A baby is coming and I can't contain myself.

As usual, Wheat and I spent our weekend in the state of Ohio. Maybe we should just move there and make things easier on our ourselves. Aside from the boring commute, we had a wonderful time indulging in all things home. Friday night, we decided to take it easy and enjoyed pizza, college basketball, and a bonfire at my brother's place. In full disclosure, I probably spent more time in the nursery, tearing up over all the baby shoes and onesies. How am I expected to handle the cuteness?

For Christmas, my brother gave me a coupon for four tickets to a Cyclones game. So, when Wheat finished working his away game, we piled in the car and headed down to US Bank Arena for their matchup against the Quad City Mallards. If you're confused about where Quad Cities is, you're not alone (it's Illinois and Iowa for the record). It was the first time I've been to a Cyclones game since I interned there a couple seasons ago and I'll be honest - it felt nice not to have a deadline after the final buzzer. It also happened to be Pucks and Pups night, so we had the added bonus of giggling over dogs between periods of play.

Somehow, we nabbed seats in the lower level and our ticket package even came with free t-shirts. Although the Cyclones lost, 3-2, we still had an awesome time. There was a wiener dog race during the first intermission and the only thing I can think of that's cuter than dogs desperately sliding on ice is a baby taking a short snooze during a baby race. If you're having a bad day, watch this video.



The next afternoon, my mom and I attended Elizabeth's second baby shower, which was hosted by her cousin and aunt. It was held upstairs at Royce Cafe, a precious, quaint cafe that I'd never noticed before in my hometown. The space was gorgeous - decorated with bright colors, antique furniture, and upside-down umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. The light appetizers, which included chicken salad in croissant boats, meatballs, and strawberry and cream cheese bites, were only surpassed by the cupcakes and cookies for dessert. We received incredible-smelling, locally made bars of soap as party favors and played baby-themed bingo.

We also played a few awesome guessing games - one where we had to guess the baby food flavor (Jenn won that, even though I taste-tested them) and another where we had to guess which melted candy bar made the mess in the diaper. I'm only slighted ashamed to admit that I got all of those right. It was wonderful to meet so many of Elizabeth's family members and watch her open such great gifts for Scarlett. They're going to have to change her five times a day in order for her to wear every outfit she has received. Of course, I contributed to the problem, but I couldn't stop myself from buying her a shirt that says 'The COOL AUNT gave me this.' Sorry I'm not sorry, Jamie.

As we get closer and closer to the due date, I get more and more excited. I absolutely cannot wait to be aunt (and Wheat's going to make a pretty killer uncle, by the way) and I feel so very lucky to have Elizabeth in my life. Over the last couple years, she has honestly become like a sister to me. Whether it's a heated text conversation about The Bachelor, a quick trim of my bangs, or ziplining in Las Vegas, we've already made some special memories together and I can't wait to share in the next exciting chapter. LP sure knows how to pick 'em...