Well considering it's past father's day, I considered not blogging about this but then I remembered things like this don't happen to me and I would feel ungrateful not documenting it. So here it is, the story of how I got to go on the Ellen Mother's Day Giveaway 2011 Show and win a lot of really cool stuff. Back in March I went to San Diego for a fun girl's trip with my best friends from college. One of the things I wanted to do most in CA was to go to a taping of the Ellen show because I LOVE her and joke (except I couldn't be more serious) that one of the things on the top of my bucket list is to dance in her audience. Anyone reading this hopefully has seen the show so you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, we tried to get tickets but they were totally sold out.
Fast forward three weeks later when I get a hysterical message, make that 3 messages in a row from my friend Lindsey who lives in San Diego. The message went something like this, "OH MY GOSH! The Ellen show just called and left me a message. I wrote them an email and they called me back. Can you believe it?! Answer your phone. I think I may get tickets for the Mother's Day show and you are coming with me." Mix in there some screaming and you get the idea. They gave her two tickets to the show and asked if she had any pregnant friends. Here's where my luck streak comes in. I was about 5 months pregnant at the time while she was due just a month later. I bought a ticket back out to CA for the three days before mother's day and picked out an outfit that made me look the most pregnant I could be at 5 months. We drove up from San Diego to L.A early the morning of the tapping stopping along the way at Cafe Rio. Pretty soon we arrived at Universal Studios!
When we pulled into the garage where they instructed us to park this is what we saw...
This picture doesn't do justice because everyone is sitting down. It was so funny to see this many pregnant women all gathered in one place. We sat down with all the other waddling ladies and dug into our Cafe Rio. An employee came out and announced that they would be handing out numbers so everyone should slowly line up to get one but assured us that this number had nothing to do with where we would sit in the studio so not to rush or worry. We were both starving so with that we sat and ate our Rio until the other ladies cleared out.
We were pretty much the last girls to get our numbers. Number 170 and 171.
Remember how he said that it had nothing to do with seating? Well he lied. When it was time to make our way into the studio they called everyone up in groups of 2o or so in numerical order. We knew we would be in the very last row of the studio but didn't even care because we were still going on the show and we knew we would still get the goods. When we finally got into the studio, sure enough we were filling into the last row when an employee put her hand in front of me and asked how many were in my party. When I replied it was just the two of us she motioned for me to follow her and started walking down the stairs to the front. This is where our second streak of luck comes in. She took us all the way down to the front left side and put us in the front row of a side balcony. We were RIGHT next to Tony!!! (Tony is her DJ in case you aren't an Ellen fan- in which case you probably aren't reading this anyway). See?!!! That's Tony's seat!
The show was amazing! We danced our hearts out. There's only one thing more funny then seeing a whole bunch of pregnant girls all sitting in the same area and that's watching that many pregnant women dance. There was one girl that was due any day and busting out moves I didn't know where possible! Kate Hudson was the guest. She was adorable. And it was really cool to see how Ellen acted when the cameras stopped rolling. She seemed totally calm and just had a big smile on her face. During one commercial break she was over by our side and looking out at the crowd with a big smile. She stopped when she saw me and started laughing. Maybe because I must have looked like a kid on Christmas with a HUGE smile and mouthing 'Hi Ellen, hi Ellen, hi Ellen". She waved back at me and people in our section started cheering.
Ok, I have to admit that when I see giveaway shows like this on TV and people are crying I kind of roll my eyes (I know that's awful) but when they brought out these incredible gifts I couldn't help but choke back tears. I was hoping for maybe one big gift like a stroller or a car seat or maybe a crib even. We got all of those things and a ton more. Here's a list of the things we got...
$300 old navy gift card
Daillia Necklace
Rockabye Baby 13 CD Set
$240 blume gift card
6-month supply of Plum food
150 Birth Announcements from Paperterie
6-month supply of Huggies
Puj microfiber bootie
Expecting 411 Book Series
Little Giraffe Blanket
Britax B-ready Stroller
Britax Car Seat
Baby Carrier
Diaper bag- go gaga
Peg perego High Chair
Video camera
pack and play
Graco espresso crib
Baby Bedding
Washer and Dryer (Hmmm, after jumping up and down when they brought these out my girlfriend and I looked at each other and said 'oh yeah, we're renting!' Anyone want to buy a washer and dryer?!)
After the show ended we got in our cars are went out in an assembly line. It took us about 4 hours to get out of the parking garage but we were so happy we didn't care! They sent us home with the high chair, pack n play, video camera, baby carrier, blanket, diaper bag, CDs and booties. Everything else they gave us vouchers in a packet that we can order any time for the next year. This is our loot.
I wish I was one of those girls that remembered to take a weekly picture of my bump but I really didn't take very many pictures throughout this whole pregnancy. Luckily one of my best friends happens to be an amazing photographer and she snapped a few of me along the way. Then last weekend Camden, Justin and I went to Old Town Alexandria and Justin snapped a few pictures. Turns out my husband is a pretty good photographer too! The top three pictures are ones that he took and the others are from Alia Cardwell. 
This pregnancy has been much smoother then Camden's. Not a single trip to the ER! (I'm knocking on wood as I'm writing this) I did however find out at my last appointment several weeks ago that I'm already 50% effaced. They sent me over to the hospital to get a more accurate measurement. My doctor warned me that if my cervix was 3cm or less that I would be on bed rest. If I measured below 2cm I wouldn't be allowed to leave the hospital. Ehhh! Well I was at 3.1!!! I was put on moderate bed rest since I was borderline. Since I'm not much of a home body, to say the least, I've been going a little stir crazy. Thank you to all the friends that have been playing at our house helping Camden and me stay sane. I have my next appointment this Wednesday to find what I'm measuring. Keeping my fingers crossed that I've stayed the same and haven't progressed!
