Smiles across the miles...thank you Ruthie!

My friend Ruthie is an amazing artist, designer, and general do-it-yourself engineer of anything involving craft, decor, or design...and cooking!  She is a rock-star!  And she is my inspiration!  Some people go to "pinterest;" I go to Ruthie (She really should have her own show).

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these adorable hand embroidered onesies!  Ruthie, you are the Queen of Craft and you are so talented!  Thank you for adding some "yay" to my day!  This little boy is gonna love his new outfits! 
Thank you so much!
Love, K

Putting the "fat" in Fat Tuesday

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday of course, so I was sure not to miss the opportunity to participate.  I was actually really good all day, but for dinner I splurged on pizza bianco with tomato, ricotta and mozzarella, fried zucchini, and Caesar salad.  Which left me too full to have the cannoli.  I was burping all night.  But it was delicious.  When we got home, I thought it would be a good idea to listen to the baby's heartbeat.  (Friends of ours so sweetly gave us a fetal Doppler so that we could listen to him anytime...it's so cool!)  Amidst all the digestive noises and things gurgling, we could hear his little ticker beating away, a sound I never get tired of hearing.  Every week I get a little update on the size of the baby, and this week, I just thought it was so cute--he's the size of a spaghetti squash.  Not too tiny anymore.  I'm looking forward to the weeks ahead...it's getting more and more exhilarating, exciting, brain-bending, and nerve-wracking all at the same time. 

Awesome Gift!



Baby Bump
(Contains: one BIG slice of pizza, a salad, many pieces of fried zucchini, and one baby)

P.S. And MANY best wishes and congratulations to my brother Bryan and his girlfriend Ashley on their recent engagement!  I'm so happy for you both!!!

Thank Heaven for hand-me-downs!

Thank you so very much to our friends Jason and Lisa for so many adorable little boy clothes! Their little boy Jakob (born on my birthday last year) has already shown us just how fast these babies grow.  Thanks for the jump start on the wardrobe!  Our little boy will be stylin' and smilin.' And soon, he'll have a buddy named Jakob to play with...thanks again guys!
 

Pop, goes the belly

I was getting dressed this morning,
when something didn't zip,
And so I thought, I guess it's time
before I hear a "rip,"

I'd better get the comfy pants,
the ones I've grown to love...
they do not judge, they simply stretch
to fit just like a glove.

Then looking in the mirror,
much to my surprise,
my belly grew--like overnight!
When did I get this size?

The baby's really growing,
and I love that now I show,
but then I gasped when it sunk in;
I still have 4 months to go!!!

--klr

Mail surprises, music, and mini-mommy-meltdown

Most of the time, checking the mail is rather uneventful.  Junk mail, advertisements, bills, you know how it goes...But this weekend, I found a surprise in my mailbox.  Thank you, Aunt Christy for the adorable little boy outfits!  Perfect for our sports-loving family.  And they'll be just in time for baseball and football season this summer and fall.

We were also able to enjoy a night out to celebrate Valentine's Day early.  We had a great night of karaoke, and then went to see the "Piano Man," a musical tribute to Billy Joel and Elton John.  The man who played and sang was from Manchester England, and he did a fantastic job singing just like Sir Elton himself.  The band was also super awesome.  He even had his wife and son up there with him playing percussion and doing backup vocals.  It was a great night, and little baby boy Rinella enjoyed all the great music.

Sunday, I thought I'd go and look into starting a baby registry.  It sounded like a good idea.  But then, I really had no idea how overwhelming that could be (could some of my sisters and girlfriends please come out here and save me?!)What started as an "I'm just gonna go and look" became 4 hours of scouring the store and looking around at 700 different kinds of car seats, strollers, swings, monitors and such--how does one even know where to begin?  And who knew that someone so little could need so much stuff.  I totally hit the peak of my confusion when I came to the bottles and breastfeeding stuff.  Slow flow, medium flow, fast flow nipples, nipple shields (???), sterilize this, store that...it became a bluuuuuurrrr and I had to call my reinforcements to make sense of it all.  Luckily, after a couple of phone calls, I got some really good advice.  (Thanks Christy and Lisa. :)

Special thanks to Sue for going with me to investigate all this baby gear.
And special thanks to Jadyn Olivia for reminding me to register for kitchen cabinet locks.   

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  Kisses and hugs!

What's in a name?

Now that we're having a boy, I have been spending many a night--while drifting off to sleep--thinking of names.  Boys are splendid.  They are masculine, handsome, strong, courageous, and endearing.  Trying to think of names to represent everything I think about is not as easy as it sounds.

Enter: Ethen. He's the ADORABLE 3-year old son of two very awesome customers we have, and upon hearing that we were having a boy, his father asked him, "Ethen, what if Phil and Karen name their baby boy Ethen?"
Ethen looked a little confused and more than a little concerned.  "But then I won't have a name, if they take my name."  We all smiled at his response.  Then Ethen kindly offered us an alternative so that we wouldn't have to take his name: "Ghostbuster." 

Thank you, Ethen.  That's original, masculine, handsome, strong AND courageous--all rolled up in one.  How are 3-year olds so smart???

Hope everyone enjoyed their Superbowl!  Mine gave new meaning to the word "kickoff."  Little boy is already active.  Either that or he just really likes when I drink anything with sugar.