Baby JP's Homecoming

Early Friday morning, April 10, 2009, JP and I were finally able to go home. We had Aunty Diane and Uncle Gary who flew in from California, along with my cousin Nancy and her son Jaxon to welcome us home to "Welsh Stadium." Later JP's very proud and excited grandparents came over to welcome him as well!

We had such an amazing labor, delivery, and recovery experience at our hospital. We had an excellent group of medical staff who check in with us, monitoring me and the baby. I started to feel nervous when i thought of going home without any of that help there. But that's just the worrier in me and everything turned out fine. The support of family and friends really eased my worries.

Our home is so much different now that we have JP and really is a sweet blessing. It's hard to believe that there was a time when it was just me and Jasper. Now our rooms and halls are filled with sounds of our baby giggling, cooing and crying, and we couldn't be any happier!

We were able to put a lot of this experience on video and would love to share it with you. Below, is a JP Welsh's Welcome Home Video:

JP's Shower of Love

On Saturday, March 14, my sister and family threw a baby shower for us. It was the perfect blend of everyone we loved coming to see us and celebrate before JP arrives. Of course all grandparents were present, along with Jasper's brother Jon and my favorite sister Diane from San Diego. Kim and Oneal arrived early early Friday morning. Lisa and Godfrey flew in Friday night and Rizza and co. came in early Saturday morning. SO GREAT!

Check out the video overview of the Coed "Jack and Jill" Baby Shower:

Friday morning was a day of pampering as Kim, Diane, my cousin Nanny, and I went for a spa pedicure (you can't reach those toes when you've got a JP in the way.) We picked up Oneal and lunched at a creole restaurant called Papadeaux's...Yum! Then it was off to Scottsdale for some shopping fun. We got to Fashion Square where Diana bought me my Petunia Picklebottom Diaper Bag from Neiman. It's so cute! Water resistent and easy to organize baby stuff in. Here are some pics:

By the way, this bag is already packed with JP's necessities for and after the hospital...YAY!

We then went out to Sprinkles to reward ourselves for shopping so effectively that day!

Saturday was the big day. Parents were busy prepping for BBQ and other Filipino dishes. Everyone else helped out by decorating the house with Sports MVP themed items. Our house looked so cute! From athletic ball streamers to football chip bowls, our family and friends went all out! My awesome friends from Moon Mountain came by to shower us with love and we had a blast playing baby games and guessing how big my belly was (enthusiastic "yay...")
Later that evening, the investive nature of the group arose and a pool was generated for when I was going to deliver...It was so exciting to see and hear the conversations and explanations for how they all wanted to choose their dates. I got a lot of long looks and for some that was it. Here's a copy of that pool calendar:

(Click HERE or on image to enlarge)

(Click HERE or on image to enlarge)

(Click HERE or on image to enlarge)

Continuing on with the investing theme, all the guys went to my cousins Jeff and Nancy's house to play a friendly game of Hold'em. With the guys gone, us girls got a chance to catch up.

It was a great weekend filled with love and laughter. The gifts Jasper, JP and I received are blessings and we can't thank everyone enough for the love, gifts, prayers, support and advice that were shared during that time.

We apologize that the baby shower video is not up yet. We are having some technical difficulties, but we are still working on it so come back soon to see it.