Happy 30th Birthday Ryan!

Nothing makes you feel older than your sibling turning a milestone age.  This past Saturday on St. Patrick's Day my brother turned 30!!  It was enough when I turned 30 on my own but now that my brother is 30....well I feel ten times older now. 

True to style, my fun brother planned a party to celebrate.  It's always been so fun that his birthday is on St. Patty's Day and this year was especially fun because it fell on a Saturday!  He rented out the private party room at the Alibi Room, a great bar by Pike Place Market.  He arranged for food and a DJ.  Feeling bad that he planned most of his own party, Tracey his girlfriend and I planned some fun surprises behind his back including a photo collage of Ryan through 30 years and a cake with his baby picture on it.  About 35 of his close friends came and it was really fun.  I hope he had a great time and felt as loved as he is. 

Happy Birthday Bro!  Here's to staying 30 forever so I don't have to feel any older than I do now.  :)  Love you!

A perfect place for the embarassing photo collage

Ryan and Tracey

Can't believe my little brother is 30!!!

Perfect cake!  Such a cute baby huh?



Cute hat James!

30 candles!

Ryan bustin' a move at the end of the night

The Talented Mr. Spaulding

I feel a major need to give a shout out to my incredible husband.  I am married to the most brilliant, hard working, talented and serving man in the world!  The amount of projects James has completed in the past couple of weeks as we prepare for baby is so impressive.  And not once has he complained or had to be nagged to do any of them.  He's taken them on with enthusiasm and determination. 

Who knew that preparing for a baby would involve so many projects!  Projects for the nursery inevitably spill over into other areas of the house as we move things and try to create more storage.  And then of course minor projects are created along the way.  Here is just a sampling of what James has accomplished recently:

Hung new curtains and valances in the nursery

Installed this amazing closet organizer system with my brother-in-law and father-in-law

Installed this door hinge stopper in about 3 minutes



Installed this door stop in about 5 minutes on the door to the garage (something we've wanted to do for awhile since we're always loading things into the house)

Hung these fancy bike racks--this has engineer written all over it!

Put up new garage storage racks



Again this is just a sampling of all the home improvements James has accomplished.  I just want him to know how appreciated and admired he is.  Thank you James for all that you do!  It never goes unnoticed.

Baby Shower!

A couple weekends ago my wonderful friends threw me my first baby shower!  It was held at Kristen's beautiful houseboat in Portage Bay.  It was such a special day and I felt so blessed by everyone's generosity and love.  Baby boy Spaulding is definitely spoiled so far!  A major thank you to Hillary and Kristen for being the greatest hostesses ever!  And thanks also to Heidi, Jana, Karen and Sarah for helping out. 

My favorite part was when everyone went around to introduce themselves and say how they knew me.  About 80% of the group were friends who I met in elementary school or junior high!  And we're still really close friends!  I think that's definitely a rareity.  And the other 20% of the group is part of my wonderful family.  I feel so lucky to be entering this mommy journey with such amazing people in my life. 

One of the most memorable parts of the shower was a game where everyone filled in the blanks on a Wishes for Baby card such as "I hope you learn ___________ or I hope you laugh ___________ or I hope you grow _________________.  Some of my favorite phrases were "I hope you never forget God is always with you", "I hope you get to live abroad", "I hope you aren't afraid of spiders", "I hope you ignore your Uncle Ryan's snyde comments", "I hope you become witty like your dad", and "I hope you respect those who are different than you."  Everyone read their cards aloud when I opened their gift.  What a special keepsake!  I can't wait to read them to our son. 

Here are some photos from the lovely event:

Cute decorations!	My brother and Tracey
So fun being pregnant at the same time!	Enjoying the yummy brunch
My wonderful brother captured the event on film (notice the adorable banner Hillary made of children's book covers)	Tamara, Sarah, Tracey, Leslie and Vanessa
Kristen, Kristine, Karen and Hillsy	Are they laughing at how big my belly is?
Husky paraphenilia!  Our boy isn't even born yet and he's already a fan	Even the cake matched the invitation
Great artsy shot captured by  Ryan	Me and "Nana"
Best hostesses ever!

Bump

I've had some long distance friends ask to see bump pictures though so I thought I'd post a picture finally.  It's nice to be in the stage where it's obvious that I'm pregnant.  In months 4 and 5 I think people could tell that my belly was a little bigger but they didn't feel comfortable saying anything since they weren't sure.  I could just see the thoughts going through their minds..."Has Megan let herself go a little bit?  Or could she be pregnant?"  Now people freely ask "Oh when are you due?" or they say "I didn't know your were pregnant.  How exciting!"  It's a much more comfortable space socially.  Physically on the other hand though, comfortable is definitely not the word I would use.  I'm officially in the 3rd trimester now and I can feel things stretching, loosening and aching.  I don't want to complain because it really hasn't been that bad, but I definitely am feeling heavier.  It's no wonder too because baby is a strong one.  He's been moving around a lot!  Feeling him move is surreal, amazing, and kind of strange all at the same time.  More than anything though feeling him move is comforting.  If his moving is any indication, we're gonna have an active baby on our hands.

Work on the nursery is in full effect although there's not much to show for it yet.  Right now it looks like a tornado hit it.  Slowly but surely it will come together.  I'll post the finished product when we get there.  In the meantime, all is well with the Spauldings and we can't wait to meet this little guy come May!

About 7 months pregnant (excuse the sleepy, no makeup look)

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentine's Date Night

Lately we've been trying to be intentional about having good couple time together and getting in a date night whenever we can.  Since restaurants try to rip you off on Valentine's Day by only offering a 7 course menu for $100 a person, we decided to celebrate Valentine's Day this past Saturday instead.

I planned the date this year with the theme of a Parisian Valentine's Day.  We had a lovely dinner at Chez Shea downtown which is a french restaurant overlooking Pike Place Market.  Our feast consisted of escargot, sushi (James only--kind of weird for a French restaurant but James said it was good), and salad as starters, beef tenderloin and scallops as our main courses, and a yummy chocolate mousse dessert.  We would highly recommend this restaurant--romantic atmosphere, awesome food, etc. 

For the second part of our evening, we went to The Big Picture in Belltown to catch a movie.  This place wasn't your average movie theater though.  In the lobby they have a bar and several little nooks with couches and lounges to hang out beforehand.  The theater itself is small and you can order drinks to be delivered to you in the middle of the movie!  I got a fun non-alcoholic froo froo drink and James enjoyed a few beers.  It was a really fun atmosphere.  James said it well--it was almost like getting together with some people from the neighborhood to watch a show.  We saw the movie Safe House with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds.  At first I thought maybe that wasn't such a good idea because it wasn't very "romantic" for a Valentine's Date.  But I quickly realized it would be a movie to suit both of us--action and car chases for James...Denzel and Ryan for Megs! 

It was a really fun date and we would highly recommend both places if you're needing some ideas.  Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Snowstorm 2012

**Note: shortly after I wrote the below post, our power went out so I wasn't able to upload the photos or post the blog.  Finally after almost 3 days the power came back on.  It was a brutal few days.  Thank goodness for the care and generosity of my parents who took us in.  I have never had a greater appreciation for electricity.  Happy to be back to normal!

View from the front of our house

It's hard to tell here, but the trees were encased in ice

Our backyard with probably about 6-8 inches of snow

 I have officially been stuck inside the house going on 4 days now.  The Seattle snow started this past Sunday and has been continuing off and on all week.  The major storm hit Wednesday morning and today we're dealing with an ice storm.  Seattle University, my work has been closed for 2 days now.  At first it was really fun and exciting.  I felt like a kid again hoping that school would be closed for the day.  Now the stir craziness is definitely starting to sink in. 

I think I've done every possible project here at home that I can think of.  And it's a bummer that our son isn't born yet because it would be so fun to go out and play with him in this!  I'm sure it would look a little weird to see a 32-year-old woman sledding down the hill by herself!

My brave husband has managed to make it in to work every day this week.  He's an amazing driver.  Plus George, our 4-Runner is incredible when it comes to driving in this stuff.  I feel bad that James hasn't gotten to enjoy a "snow day," but Boeing makes people take vacation days if they stay home.  He's so dedicated! 

Good thing I now have a good novel to read today.  I could really use some other ideas though of how to pass the day.  Help me out readers.....any suggestions??  Please put any ideas into the comments section.

Those of you in Seattle, stay safe and warm!!

Baby on the Brain

I can tell that winter has definitely set in.  Not as many events or things going on to blog about compared to the holidays.  Here we are in the January doldrums.  But today it's snowing and looks beautiful outside my window!  It feels great to be cozy and relaxed at home all day.

Although life social activities feel a bit calmer, the busy-ness of preparing for baby has definitely ramped up.  It feels as if the past 2 weeks or so all I've been focusing on or thinking about is preparing for this baby.  It's been really fun, but it's hard sometimes not to get overwhelmed and to feel unsure of if I'll really be able to do this.  Will I be able to handle this parent thing?  Friends have been very helpful with advice, but I always have to remind myself that our baby will have his own personality and we'll have our own style so we'll be figuring out our own techniques along the way. 

We've slowly started on the nursery.  Mostly right now it just has the gear we've acquired so far.  But we've been proud of the great deals we've gotten!  We found a brand new BOB stroller at Babies R Us for only $300!  It was already put together and everything.  We also found a great crib at Costco for about $400 including all the conversion parts to turn it into a toddler bed and eventually a full size bed down the road.  The dresser and nightstand have been ordered from Babies R Us and just yesterday we ordered our glider rocker chair.  So things are starting to come together.  But man--lots of decisions lately!  My wonderful husband is so great and already put the crib together in about 20 minutes (see below).  So far we're very happy with it!

This past weekend we worked on the registry.  Who knew that such a little person could need so much stuff!!  We looked like crazy people walking around Babies R Us trying out infant car seats, putting them in strollers to see how they fit and trying to navigate the multiple aisles.  We just stood in the bottle aisle with stares of bewilderment as we tried to figure out where to even begin.  And as we walked through the store I noticed lots of parents with newborns.  They looked like zombies who could barely put one foot in front of the other.  It was a good wake up call of where we'll be in about 4 months.  :)

All in all the process has been fun, but a bit daunting.  I guess it all comes with the territory.  I'm sure our friends who have kids are chuckling thinking "oh just wait...this is only the beginning!"  I think this week I'll take a break and try to get back to "normal" life for a little bit. 

Good job James!