Planes, Trains, and Tonka Toys...

My mom and G's mom threw us a baby shower this weekend! It was so fun and I am so grateful for all the work they put into it! There were around 30 people there. My mom kept saying how it was the biggest party she's thrown in her house. She gets a little frazzled when she's the host but she did great! We had sandwiches, sherbet punch, and this awesome cake...

What a clever cake!

We were overwhelmed with gifts! Everyone was so sweet and really did shower us with gifts! Here is a little of the aftermath... I forgot to take a picture of all the gifts when they were pretty and on the tables.

My sweet friend Lauren-Claire got to come to this shower before she leaves for Boston! I was so glad that a someone was throwing a shower that she could come to before she went back to school.

And of course my best friend Amanda was there

Fellas were invited so G was there too!

And then my mom and dad helped me bring all of our goodies home to Ryder's room!

Now, Great Aunt Karen, gave Ryder her old Owl bank! It is absolutely perfect! It is green and blue! Karen said she used to put pennies in it as a little girl to save up for her island... she put in a quarter for Ryder to start with and I can't wait to see what he says he is going to save up for!

It was so much fun to be on this end of a baby shower! We were so incredibly blessed by everyone who came and shared in this experience with us. It was just another one of those milestone experiences that I would have never been able to explain before I was able to go through it.

I can't wait to dress Ryder up in all of his new clothes and see him play with his new toys! We also got a bunch of amazing monogrammed items that I can't wait to put him in!

Read Between the Hines

It's happened. The Hines (or Hines a heart) girls have gathered forces to create a book club. Kristin, Elise, Michelle, Caitlin, Erin and I have entered into the life-long-binding-sisterhood of a book club. 'What will this book club look like?', you may ask yourself. We came together to answer those questions.

We had a LOVELY dinner with amazing place settings (made by Caitlin!) last night to decide what our book club would be.

Not knowing how we would decide who chose the first book I went ahead and did a little research and came with three options. The options I came with were Miss. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Sarah's Key, and The Glass Castle. I haven't read any of these books but they all seem like really great options and I plan on reading all three.

I won't go through our entire decision making process because- as some of you would know how our family gets at family things- most of the suggestions were on the more ridiculous side and were just plain silly. What we did decide was that we would be a book club sans rules. We can make suggestions, however. Suggestions like; bring a few choices when it is your turn, we will go in reverse age order for book choosing, the book chooser will host the next book club and choose the main course while the rest of the book club will bring side dishes.

I'm very excited about the book we chose. I asked everyone to do a golf-clap style applause-o-meter to pick their favorite choice but we ended up just going in a circle and saying what we wanted. We were unanimous and chose Miss. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children! I am really excited to read this book. Look it up and read along with us if you'd like!

Lastly, we left the meeting by deciding a name for our book club. We wanted to incorporate Hines, obviously, and possible a pun or alliteration. Our faithful knowledge owner, Kristin, proposed 'Read Between the Hines'. Obviously, we all wholeheartedly agreed! However, that is not the full title of our book club...
The full title is,
Read Between the Hines: A Sisterly Book Club of Common Courtesy.
We're going to be a big deal.

Ryder's Room!

A couple weeks ago Garritt and I went and bought a crib! It was the kind of experience that brings with it a whole host of things; the first is that it solidifies how real our near future is becoming, the second is that it makes two youngsters like us feel very grown up, and the third is that it is a kind of joy that was a little unexpected. We went to our new favorite store, BuyBuy Baby (for the second time in one day), and left with a crib. The workers there are starting to remember us. The cashier said that it was the third time she'd seen us there but the first time leaving with anything. She was excited for us!

We put it together that evening. I thought that putting a crib together would be as annoying, difficult, and frustrating as it was for us to put together our bookshelf. I was wrong. It was the complete opposite. It was so clear and easy! When we were done and G was obsessively doing a triple check of all the screws he started to speak to them...saying, "Alright guys, you're going to be holding my son. You better keep it together. He's important." And with that we were done and I was weepy. We just looked at each other and said, "Our baby is going to be in here!" How crazy!

So his room is beginning to come together! Here is the evidence...
Our beautiful crib:

The goodies we have acquired thus far:

His little corner table with a few things:

I got these at IKEA, and I think they're hilarious:

And finally our hand-me-down changing table! We just got this last night. It was G's sweet cousin's. It's going to be painted...so imagine it as a stained soft green.

That's it for now! We are still getting curtains and things for the walls. My sister and I are working on a little thing to hang with RYDER on it.
We're still in the market for a stackable washer/dryer though...if anyone knows of one ;)

It's already been a year!

Garritt and I celebrated our one year anniversary last Saturday! I can't believe it's already been a year. It's incredible. I wouldn't have wanted to spend this year with anyone else and I look forward to spending all the rest of my years together.

For our anniversary we went to Medieval Times, the prime location for all couples celebrating years of marriage. A place where the men wear stirrup pants, the drinks come in bowls, and you eat with your hands. I'm surprised we even got tickets...with all the romantic vacationers coming from all over the world to travel back to the Medieval world. WE LOVED IT! I had never been before and I had a blast. Here are some photos from the evening:

This one is a little blurry but that is indeed a 40 ounce BOWL of slushy:

One from inside the arena:

And here are the gifts!
I went a little overboard and got G a guitar! He has wanted one of his own for as long as i've known him and I couldn't resist. He was pretty pumped! I think I was more excited to give him his gift than to receive mine...

My gift was a locket (that I laid on pretty heavily that I wanted). It is engraved with an 'A' on the outside and I have wanted one since High School. I finally have it! On the inside G surprised me with another engraving that says 'Let everything you do be done in love'. My plan is to put a picture of G, Ryder and I in it after the little man is born! But I will definitely be wearing this locket -that I still haven't taken off- while I give birth and the inside engraving couldn't be more perfect!
He also gave me one rose for our first year of marriage!

This next year of our life is going to be so amazing. By this time next year, Ryder will be roughly 8 months old. I can't even begin to imagine all the things that will happen in our second year of marriage...but I can't wait to find out!

A very exciting morning for Garritt

This morning was very exciting for Garritt because he got to feel Ryder kick for the first time!

It is odd that Ryder was kicking so early this morning. Usually, he sleeps all throughout the day and wakes up between 7:30-8. I know this because I can almost always tell what time of evening it is when he starts kicking and moving like crazy. He is a very active boy...just like his parents. So, the fact that he was kicking so early this morning was unusual. Garritt was talking to me and had his hand on my belly and all of the sudden Ryder let's out a little kick. It wasn't a very hard kick so I assumed Garritt wouldn't have been able to feel it but he did! Garritt looks up to me and says, "Did you feel that?". My first thought was 'of course I felt that' but I was suddenly so excited that his statement meant that HE had finally felt it. It was a tiny little kick but that's all it took for Garritt to feel Ryder for the first time.

I am so excited to be able to share Ryder with Garritt in this new way. I am always feeling Ryder in so many ways. He moves and spins and feels like he's swimming in my belly. But I've felt like poor Garritt doesn't get to feel how real Ryder is...until today! Right after Ryder kicked G immediately wanted him to kick again. He said he wanted Ryder to 'score another goal'. I'm sure there will be many kicks to come and I can't wait for every single one of them!