a planned effort involving everyone to celebrate the impending birth of Baby G, though. I didn’t want to make a big deal about the baby this weekend because I’m still embarrassed at how self-centered we must have seemed 4 years ago having an engagement party during the Friday night meet-up. Ugh, I’ve changed so much over the past 5 years. In hindsight, there were signs that something was going on – and I made comments to Jay about them – but I never stopped to put it together. For instance, when Jack insisted that Casa Carbone was a great idea even though it was nothing like the types of places that we have gone in the past, I asked Jay, “Since when does your dad care so much about where we eat?” and when Jay’s family got a little too upset that he originally had to work until 10 p.m. that night and wouldn’t be able to make it to dinner, I commented to my mom, “Jay’s family seemed really upset that he has to work, but at least now I have other people to nag him about asking to switch, so that works out for me!” hahaha.
In all seriousness, the surprise baby shower was one of the nicest things that has been done for me. I’d been feeling a little sad because no one from my family or any of my closest friends can make the one Jay and his mom are throwing for me in May, but that night reminded me how lucky I am. I am really touched when I think about it and overwhelmed at how fortunate I truly am to have such a great group of friends that I wouldn’t even know if not for one little podcast. It’s just amazing how life works out. I don’t know if I deserve such a wonderful husband and such awesome friends, but I am so happy that I have them. Thank you so much to everyone reading this who was either at the surprise baby shower or has sent us a gift for Baby G. You honestly don’t know how much it has meant/means to us. I’m proud that my son will be raised with firsthand examples of how to be a good friend.
We got a lot of awesome gifts, too! We are registered at Babies R Us and Amazon, and received a great mixture from both registries as well as some INCREDIBLE handmade & personalized gifts, too. Here are a few highlights, taken by Desiree and Jim. Thank you again, everyone!!!
Beautiful homemade blanket from Vicki, made by her mom.
Custom Gryffindor jersey from Jim – below is the back:
I want one for myself, hahaha.
Awesome LOST-themed blanket from Coach Hill & his wife, Connie. It was handmade by Connie. There is nothing this woman cannot make.
Jay was designated card reader. I was designated present-opener.
Basket of goodies from Maggie.
I’m sorry I don’t have more pictures! I will have to take more pictures of gifts as we unpack them. Yes, most of them are sitting in the dining room until his room is all set up and I put them away. Also, I’m lazy and I suck at straightening up lately. Anyway, thank you again everyone. It really meant so much to us!
P.S. After dinner, a few of us got ice cream, which really was the perfect ending to an awesome evening.
