Fun and cute baby gifts

When I first found out that I was pregnant, several of my friends talked about throwing me a baby shower. I felt really conflicted about this for several reasons. While I felt so blessed that I had people in my life wanting to celebrate me and my baby, it wasn't even 2 years ago that I had four baby showers generously thrown for me by my friends and family. I didn't want to take advantage of my friends' generosity by having yet another baby shower when there wasn't even that much that we needed. Not that I think it's at all wrong to have a baby shower for a second baby, I just didn't feel like it was the right thing for me. 

Anyway, so I pretty much said no thank you to a baby shower, but that didn't stop our family and friends from giving us lots of fun gifts! We really are so blessed! I couldn't resist showing you all some of the fabulous things we've been gifted.

This is one of the very first gifts that a friend bought us for Brenson. It's a {large} giraffe playmat and is soooooo soft. I've read great things about these!

My sister made us these super-cute booties for Little Man:

I love the giraffes on the bottoms of them!

Brianna loved her bouncy seat, but we had borrowed it from my sister. She has since gotten rid of most of her baby stuff. When we were gifted some cash, we used it to purchase this bouncy seat (yes, it's jungle themed . . . I'm pretty sure I've gone way overboard with this):

My mom made us these flannel receiving blankets. I love them because they are bigger than ones you can buy:

This blanket was a Christmas gift to Brenson from my sister. The backside of it is super-soft and I know Brenson will love it!

Recently, my Aunt sent us a package in the mail that had lots of fun gifts in it. Among them were these flannel burp cloths (there were 2 of each). Brianna spit up CONSTANTLY until she was about 7 months old and the flannel burp cloths were the best at helping us contain the mess. We have lots of burp cloths for Brenson, just in case he's like his sister in that department. She also sent the adorable flannel receiving blanket. Love the blue/green fabric!

Also included in the package was this framed print that she made. It goes perfectly in Brenson's room!

How cute is this dinosaur coin bank?

This book was a gift from my brother's family. Brianna has a ton of books, so I'm glad that we're starting Brenson a collection as well.

One night, I was browsing Etsy and found a matching burp cloth and onesie set. I loved it, but the seller was asking more than I was willing to pay for it. So, I enlisted my sister to make me a few. I bought plain white burp cloths and onesies, a bit of cute fabric, and she produced these for me:

As well as these:

LOVE!

I'm excited to read this book! I know that raising a boy will be a whole different world than raising a girl.

Brenson has also received several super-soft and cute blankets:

He also has a closet full of ADORABLE clothes. Some of this I've purchased, but much of it has been gifts. There is waaaaay too much to showcase individually, but that doesn't mean we aren't grateful for each and every piece that we've been gifted!

This is actually just his 0 to 6 month size stuff. I have a tub of larger sizes packed away!

This photo is of our packed hospital bags, but I'm showing it because the diaper bag was a gift as well. As a side-note, the diaper bag is full of the things Brenson will need, the larger black bag has clothes and cosmetics for Chris and me, the blue back-pack is our bag with necessities for L&D, and the small bag is full of things to keep Brianna entertained should she have to spend a lot of time at the hospital with us (and to ease her mind . . . she was very concerned that there was no bag packed for her when she saw the bags sitting in Brenson's room).

Even Brianna has been spoiled by our friends/family with a few gifts of her own. I LOVE the Big Sister shirt that one of our friends had made for her! It is seriously so cute! The pop bottle is full of fun things to keep her entertained at the hospital or while I'm nursing at home, etc. Such a cute idea!

We've also received a few gifts of cash, baby cosmetics (like shampoo, lotion, etc), little toys, etc. So, although I opted out of having a shower, our family has certainly been showered with many wonderful gifts!