Water for Elephants

If you read that blog title a little too quickly like my dear friend Steph did, you may have thought my water broke...nope...not yet. Since my water is still in tact, we went and saw Water for Elephants last night and LOVED it! I considered leaving the theater a few times due to being extremely uncomfortable, but then was able to relax a bit after stretching out across three seats and leaning against Steve. Reese is stunning and Robert is much more handsome and grown up from the Twilight saga and both did a wonderful job. If you've read the book, like I have, you'll definitely see the parallels, but there are some differences as well.

As most pregnant women know, you get a weekly email update throughout your pregnancy on the growth of your unborn child. Well, today I received an email titled "Your Baby: 1 Week" which went on to congratulate me on the "big thrills" that I've been experiencing this past week...hmmmmmm...the only thrills I've received in the past week are some extra sharp jabs to my sides. My boy is officially 5 days late, BUT the end is near and Mr. Raleigh will be arriving on Thursday. Until then, I'm staying busy at work and running errands.

A huge THANK YOU to our friends and family for the emails, texts, Facebook messages, comments - we love hearing from you all and will keep you posted on our sons arrival.

A Little Bit of Sun...

Made the people of Seattle VERY happy yesterday

I swear the sun comes out (for the first day in 2011) and people come out of hibernation and decide it's time for shorts, tanks and flip flops - not sure if that attire is necessar in 65 degree temps, but whatever makes you happy. Along with the sun, comes a lot of happy people with smiles on their faces. The sun in Seattle just has a way with the locals unlike any other city...maybe you'd have to be a local to completely understand it, but it's a great feeling. I hoped the sun might entice my son to join us, but that was not the case - he's still enjoying his carefree life nuzzled directly under my rib cage and has given me zero direction as to when he'd like to join us.

The weather made for the perfect day to have a bridal shower with friends to celebrate our dear friend Diggy's wedding. Congratulations Diggy and Ryan! We can't wait to celebrate with you at Aldberbrook in July!

Here are a few things I've had on my mind lately...usually around 4am after I've struggled to get out of bed for the 3rd time of the night to go to the bathroom and have the toughest time getting back to sleep:

• My love affair with ice cream MUST come to an end sometime in the the next week.
• In the last month I've become HOOKED on shows about jail..Lockup Raw being my favorite...yes, I'm weird.
• Less than a week from now, I will be a mama.
• I want Tina Fey to be my celebrity best friend. I bought her new book Bossypants yesterday at Costco (BTW - excellent prices on books, but you probably already knew that) and am already halfway finished - she is one amazing writer and woman.
• Our yard is in complete shambles. Steve decided a week ago that our lawn wasn't quite up to par. Therefore, every night after work this week and most of the weekend has been spent on the tractor, tilling, laying a "miracle fertilizer", planting new grass seed and working on the garden...he loves this kind of stuff and I feel like I'm married to a farmer.
• I've always liked a clean house, but this "baby nesting" phase has taken my cleanliness to a whole new level. I clean and do laundry every.single.day thinking that that day or the next just might be the day my baby arrives...this has been going on for a month now.

Happy "Due Date" RJR!

Well, the day has arrived, and from the results of my doctors appointment this morning (1cm dilated and 20% effaced), it doesn't sound like our boy will be making his debut today. I'm assuming he's just be a bit too comfortable, which is not comfortble for his mama and is making his parents more anxious than ever. If nothing happens this weekend, I have an appointment scheduled for Monday morning and my doctor will induce next Thursday.

In honor and celebration of this day that we've been counting down for over nine months now, I made cupcakes to share with my co-workers. They all think I've completely lost my mind and don't understand what I'm still doing at work, but to be honest, I'd rather stay busy than sit around the house. I mean I can only rearrange the nursery, do laundry, vacuum and clean so many times a day.

Happy Due Date Raleigh! Your Grandparents would love for you to arrive before Easter so you can celebrate with us, but we're fine with you staying put for as long as you feel necessary.

Steve and I haven't had a photo together in months so we took one this morning before we left the house...maybe not the best idea...this photo is deceiving...we look miserable and appear to be half awake, but I promise we are the most excited we've ever been in our lives.

39 Weeks ~

Here I am this morning before work. Maybe this is my last day of work for a few months, maybe not? Unless my boy decides to join us this weekend, I'll be back on Monday. Also, I've let Raleigh know that I have a birthday party to attend for my dear friend Jamie this weekend so we'll see if he holds off long enough for us to celebrate JOAT and go to the Leary Traveler one last time.

The Nashelle necklace I've been been wearing for the past few weeks (the one in this photo) was a gift from my lovely Megs. She's had the same necklace with Miles and Ava's names and birthstones on it for a while now and I've always told her how much I love it so she bought one for me! Have I ever mentioned that I have the best girlfriends in the world?

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Waiting Game...

To pass the time during these final week(s) I'm staing busy and doing a bit of the following...working, going to lunch and dinner with girlfriends, shopping, cleaning and enjoying every moment with Steve as just the two of us. Everyday we find ourselves talking about the changes that are about to happen in our lives and I don't think we'll truly know how to process/embrace these changes until we're faced with them. The main thing we talk about is how we will soon be 100% responsible for another human life - we're both very independent so it's a lot to take in, but we're ready. The question now - is Raleigh ready? I had my weekly appointment this morning and he's apparently a bit too comfortable and not ready for this crazy world...yet. My next appointment is on my due date - April 21, exactly 40 weeks so we'll just wait and see what happens. My guess is that he'll arrive on April 23.

We're sort of dying to know what he's going to look like so we've gone through our old baby albums and pulled out a few photos of us as kids. As with all parents we hope he's healthy, but I also hope he's as handsome as his dad.

Full Term?!?!

As of today, I'm 37 weeks pregnant...say what?? In the pregnancy world 37 weeks equals FULL TERM - wowza!

My doctor at my appointment yesterday: "So, you realize that your baby boy could potentially be arriving any day now, right?"

Me: "Ahhhhhh...Seriously?"

The thought that my boy could be arriving at any moment is a bit perplexing. I feel like we're ready, but at he same time I'm not 100% sure we're ready. Good thing we're spending TEN HOURS at the hospital this weekend attending our birthing class...I really hope we leave on Saturday afternoon chock-full of knowledge otherwise we may not be going back on Sunday...

I have zero desire to take time off before Raleigh's arrival so my plan is to work until I can't work anymore, BUT if someone offered me a trip to Palm Springs, I wouldn't refuse...if the travel were approved. The rain outside is driving me nuts and the thought of the summer sun rarely leaves my thoughts these days. My parents are going to Maui on Monday for 6 days and I wish so badly that I could join them...however, I'm not too keen on the thought of delivering in a Hawaiian hospital...no offense Hawaii.

Special Delivery

A HUGE Congratulations to Megan, Ryan and Addi on the arrival of their handsome baby boy, born yesterday. I met Mr. Brady today and immediately fell in love. I mean look how flawless his sweet little face and lips are!

Brady Thomas Baumgartner

Born at 12:48pm
Weighing 8 lbs. 14 oz.
22 inches long

I remember the day Miss Addi was born (on my birthday - lucky me!) like it was yesterday and now I can't believe Megan and Ryan are the proud parents to TWO gorgeous kids. Going through our pregnancies together has been a special experience for the two of us and now that her boy is finally here and mine still has approx. 23 more days (not that I'm counting) it makes me even more anxious and excited than before for his arrival! I love that our boys are destined to be friends and grown up together. If Raleigh is half as perfect and cute as Brady, I will be one lucky mama. Congratulations Baumgartners!!

Flying By

My pregnancy seems to be flying by - I really hope the last four weeks continue on this same pace. I truly feel blessed to have had such a great pregnancy, but yesterday was tough. From the moment I woke up from when I went to bed last night I just didn't feel very good (I'm thinking it was something I ate), but today is a new day and I woke up feeling like things were back to normal - thank goodness because we have a full/fun weekend ahead of us...Sounders game, dinner with friends, concert and photoshoots.

How on earth am I one month away (or less!) from becoming a mamma? I'm excited (can't wait to meet my boy and to see Steve as a dad), nervous (really hoping I don't give birth in the car like my friend Nadine) and emotional. My hope is that Steve and I are able to give our son the world and pray that we will exceed the expectations as parents that we currently have for ourselves.

Nursery Update

The nursery is officially ready for our little mister...I realize he won't necessarily be utilizing the nursery for a while, but it's still fun to get everything put away and ready for his arrival. The closet on the otherhand is prepared for his 2nd birthday. I have promised Steve and those close to me that the shopping has ceased...it just took a while. Steve likes to say "so when we're living down by the river, in a tent because you've spent all of our money on our sons clothes, we'll just be thankful that he looks good, right?" At least I can say that I have a problem and I'm working to fix it.

I like to think the RC nautical flag stands for Rinabarger-Coffey, but it actually means Race Committee. The shadow box with the various letter R's are something we've been collecting from various antique stores.

I got the idea to make these adorable beeswax canvas signs from here. They're so simple! The quotes on each of the signs were taken from cards that I've give to Steve over the years and figured they were fitting for our boys room.

These bookshelves/collector's shelves can be found at Pottery Barn Kids and various other stores, but we didn't want to spend too much on them and wanted a specific color so we found plans on Ana White's site (LOVE this site for homemade projects) and built them ourselves. Very simple and cheap project. If any of you are interested in a specific dimension of shelf or color, Steve would be happy to build them for you at a reasonable price.

The shelf in this photo is just a piece of driftwood that we found out at Harstine Island. We collected about 8 pieces, brought them home, dried them out, cleaned them up and voilà we have a free shelf!

This was an Etsy find and I just had to have it - too darn perfect for the theme of the room. Ahhhh how I heart Etsy.

The bedding! After a few weeks of searching for a masculine/non-baby fabric (not easy to do), I finally found some samples at The Quilting Loft in Ballard that I loved and went online to find it cheaper. I ended up purchasing the fabric from Quilt Home and could not be more thrilled with the results. One random night out, my talented friend Kelly offered to make the bedding for us and my reply was YES PLEASE! She did such a fabulous job - thank you Kelly - we love it! The fabric I chose for the bedskirt and bumper is by Joel Dewberry (Modern Meadow - Cool Stream) - officially my favorite fabric desiner (is that what he's called?). If you're in need of a fabric, check his stuff out - his designs are gorgeous.

The baby blanket - a precious gift from Raleigh's Auntie May May (Thank You!) that I'm currently sleeping with and may have a tough time parting with to give to my son. Let me just say that it's 1 million times better than my poor, 31 year old, threadbare blanket, Idaho. Baby blankets have sure been come a long way since 1979.

Me And My Boy...Showered By My Girls

Saturday was my baby shower with my girlfriends and it could not have been more perfect. Since my fabulous hostesses were both from out of town (Megs and Cabe - I can't thank you enough!! Love you two!), I offered up my house as the location, which worked out great. It forced Steve and I to do some major spring cleaning and to finish up he nursery (more on that soon). The weather was ideal, the food was excellent and the friends that were able to make it made my day perfect. As I've said many times before, I feel like the luckiest gal in the world to call these girls my dear friends. Raleigh is going to be one fortunate little guy to call all of you his aunties. Thank you all for making the trek south and spending a couple of hours with me - it means the world to me! And an extra special thanks to the friends that flew in, drove long distances and took the train to come out and celebrate with us!

All of the friends!






JOAT's red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting - Delish!

All of the pregnant Mama's! (L to R) Becki (girl), Max (twin boys), Me (boy), Megan (boy), Steph (boy), Rauh (boy), Lynne (finds out tomorrow!!), Delane (doesn't know yet), Katy (doesn't know yet).

Opening Stacie's package - mailed from Boston with 80 - $0.23 stamps




The soon-to-be Grandma's

Weekend Update

We had a wonderful weekend. Friday night was spent enjoying a delicious dinner and hanging out at my parents house celebrating Megs 26th birthday. I swear this girl doesn't age one bit and is still as gorgeous and perfect today as she's ever been.

Saturday morning we had to drop my car off at the shop and decided to head up to Seattle in Steve's Suburban, which turned out to be such a bumpy ride that I thought at one point along I-5 that the bumps might send me into labor. First stop was to check out the 2nd Saturdayz Flea Market at Magnuson Park. If you're into antiques, homemade items, etc, I'm highly recommend checking this event out. We left with a couple of great finds for the nursery.

Next stop was Second Wave in Fremont, or as Steve likes to refer to it as "his mistress." I had never been to Second Wave before and knew the instant we walked into the freezing cold warehouse why he loved it so much - nothing but used boating/marine devices from floor to ceiling. I lasted about 10 minutes before convincing him that we needed nothing. This is the store where he purchased the boat cleats for the nursery closet. Since we were so close we had to stop next at the Armchair Sailor on Westlake to see if there was anything we possibly needed for the nursery. I swear Steve knows the hours and location of every single boating supply store on the west coast. Since we were just down the street from the new LunchBox Laboratory restaurant in South Lake Union Steve decided it was a must since he's been telling me about their burgers for the past 4 years and I had never had the pleasure of enjoying one.

His favorite has always been the Dork Burger (half pork, half duck), but I opted for a Kobe beef burger. I have to say that it was pretty much one of the best burgers I've ever had - they're huge so you can save some for later. They even serve tater tots and malts! We're suckers for anyplace that serves malts. If you haven't been yet, give it a try - you'll thank me later!

After all of this running around, it was time for mama to get a massage. About 6 months ago I bought a massage off of Groupon for Lemon Drop Skin Care & Massage in Kent. I had never heard of it, but read great reviews and couldn't pass on a one-hour massage for $30. Best massage I've ever had - I'll definitely be going back.

Saturday night and all day Sunday were spent doing some major spring cleaning and preparing for our house guests this coming weekend - The Reynolds! Steve also built a book shelf and a shelf out of driftwood for the nursery that I'll post later this week. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I'm hoping this week flys by because I can hardly wait for my girlfriends baby shower this coming Saturday (and Marge Madness) and for all of my girls that are flying in to town!!

Side note: I'm currently loving the band Foster the People and looking forward to their show at the High Dive in a couple of weeks. If you haven't heard of them, check them out.

Showered with Love

Two weekends ago my aunt Kathleen and one of my mom's closest friends, Sheila, hosted a baby shower for Raleigh and I at my aunt's house with all of my aunts and my mom's girlfriends. There were about 18 women that attended and absolutely spoiled my baby boy and I with so much love and fabulous gifts. I've always told my parents how fortunate my sister and I are that we were raised among their incredible group of friends, but it's times like this when everyone comes together that you truly see how special of a bond this relationship is - thank you to everyone that was able to attend!

This past weekend was my shower with twenty of my mother-in-laws friends and Steve's aunts, hosted by the fabulous Alison and Carol Becker, but unfortunately I don't think any photos were taken. Just as my sister and I have been so fortunate being raised around such a wonderful "village" of our parents friends, Steve and his brother Scott have had the exact same relationship with their parents friends. The similarities between my parents friends and Mike & Mo's friends is pretty remarkable. My cup (and Raleigh's) overfloweth. Thank you for already spoiling my boy with love.

Raleigh's Future Living Quarters

Over the past couple of months, we've slowly but surely been putting bits and pieces together in the nursery. And even though we're not finished, I decided it was time to share. Being that Steve is a sailor, the only theme we really could go with was nautical. When we first started the project I said "let's not go overboard with the theme" and I'm happy to say that I'm really impressed with where the design has gone and the ideas that Steve has come up with.

We purchased this window pane at an antique store almost two years for about $15 and knew we would find something creative to do with it - well, two years later we did! Steve (very carefully) removed the glass and then had three mirrors cut to size at McLendon's Hardware and sealed them in with an epoxy. Total cost = $22. The antique glass fishing nets floats were purchased at various antique shops for about $3 each.

Steve ordered this wooden sailboat mobile about three years ago after finding it on clearance for half off on an online sailing supply store that was going out of business. Being that he purchases just about anything sailboat related with the intention of eventually using it somewhere, he decided this was a purchase he needed for his future child.

This framed photo was a Christmas gift from my sister this year. If you look closely, you'll see that each photo is a letter and spells out Raleigh. The frame was black so Steve painted it to match the door frame and floor boards. Megs - we absolutely love this photo - thank you so much!

Here are a few more tidbits about the room...

• Wall paint color: Behr Premium Plus - Little Pond
• Crib: Bratt Decor (amazing hand me down from a family friend). The white of the crib didn't match the white of the dresser so Steve took it apart and painted it the same.
• Dresser/Changing Table: Craiglist find for $125. Solid wood and Pottery Barn Kids cira 2005 Here's an original photo of it...
  
• Closet: ClosetMaid Storage from Home Depot.
• Furniture paint color: Rust-Oleum Universal - Satin White.
• Window Valence: Pottery Barn Kids.
• Dresser knobs: Anthropologie. I saw these knobs a few months ago and loved the teal, which matches the crib bedding. Bedding is currently being made by my crafty friend Kelly.
• Rocker Recliner: Presley Cafe Rocker by Ashley Furnture (purchased on sale at Fred Meyer).

Upcoming projects:

• Make wall shelves out of driftwood that we picked up at Harstine Island last weekend
• Make a couple of bookshelves similar to these

Fingers crossed Raleigh enjoys sailing and the water as much as his Dad does otherwise we may be switching things up a bit.

Wishing I Were a Braverman

Are you hooked on Parenthood, yet? If not, join the bandwagon as it is currently the best show on TV.

Don't let the title of this post confuse you...I love my family and I love the family that I married in to, but there is just something about dreaming about being a part of this fictional family that gets me really excited. Honestly, the acting/cast, the character portrayal, the family dynamics, the soundtrack, the story lines are all pretty much remarkable. It's a bit emotional - at least for this pregnant mama that has cried during the last couple of episodes, but the laughter definitely outweighs the tears. I really don't watch that much TV so I guess I'm not the best judge at determining that this is the #1 show, but I just love it! I anxiously await the start of the show each Tuesday night and get sad when the hour is up. If you aren't watching it yet, give it a shot, I can assure you that you won't be disappointed.

Loving the Celebrations

February and March in the Rinabarger house calls for a lot of celebration. Today is Steve's 29th birthday and being as indecisive as I am (moreso than ever with the pregnancy), I had the toughest time deciding on what to get him. Saturday I had my first shower (more on that soon) and that night we got all dolled up and enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Barolo (Ahhhh-Mazing!  make your reservation now) for our anniversary so it was time for me to get creative for his special day. Thanks to my dear friend Jenny (whose husband did this for her birthday), I was given the perfect plan - order pizza from a famous Chicago restaurant. I mean how many times do you honestly get to eat a meal that has been sent via overnight FedEx? Rare...right? So, I ordered pizza on Friday from Giodano's and it was delivered today. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of the meal because we were too busy savoring each bite, but to see the contents of the box below, click here. Definitely one of the best pizza's I've ever had.

The second part of his gift was four tickets to the Seattle Thunderbirds game (tonight) for birthday boy, his brother and two of his buddies. So, before they left, they enjoyed a few birthday shots from the shotski.  

I've been a bit of a "nester" with the nursery lately, which means every night after work I've had Steve working on projects. Therefore, a night out with the boys was the perfect treat for him. Steve - I hope you had a blast tonight - I Love You. My night was spent catching up on Ellen, Oprah and One Born Every Minute (wowza!)