Nursery and Name Reveal

The nursery is finally done! So excited to share it with you all!

I love how it all came together! I made all the wall decor myself, my wonderful mom made the quilt and diaper stacker and the rest of it was bought at either Walmart or Target. Michael has been such a great help with it too. I couldn't have done it without him. :)

At the beginning of the pregnancy we had originally decided to keep the name a secret. We had decided to do that because I was getting really irritated on everyone's opinions on names. But now we have decided on a name. And since there was no changing our minds we agreed that we would let people know the name and see how it goes. So far we've gotten a great response, and its no wonder, its a really cute name! So here it is:

Michael's one request was that the name would work well in both French and English. This was the one name that we both loved! We're going to call him Theo for short. My one request for the name was that his middle name be Michael so his full name is Theodore Michael Rinderknecht. I can't wait to meet this little guy!

Blessings and Mistakes

I feel like we have been extremely blessed. People have been very generous by donating baby items and clothing. We actually have so many 0-3 month clothes that I'm pretty sure that we'll be giving away about 1/3 of it, or maybe more. It's nice to know that I have the option of helping someone else out just as people have been helping us. It really is a great feeling, especially with a baby on the way.

So the lovely 4 day weekend that Michael had ended up being more tiring than I was planning. We were planning on possibly going to the zoo but by the last day I just wanted to stay at home and do absolutely nothing. Michael was good with that so that was what we did and it was much needed!

Now to the mistake part of this post. During this past week I was looking through Craigslist and found an adorable crib and mattress for a really great price. Well at least from the picture it looked adorable. I showed it to Michael and asked his opinion, He said it was nice and that if I really liked it we should get it. So I told the lady selling the crib that we would take and come pick it up that day. Once we arrived at the house to pick up the crib I started getting the feeling I made a mistake but just put it aside thinking it was just because I was at somebody's house and I tend to get uncomfortable in those situations. The thing is once we walked into the house we realized they were smokers. This didn't hit me right away as a problem until we got in the car with the crib and mattress that I finally realized that (of course) they smelled like smoke. But by that point its kind of to late to return it, especially when you're in the car driving away. I was really quiet the whole way back just regretting the whole thing. Once we got the crib upstairs in the nursery I regretted it even more. We tried cleaning the crib, looking up ways to get smoke smell out of the mattress but nothing seemed to work. I was an emotional wreck that afternoon/evening. Once the waterworks started they were hard to stop. Anyways, the next day after both of us had a good nights rest and my mind wasn't so emotionally clogged we sat down and talked and came to the conclusion that we should get a new crib. I hate (and by hate I mean loathe) wasting money but I can't handle having a crib that smells like cigarette smoke. I've thought of trying to resell it but I don't know of many people who would want this crib, I can imagine it being really hard to sell. We're throwing the mattress away and the crib has been re-purposed to close in the patio so Mozzie can't escape. It may look a little tacky but hey, it works. After this mess of a mistake we've learned a valuable lesson and will not be making the same mistake again.

Update

Just a quick little update on the Rinderknecht household. Life has been pretty busy lately, between Michael working, babysitting, getting up early running to run errands, preparing for baby and dog sitting I feel like the days are flying by faster than I can count them. This week we have the fun of having two dogs. My brother and sister-in-law left for a vacation so they asked us to take of their sheltie. She's a real sweetie. It is nice having her around and keeping Mozzie occupied, I think he gets a little to bored during the day with just me here.

Michael has a short work week thankfully. Starting Sunday he has a four day weekend, which we are going to use to just relax and maybe do something fun if the weather permits. Summer is the busiest season at Delta so its been a little tiring for him, but he's been working so hard. I'm very proud of him. :) On top of all of that he's getting ready to go back to school. He'll start classes in August. Not much else going on as of now, more updates to come.

My Hand at Crafts

This past week I started working on decorations for the nursery. I had spent so much time finding ideas online that by the time I got to making them I knew exactly what I wanted. Here's the first project I did:

I got this idea from pinterest, it was actually something someone was selling on etsy I just took the idea and made it my own. I absolutely love how they turned out! And they were so easy to make. I just found a whale silhouette that I liked, printed it out on a "make-your-own-sticker" paper, cut it out, place it on the canvas and painted over it. Once the paint was dry I removed the stickers. Michael was even impressed on how well they turned out.. They look super cute hanging up in the nursery. :)

The next project was a fabric banner to hang on the wall above the crib. For this one I simply went to Joann's and looked through their excess fabric bin for blue fabric (I didn't need much), and then some fabric "tape". I didn't have the best of scissors so cutting the fabric was kind of a pain but I think it turned out pretty well. :)

On a side note, unrelated to crafts, I tried out a new carbonara recipe today that was a big hit. Michael said that it was so good that he wasn't even going to put salt on it, haha! I count that as a compliment!

Greatest Husband

I just wanted to get this out in the open...I have the greatest husband ever! Never thought I would be so lucky in getting such a great guy. Lately (ok the entire time I've been pregnant) I have been crazy hormonal. One minute I'm fine the next I'm bawling my eyes out or raging mad. Yet through all of this Michael remains so patient and understanding. How he does it I have no idea. The mood swings have been getting worse recently and just the littlest thing will set me off. It's crazy. I'll be talking to a great friend and they'll say just one thing not even mean and in my head I'll go crazy mad but hold it in. Then once Michael gets home or I get a chance to talk to him he gets an earful. He knows that all I need is for him to just sit there and listen and let me get it all out. Isn't he great? He gives me hugs when I need them and apologizes if the littlest thing makes me cry, even when he has every right to sit there and wonder why I'm crying. I feel so blessed to be married to him. I think he is going to make such a wonderful father. Love him so much! :)

The Makings of a Nursery

Ever since we found out we were having a boy I've been busy planning the nursery. It's been kind of fun too :) . The first thing on my list was painting. Now its been 10+ years since I've even had a hand in helping to paint a room (and I didn't even really do much), so first I needed to do my research on painting a room. I'm kind of a perfectionist (as is Michael) so I wanted to make sure I got it right. Next was choosing the color and getting the paint. I decided on a light gray color. I loved the neutral color of it and how it could easily grow with our little guy. During my scouring of Pinterest for ideas on the nursery I kept seeing striped accent walls and I immediately fell in love. I was a little worried about how hard it would be to do, but it turned out to be fairly easy. So here is the finished product:

My dear sweet husband helped out with the accent wall. He measured out the stripes and then taped them out so all I had to do was paint them, so it made my job quick and easy. My sister was visiting this past weekend so she helped paint the rest of the room. I really love how it all turned out! Now it just needs furniture.

We have one piece of furniture bought already for the nursery. We decided that instead of getting a glider to put in the nursery we would get a futon instead. That way it can double as a place for me to sit and nurse but also as extra sleeping place when we have company. I ended up finding the perfect one too. I saw it on craigslist and it was perfect!

When I saw that it had a blue mattress it was a match made in heaven (ha!). It's currently sitting in the living to act as extra seating, and then when it gets closer to the due date Michael will move it up stairs.

17 Weeks: Gender Reveal

Well it's official we are having a...

BOY!!!!!!!

Michael and I are both excited! I grew up with all girls in my family so in a way I was hoping to have a boy. We weren't surprised either. With all the boys in Michael's family it was just inevitable haha. Of course once we found out I couldn't resist going out clothes shopping. :)

He's going to be such a stud :)

Right now I'm at 17 weeks. I can't believe it! Before I know it I'll be half way through! I finally started looking more pregnant than fat, and started growing out of my clothes. I can no longer rubber band my shorts, I'm officially in maternity shorts or as Michael calls it "fat women clothes" (he means well haha).

Now that we know the baby is a boy, nursery plans are underway. I'm planning on doing gray walls with blue whales to decorate. This picture inspired my idea:

In puppy related news, Mozzie is doing really great! He's is basically house trained (a few accidents every once and a while) and he follows commands well. He's a big whiner, which in a way is kind of funny. He whines anytime someone leaves the house (us or company), when he comes back from a walk, or when he comes home after hanging out with people. He's loves people! I finally took him to the vet to get a shot, and found out he weighs about 8 lbs. He's most likely bigger than that now haha, he's been growing so much!