Mystery Gift

Bad News: We didn't win the Mega Millions. 

So on to the GOOD news...

Okay, I am so humbled and completely ecstatic that we have received an awesome car seat for our baby!  It was delivered to us a couple days ago, but the only problem is...we don't know who it's from!  I checked the box, then checked it again several times, but there's no clues as to who sent it.  So, my mom told me that when she sent the pack-n-play, that she had included a note; however, we never received a note so she had to tell us that is was sent from her.  Maybe the same thing happened with the car seat--so, to whomever sent this, THANK YOU THANK YOU!  And you will get another "official" thank you once I know who you(s) are!  We love it!  So excited!

And thank you so much, Grandma Deeann, Grandpa Mark, and Aunt Alli (from Kayleigh) for the awesome cute pajamas and the Easter Candy!  She is so sweetly sharing the candy with her little brother already--much to my pleasure.  :)  Yummy.

Baseball charity event and more...

We had a wonderfully busy and successful weekend at the store as Hot Corner hosted 5 Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers for an autograph session to benefit pitcher Brad Ziegler's charity "Pastime for Patriots."  It was created to help members of our armed forces and their families be able to attend baseball games throughout the country.  We had over 100 people come out and show support, and even the ABC crew made an appearance to tape a segment for the evening news.  All the hard work definitely paid off, and we were able to send 100% of the proceeds to Brad's awesome cause.  The players were so happy with the turnout, they want to do it again next year, adding more publicity and player participation.  I am so proud of Phil for all of his efforts. 


Craig Breslow, Tyler Skaggs, Trevor Cahill, Brad Ziegler, Bigfil, Philly

Beginning of News Segment on TV

The next day, we held our fantasy baseball draft, and guess who got #1 pick??  That's right, I did!!  I was so excited to get first pick!  I drafted Matt Kemp.  Before the draft, we said good-bye to a very sweet friend and wonderful person, Jennifer Harley.  She is moving back to Philadelphia and will be near her family.  We will sure miss her!  And baby Rinella is sooooo thankful for the Dr. Seuss books!  We will enjoy them!  Thank you, Jen, and best of luck to you! 

Tomorrow is my 5th doctor's appointment and I'll be just about 28 weeks along.  I have to arrive early for a glucose screening to check my body's production of insulin.  Please pray that it goes well!  Everything is still going very well with the baby.  Still growing...lots of showing.  It's starting to warm up here, and with that comes a new displeasure--swollen feet.  To combat this, I thought I'd slip into my swimsuit that I THOUGHT was stretchy enough to go over my tummy--turns out, it isn't.  That was good for a laugh.  So I bought a maternity swimsuit and tried it out the other day..HEAVEN.  I may be living in the pool for the next few weeks.  Floating is my new favorite activity. 

This week: Baby is the size of a cauliflower.



Baby Belly

A Baby's Treasures

Tonight was a relaxing evening.  I made dinner and Phil and I sat down to watch American Idol--the show that I've watched since its debut in 2002.  I love the show.  And tonight was especially great as the contestants sang all Billy Joel songs.  My favorites were Jessica Sanchez and Colton Dixon.  And then the night got kinda crazy when I turned the channel to TLC and watched the show My Crazy Obsession.  Tonight's episode: Adult Baby.  This man actually made himself a highchair, drinks from bottles, and wears footed pajamas.  Wow.  He also wears diapers, uses a pacifier, and from the other room, I just now learned that he's going to a special tailor to have a giant onesie made for his size.  What???!!!!   Really makes me wonder what went on in his home growing up.  Creepy.  I probably shouldn't judge, but c'mon.  I guess it goes to show you never know in this world.  Nevertheless, it got me thinking about babies and that got me thinking about cute baby things.  Speaking of, here are a couple of new things that we've added to our baby inventory...



A Pack and Play...thanks, Mom!  This will be going to work with me so that baby boy has a place to rest his little head, and when he gets a little bigger, he can play!

I wanted to see how easy this was to put together.  Being new to all this baby business, I am not so quick at things that seasoned professional moms do with eyes closed and one arm tied behind their back.  But Kayleigh and I got the hang of it and we both thought it was very easy to assemble.  I love when things say "no tools required."




Brown Bear, Brown Bear book and stuffed bear gifted from a couple we know from the laundromat.  I love Eric Carle's children's books and this is baby Rinella's first one! 

I get so excited about children's books.  I love reading, writing, and collecting them.  Can't wait to read to our little one.  Thanks, Nancy and Clyde!




Baby Crocs and Yankee slippers from Grandma Sue Rinella

Now, the Rinella men have a thing for crocs.  Not name brand, of course, any knock-off will do.  Bigfil (a.k.a. "Nutsy") wears them to the pool and for "lounging around" because they are a one-step-and-you're-done shoe.  No fuss, just easy.  And Philly has taken a liking to "borrowing" his Dad's shoes whenever we are over visiting and taking a trip down to the pool.  Bigfil knows that whenever Philly comes over and wears the shoes, that's the last time he'll see them.  Sue has a full time job just keeping up with the inventory and making sure that the next pair is ready for the taking.  We currently have 3 or 4 pairs in the garage.  I even "borrowed" a pair from him that have become mine because they so fashionably go with my compression socks to prevent swollen feet (yeah, we are hip around here).   In following with tradition, Grandma Sue bought baby Rinella his first pair--until his feet get big enough to take his Grandpa's.  It's all done in love and good fun, of course.  And no shoes were injured or mistreated in any of these acts of "borrowing."  :)



Chick-Fil-A Chicken Strip Salad with blue cheese dressing

Oh, and this?  This is just a yummy chicken salad from Chick-Fil-A that I had for dinner last night.  It was so good it deserved it's own picture.  (This is a pregnant lady's blog, remember?  Food can be a topic of conversation at any time).  But it IS a good salad, and I recommend it.

Top O the Mornin' to You!

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY!

Hope you are all wearing your green proudly today!  This Irish mama sure is.  I didn't feel like spending between $25 and $35 for a St. Patrick's Day themed tee-shirt online, so I "made" this shirt from a Target maternity tank and a patch.  Total cost...$5.00.  And Instead of a Guinness, I just may seek out another festive bevie this fine day...McDonald's Shamrock Shake.  I think my little leprechaun will appreciate that.  Irish blessings to all!

This week: Baby is the size of (how appropriate) an English cucumber.  More green!!!! :)

Rock-a-bye Baby

What a wonderful surprise I received this week.  Talk about a family heirloom, this bassinet is 57 years old.  My Great-Grandparents bought it for my Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Marie for the birth of their first baby--my Dad.  It has been the bassinet for more than a dozen of my family members.  All four of my Grandma's children slept in it, and their children's children--including ME--slept in this thing.  It is a white wicker wheeled wonderland, perfectly suited for a baby's first snooze, and I am so grateful to my Aunt Mary for taking such care to fix it up for our little one after years of being stored in her attic.  She made some repairs and renovations, and she even threaded blue ribbon through the eyelet lace (the last baby to sleep in it was a girl-my cousin Charlie, so she had to remove all the pink bows).  It's just so cute it made me cry.  Grandma Marie says that she loved having this bassinet.  She can remember pushing it back and forth with her feet, while reading sleepily as some of her little "night owls" stayed up way past their bedtimes.  I am so excited that our little one will be able to sleep right where his mommy once slept.  Thank you Grandma, and thank you Aunt Mary!  It is so special!

Thanks, Big Sister!

When thinking about some of the uncertainties of having a new baby, one of the things that gives me the greatest comfort is knowing how great of a big sister our little one will have.  Kayleigh is currently in the 6th grade at Augusta Ranch, and we can't believe she will be in junior high by the time her new baby brother is 2 months old.  She is so thoughtful and is very excited to become a big sister for the first time ever!  I think she's going to be such a big help to Phil and me as we adjust to the new lifestyle of having a brand new baby around.  It will be a cool experience because as I'm learning about becoming a mom for the first time, she will learn all that stuff right alongside of me, hopefully giving her wonderful experience for her future with babysitting and one day--becoming a mom herself.  I am excited to share the adventure together. 

One thing about Kayleigh--the girl cannot resist the mall.  She loves shopping in any form.  And she recently picked out and bought a new little outfit for her baby bro.  She is just like me, a sucker for a good deal and a cute outfit.  I know that she'll be helping me get him dressed in it in no time.  Thank you, big sis!

Kayleigh has always been very creative and craft-oriented.  She learns very quickly how to do things with her hands and she's developed an eye for accessorizing.  She made me these adorable flower pens out of duct tape.  Now when I write at work, I will really be making a statement.  Thank you again, Kayleigh!  One day, she'll probably have her own blog...or her own show.

Love you, Kayleigh! 

Rutabagas and Rare Sights

According to my babycenter app, I've been pregnant for 177 days!  Wow.  Only 103 days to go.  The baby is the size of a rutabaga or an eggplant.  Here's a little fact: rutabagas were developed by crossing turnips with cabbages.  And let me tell ya, I think our son may in fact be doing just that because he's been working at something diligently all night and all morning.  He might be related to Thumper from Bambi because those gentle little kicks have now become jabs in my belly.  But it is the coolest feeling. 

Babycenter also advises me to plan some adult time and do something fun and exciting before the baby comes.  Well, let's see... St. Paddy's Day is coming up, I'm sure I can figure out a fun new sober way to celebrate that.  And I've already assisted the Easter Bunny by taste-testing a few different bags of mini-cadbury eggs to make sure they are a-ok and ready for dispensing into Easter baskets.  And just last night I had that ever-reassuring "I'm not the craziest person in the room" moment when I had to make a quick trip to Walgreen's, only to find a man pacing in little baby steps on a grassy knoll right outside of the store.  I thought he was definitely looking for something lost.  I offered to help him since I thought he might have dropped something small and he couldn't see it.  "Oh, no," he replied, "I'm just walking my turtle."  Ok, I thought, this I gotta see.  Sure enough, he had a turtle the size of an egg, and he was walking him on a little tiny leash that was wrapped around his shelly belly.  Ok, I thought.  My day is now complete.  Too bad I didn't get a picture of it.  But seriously, he was so tiny.  Like this...

Oh, yeah--my life is EXCITING.  I never know what adventure lies ahead. 

And this is just the beginning of the week. 

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Maternity Shirt

I have some pretty awesome sisters.  And it's pretty cool that 2 of them have given me 2 nieces, Kiera and Jadyn, and a nephew, Kyle Jr.

Being the eldest sister, I have always been able to lovingly share (or been forced to share, whatever) my hand-me-downs, toys, books, etc. with my little sisters while we were younger.  Now, as adults, it is still going on.  Except without all the fighting.  I think it's so special that Christy wore this shirt during her pregnancy, passed it on to Suzy, and now Suzy has passed it on to me.  It's good sisterly sharing.  And it feels so special to be part of a little sister tradition.

Love you girls!  So excited for my baby boy to have some

extremely amazing aunts! 



Slam dunk of a weekend!

Yeah, it was game ON this weekend as we got to watch the Phoenix Suns beat the Sacramento Kings.  Thanks to Jen and Mikey for a great time in the suite!  While we were leaving afterward, we ran into the one and only Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and running back Beanie Wells.  We tried to sneak a photo, but the bodyguard said no.  Darn.  I thought I should add in real quick that my Aunt Mary dresses him (she works at Saks Fifth Avenue here in Phoenix), but I didn't want to press the issue.  Making two NFL players mad = bad idea.  But we had a GREAT time anyway.  We had so much fun that we couldn't find our cars after the game.  Seriously, we couldn't.  Isn't that a Seinfeld episode?

During the busy weekend, our amazing friend Ron so kindly came over to assemble the baby's crib and changing table.  I believe he set a record time in getting both done in less than one hour.  He is seriously awesome.  Thank you so much, Uncle Ron!!  We can always count on you!! 

I can't wait to keep working on the baby's room--we still have so much to do!