When planning first began for my shower, and we picked the date August 10th, it felt like that was FOREVER away. This pregnancy has seemed to go fast, and slow all at the same time. But the day finally arrived for the shower and I was so excited to see everyone and get to celebrate this baby girl!

I’m sure it’s just my anxiety talking, but do you ever worry that people don’t actually like you? That maybe everyone is pretending. But then you have moments of clarity where people actually SHOW UP for you and you’re just totally blown away and thankful and want to cry ugly tears because of how much love and support you actually have. That was my shower. My two best friends, Carissa & Destinee and my wonderful sister in law Nicole planned my shower for me and I am SO grateful. The previous week I had attended a shower for a friend and her whole family was close knit and she seemed to have such a great relationship with her mom. And my heart felt this sense of deep sadness because my biological family is not in our lives at all. And for the most part, I’ve made peace with that. But there are times, like having your first baby, that I would just really love to have my mom.

But then all these wonderful people showed up for my shower, and I realized more than ever just how loved I am. And that sometimes, we get the privilege to actually CHOOSE our family. And how beautiful that is.

The shower itself was GORGEOUS! We had made a group Pinterest board and I knew I wanted clean, bright white and greenery as the theme. And these girls DELIVERED! All the little touches and details were perfect!

My friend and the gal that does all of my smash cakes gifted me the cake and I can’t even stand how beautiful it is! Make sure to go follow her because she’s amazing!

Her Name

I wanted to reveal her name at the shower, and now I am able to share that with all of you too! There is a little bit of a backstory to her name, and it’s very special to us.

When we had our miscarriage last year, it was the most devastating thing we’ve ever gone through. We did many things to help us cope and get through it. But one thing stood out. The day after we lost that baby, we went to a garden center and bought a ton of plants. We didn’t realize it at the time, but it was our way of surrounding ourselves with life as the reality of losing our baby was setting in. As we grieved, one of the plants we had picked out was an olive tree. And as I looked at it, I turned to Brian and I said: you know what would be a really cute name? Olive. We both fell in love with it immediately. And once we found out that we were having a little girl this time, we knew her name right away. It was our way of remembering our lost babe, and celebrating this one.

Her middle name is Amelia. I have always been interested in strong, female characters and now as a feminist, I knew I wanted something to represent that for our daughter. So Ameila Earhart came to mind. It was perfect.

Olive Amelia

We can’t wait to meet you <3

Vendors:

Cake: Sweet P’s Custom Cakes

Photography: Destinee Stark

Dress: Ingrid & Isabel

baby photography in cleveland