the nursery!!!

My sweet parents, aka "Pops and Granny," came to visit while I was on spring break, and it was such a special time! We talk on the phone all the time, but I was so excited for them to see me pregnant and get to share this special time of life with them in person:) We worked lots on sweet Carson's room and enjoyed a little relaxing and game playing, too!!

This is a before picture of the nursery (formerly craft/office/laundry/catch-all room).

Step #1: Find a place of all of this crafty/officy stuff!!!

Step #2: Shopping for paint, fabric, and other odds and ends!

Steps #3, 4, and 5: Mama and Keith put together furniture and painted!!!!

They worked hard!!

Daddy and I helped here and there as needed!

We provided some entertainment for the hard workers;)

And....HERE IT IS!!!!

We were all so pleased with how it turned out!!!

I love going in his room and thinking about him being in there soon!!!

In fact, that's where I'm sitting now!! It only seemed appropriate for this post:)

Our first purchase was the painting of the daddy and baby hands with the scripture, "How great is the love the Father lavished on us, that we should be called children of God" (I John 3:1). Keith and I got it in early December on our trip to Gatlinburg, before we told anyone I was pregnant!!!! We both loved it and knew it would be perfect in our baby's room.

We looked at a lot of cribs and dressers and decided on dark brown. We found a crib we really liked online and had it shipped here. We knew that we didn't want to get a separate changing table and dresser; we wanted to find something that would serve both purposes and could stay with him long after his baby days are over. The challenge is, most dressers aren't very tall. We finally found one we loved, but the closest one to us was five hours away and the shipping would have been very expensive. Mama and Daddy were so sweet and bought it for us!!! They picked it up in Texas and brought it!!! We're very thankful for their generosity!! I was hoping the crib and dresser colors would match, but it's hard to tell online. I was really excited when we opened the box and saw what a great match they were!! We found the bookcase, in the same dark brown espresso at Target, and guess what? The product name is "Carson"!! Isn't that fun?!!

Originally, I wanted to make the bedding. Ahem, I wanted Carson's grandmas to make the bedding;) But, after looking and looking, we could not find any fabric that we loved. We just wanted something simple a blue and green or blue and brown set with a solid, stripe, and polka dot...I didn't think that was too complicated. I really wasn't trying to be picky, but all of the cute fabric had pink!! So, instead we found this adorable blue and brown turtle bedding, and guess what? It was blue and brown and had the cute and simple stripes and polka dots we'd been searching for!!! We ordered the four piece bedding set, an extra sheet, the turtle mobile, and the valance. We decided not to order the drapes, because they were pretty pricey for two straight pieces of fabric. Mama said we could find some matching fabric and make them ourselves; I had looked at fabic a lot and was not convinced we'd find any. But, she was right, thanks to Keith's keen eye, we did!!! It's actually cuter than the pricey one that came with the set! Of course the store we were in didn't have enough. But, after several patient phone calls, Keith found another store about thirty more miles down the road that did!!! So, he and Daddy went and got it while Mama and I went to Motherhood Maternity!!! She and Daddy bought me lots of new maternity clothes for my birthday, which was another sweet blessing!!! It's nice to have lots more fun clothes options and feel cute:)

We used the cricut to cut his name out of brown vinyl and display above his bed. I knew I wanted it to be fairly big, but simple, and I think it turned out great!! We also got a changing pad and more fabric for that. Mama made two cute covers for it, too:) We already had the lamp, and Mama painted it blue!! I really wasn't trying to be a slacker....I'm just not the best seamstress and was trying to stay away from the paint fumes!! I got to make lots of fun decisions, while they did lots of the work! I already had the books and stuffed animals from my days in first grade. A couple of the sweet toys and rattles are gifts that Carson has already gotten from Misty, Mama, and Margo!! Don't worry, we will fill those empty picture frames soon:)

I should have taken a picture of the closet, too. It already has some cutie clothes hanging up!! We gotten him a couple things and so have his grandparents. The multi-colored chest of drawers from my first grade classroom that you saw in the before picture fit in the closet and will be great for storage!

We had a great time with Mama and Daddy, and we are thankful for all of the progress we made! Keith's parents, who still need to decide on grandparent names:), were able to come see the nursery and they loved it too!! Our sweet sisters loved it from pictures:) So, we all LOVE it, and we know Carson will too!!! Having his room ready, along with me looking more and more pregnant, is making it all seem more and more real everyday!!

We have loved our time as a family of two and would not trade the special time just being a couple, but we are soooo excited about our family of three!!!

What's in a name?

Naming our baby was quite a job! So much of a person's identity is related to his or her name. It stays with you from birth until death. It is a big decision to make for someone else. But, like so many big decisions, the reason they feel so big is because it is such an honor to make them! I've been wanting to talk about possible baby names for years, but Keith always said it was silly to spend too much time thinking about names before we were pregnant. Nonetheless, I've had a running list of possibilities for several years and have convinced him to talk about them from time to time. When we got pregnant, Keith teased that we might as well wait until we knew the baby's gender. However, I pointed out that we should have a boy and girl name picked out, that way when we found out the gender, we could begin calling him or her by his or her real name! Most of our conversations surrounding names involved me thinking of names, and Keith telling me all the reasons each name was not a good idea. Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate the fact that he was looking out for our baby and wanting to avoid names with obvious fun-making possibilities, but sometimes I did get frustrated that he would nix my ideas and not come up with any to replace them! We did not make our final decision until the car ride on the way to the doctor the morning of our gender appointment. So, without further ado, our sweet baby boy's name is......

Carson Robert Clark

Carson

My dad's mom's maiden name was Carson. She passed away before I was born. In fact, she passed away on my dad's twenty-first birthday. My dad and his mama were very close. Even though I never got to meet her, I have heard many stories from him and other family members about what a kind, gentle person she was. She was sick for much of her life, but she did not let her sickness define her. She was an incredible artist, and a loving wife, mother, sister, and friend. My dad has a lot of his mom's qualities. He is also kind, gentle, and loving. He loves his family dearly and would do anything for us. He's also got a great sense of humor! He is so excited to become Pops, and he loves Carson so much already! We loved the idea of naming our baby after someone special, and Carson has been at the top of my list for a long time. So, to honor my dad and his sweet mama, we decided to name our baby boy Carson.

Robert

Keith's middle name and his dad's first name are Robert. Since Carson's first name is in honor of his maternal grandpa, we wanted his middle name to honor his paternal grandpa and his daddy. Keith and his dad have both dedicated their lives to bringing people closer to God. They are dedicated students of theology, they love conversation, are not afraid to challenge old ways of thinking, and work to push themselves and others to reach beyond the status quo. They both love music, basketball, and their families! They are thrilled to become a grandpa and daddy!

Carson is moving while I type this post. I think that means he's excited about his name and what it means!! I hope and pray that he has some of the same qualities as name sakes!

hoppy easter

We've been taking lots of pictures of me throughout the pregnancy, but I realized Keith and I hadn't taken any pictures together in a while, so on Easter Sunday, we did just that! I hope all of you were blessed on Easter and were filled with hope!

22 weeks