He's Here!!

He's here!!! Our beautiful baby boy was born earlier this afternoon, and we couldn't be more excited! We just got out to the hotel and are deliriously happy and exhausted. Thank you for all your love and prayers! We can't wait to share all the details as soon as the paperwork is finalized on Sunday.

What's in a Name?

I have always been one of those people who loves names! I bought my first baby name book when I was in middle school, and ever since then, I have been (nearly) obsessed with the meaning, history, and heritage of names. My middle school journals contain lists of names that I loved at that point....don't laugh too hard, but here's a sample of one of my entries:

July 29, 1994
I want to have 12 girls. Perhaps if I have a few boys it will be okay. I will never make any of my children endure the pain of having a popular name. (I guess I was "slightly" dramatic even back then!) Here are names I like:
Mary Rose
Victoria Lynn
Tricia Joy (this was the name of a senior at my high school whom I completely idolized)
Theresa Hope

Thank goodness that my tastes have changed since then! ;) I think that some of my interest in names came from my own middle name, Victoria. My parents chose it simply because they liked how it flowed with Bethany. But, after I was born, they discovered that Victoria was also the middle name of two of my great-grandmothers, Emma Victoria & Clara Victoria. I love that my name is linked to my family's heritage, even though that was a sweet surprise that my parents didn't plan on!

Ever since I bought that first baby name book, my name book collection has only grown and now includes these titles, plus a few others (including a collection of Swedish names that is completely printed in Swedish). The Baby Name Wizard is definitely my favorite baby name book. Each name entry in this book contains a graph showing which decade the name was most popular. It also includes 5 complementary boy & girl names as possible sibling names. The author, Laura Wattenberg, created an interactive website called the NameVoyager that also shows the popularity of each name per decade. A new feature on this website is a U.S. map which shows how relatively popular a name is in each state. Don't go to this website unless you're ready to spend at least a half hour checking out all your favorite names!!

Thankfully, Dave willingly puts up with my interest in baby names. We even have a tradition of playing a "game" called "Name of the Night"--also known in our home as NOTN. NOTN involves me proposing a baby name late at night (usually when I can't sleep) and Dave (who's usually half-asleep) telling me the first thought that pops into his mind when he hears the name (which is usually either a grunt or a "Are you kidding me?"). This has been a very successful way for us to "weed out" a lot of names! ;) (Perhaps you could play NOTN, too, in order to discover your next baby's name.)

Needless to say...we are very excited about sharing Baby Rinn's name as soon as he's here! We love its meaning and link to our family heritage...but there's no way you'll get it out of us now! Any guesses, though?

Finishing Touches

Dave was able to finish the crib this past weekend, so we finally got to set it up in the nursery last night! Once it was in the nursery, we ended up moving it to three different spots in the room so I could see how it looked in each spot. But, once we--really I should say once I--made up my mind, we were so happy with the result! I absolutely love how the crib turned out, and I think it's so special that our baby will have a gorgeous crib to sleep in that was handmade by his dad. This will surely be a treasure in our family for many years! We still need to install the ceiling fan and shades and put the wall hangings up. We're also waiting for Grandma Missy to come home from Minnesota to sew the valance for the window....but, at least all the furniture is in and the clothes are all washed. And, after today, all of our hospital bags will be packed!



We also have the cradle for Baby Rinn's first few weeks set up in our bedroom. Dave's parents shipped it to us last week, and all the parts were spread across our kitchen as Dave set it up.




Dave's grandpa built this cradle for Dave and his brothers to sleep in when they were infants, and Baby Rinn's cousin, Griffin, also slept in it this past summer when he was first born. We can't wait to see how many Rinn babies will sleep in this as the years go by!

Birthday Celebrations!

I'm still reeling in shock that another year has passed and I'm now a year older! This birthday was so different from last year's...last year, I was so sad about turning another year older and still not having a baby. It was so sweet to celebrate this year knowing that a baby is about to join our family!

On Friday (my actual birthday), my mom & I met for lunch at Red Robin where I got my free birthday burger (what's better than a Whiskey River burger?). To be honest, lunch wasn't the happiest event since we had just found out that my grandma's tumor was cancerous and that she'd be having surgery soon. At least my mom & I could cry together. After lunch, we headed to Carter's where we picked out the cutest going-home outfit for Baby Rinn! I absolutely can't wait to put our little guy in the adorable sweater and miniature khaki pants that we bought for him! If you know me at all, you know I absolutely LOVE to shop...but, if possible, shopping for baby clothes may now be even more fun than shopping for me! (Dave is also relieved about this since baby clothes generally cost less than clothes for me, too!)

Dave had told me that we were going to a restaurant that started with a "B" on Friday night. Since Brio is my favorite, I was sure it was there...though Dave thought it was very funny to tell me he had made reservations at Braums for my birthday. :) He said we needed to leave around 6:30, but as it got closer to the time, he started acting strange (or so I thought). I asked him to put my necklace on me, and he took forever doing it...and then he "couldn't find" his wallet...and then he "couldn't find" his shoes...until finally the doorbell rang! It was our sweet friends Kimi & Rob who were coming to dinner with us!

All 4 of us headed up to Brio where we had an awesome time! It really couldn't have been a more perfect night...we lingered over our food, laughed a ton, and didn't leave until nearly 3 hours had passed! Plus, I got 3 different flavors of creme brulee all to myself...don't worry, they were the sampler size! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday celebration! Thanks, Kimi & Dave, for planning such a fun surprise for me!

In my mind, birthdays don't just last one day, so we continued celebrating the next morning with one of our favorite traditions of going out for breakfast! Dave & I discovered a great bagel place that's not too far from our house. And, to make my day even better, they had pumpkin bagels with pumpkin spice cream cheese...definitely my new favorite! YUM! We opened all the rest of my cards and presents while out for breakfast. When I got home from Chicago, Dave had surprised me by installing an under-the-counter radio in our kitchen. Since I'm home so much now, I love being able to listen to the news and especially to Rush. My other gift from Dave (don't laugh) is...a clothesline in our backyard! I have been begging for a clothesline ever since we moved into this house, but my begging has become pleading lately since I really want to dry my cloth diapers in the sun. Dave finally caved and has promised to build one for me! I'm sure there's not many other wives who ask their husbands for a clothesline for their birthday, but I just keep reminding Dave that that's just another reason why he loves me so much. :)

On Saturday night, we went to Mom & Dad's for a birthday dinner with Grandpa & Grandma and Jon & Nate. A tradition in our family is that the birthday person gets to pick the meun...so, like I do every year, I requested my mom's strawberry poppyseed salad, tater tot hotdish, and her famous ice cream cake!

It was a lot of fun chatting with everyone and opening presents, including these babysitting coupons from my Uncle Jon Thanks, everyone, for your sweet birthday wishes, messages, and cards on my birthday! I'm sure this is going to be my best year yet!

Girls' Weekend in Chicago

Last Friday morning, my mom & I flew to Chicago to visit my sister. We had planned a "Girls' Weekend" as soon as Emily decided to move there....after all, Chicago's the perfect location for a Girls' Weekend--who can pass up the Magnificent Mile?

It was great to see the cute apartment where Emily is living with 2 other friends. I still can't believe that my little sister is old enough to live on her own! But, it was so fun to see what her life in Chicago is like! She's very close to the train & bus routes, so we spent most of the weekend using public transportation to get around. Let's just say that there were some VERY funny moments with my mom on the train...she wasn't exactly "comfortable" riding the train. In fact, she even told a guy whom she was sitting next to (and who was using quite "colorful" language) "You're scaring me!"--HA!

Our activities mostly consisted of lots of shopping, playing Scrabble, trying out some great restaurants, and staying up late every night talking! Of course, we had to take a picture by this dala in Andersonville, a neighborhood of Chicago that was originally a Swedish settlement. We also ate at a cute Swedish restaurant, Tre Kronor, on Sunday afternoon. And, what would a trip to Chicago be without Chicago-style pizza from Giordanos?












Our weekend was such a blast that we decided to make it an annual tradition. Even though I wish Em were closer, I'm excited that she'll be home soon to see her new nephew!

A Shower of Love

I am absolutely oozing with joy over the incredible shower I received on Saturday from my sweet friends! Amber, Corrie, Alicia, Jenny, Kimi, and Holly spent so much time planning such a special celebration to welcome Baby Rinn!

The cake was my absolute favorite kind (marble with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting) from Sweet Memories in Keller....so delicious! (There are still a few more pieces in our fridge that I am rationing out to enjoy as long as possible!) There was also delicious egg bake, fruit, punch, and these adorable cookies that Corrie made! All of the cookies had different words on them (such as baby, cute, sweet, mom) and were so cute! I think Kimi knew that I had been eyeing the wreaths that her boys have on their bedroom doors, so she ordered this wreath for Baby Rinn's hospital room & bedroom door! I love it! Since the girls know how much I love games, they planned some really fun ones! One was guess the celebrity adoptions....for example, did you know that Faith Hill, Bill Clinton, & John Lennon were adopted? And, did you know that Walt Disney, Julie Andrews, and Nancy Reagan were adoptive parents? We also played baby bingo while I opened all my gifts!

I was absolutely overwhelmed by all the amazing gifts that we received...it seemed as if the pile of gifts never got any smaller no matter how many I opened. Each person's invitation said a different "time" of the day for which to purchase a gift....bath time, bed time, reading time, etc. (There was even one that said mom time!) Because of this, we received a huge variety of presents...and it really seems that now we have everything we need to bring Baby Rinn home! We are truly grateful for the overflow of generous gifts we received.


Love all these sweet friends (and, of course, the ones who also aren't in the pictures)...they have prayed us through a lot of tough times, and it's so wonderful to be able to celebrate with them now!













And...Grandpa Kal & Daddy came back at the very end of the shower--just in time to get some cake and load a LOT of presents!

Labor Day Weekend in Estes Park

We had an awesome Labor Day weekend with the Overtons, Plattes, Sharifis, & Tops in Estes Park! Dave lived with Joel, Kenny, & Platte at Taylor, and then all of them also lived together after graduation in Colorado Springs. Sarah went to TU, too, and then moved to Colorado Springs....I stayed with her when I went to visit Dave out in Colorado Springs back when we were dating...needless to say, our roots with these friends run deep from Taylor to Colorado Springs! Kenny & his wife, Carla, are headed to Mozambique soon as missionaries with SIM, so this weekend was an official last hurrah for everyone to be together before they head out of the country!

Between the 5 families, we rented 3 cabins that were near each other at the YMCA of the Rockies. If you've never been there before, the YMCA is an awesome facility....great cabins, gorgeous views, and lots of activities to do! The guys spent time playing basketball & volleyball in the longhouse, & we also went for a great hike on Sunday morning...at least until it started raining! Our evenings were filled with huge meals and lots of board games...Yahtzee, Catan, & Last Word.


Best of all, though, was just spending time with all these sweet friends.... lots of good conversations. Since we're the only ones of the group who don't live in Colorado anymore, we especially enjoyed catching up with everyone.

After saying our good-byes to everybody on Monday afternoon, Dave & I were able to visit Grandpa Rinn in Loveland, where he spends his summers at an RV park owned by his sister & brother-in-law. Since we hadn't seen him since Jon & Kristy's wedding last March, we were so glad that we could visit him! We went to Perkin's for dinner, and then he & Dave spent several hours discussing woodworking projects...speaking of woodworking projects, have you seen our ticker at the top of the blog? Baby Boy Rinn was officially 33 weeks as of yesterday, & Dave's big woodworking project for his nursery is nearly finished!