Karson's Nursery

Well believe it or not Karson still has not slept during the night in his nursery!! Some would say I am a crazy mama, but I have to admit no I am just a tired lazy mama!  He is only waking up one time in the middle of the night to feed but for me I would rather grab him out of the pacnplay right beside my bed than have to get up and go to his room.  Sounds ridiculous to most, I am sure, and even to myself sometimes but by the end of the day I am tired and I just don't care.  I am sure it will be way different when we have another one!! (wow, I can't even believe I said that..haha.  I mean seriously going through labor and delivery I was telling the nurse I wouldn't forget this moment for awhile so we wouldn't have any kids for awhile.  And if I sit back and think about it I can still remember that day very well!!! So no babies by no means yet....but yes he has brought us so much joy I know their will come a day that we will decide to have more...just give me a few years :)

Back to the nursery....I chose to keep Karson's nursery fairly simple, but oh how I love it.  I didn't even paint the walls but instead chose fabric for his bed that would go with the khaki wall color.  I love it because of all the meaning and memories it already has of just us putting it together.  Really I feel like everything we do has a bigger meaning behind it and Karson's nursery falls right into that category.

Mom and Dad came up one weekend to help us put the crib together and originally set up his room.  Minus the chair because it had not come in yet. So it was nice to have them apart of it.....And then as I got further along in my pregnancy Cristi came up for a day to help me go shopping for a mirror for his room and some stuff like that.  Well, I guess you could say I was going through my "nesting" stage and I starting looking at Karson's room...got her opinion...and long story short.  We switched the nursery and the guest bedroom around so Karson could have the bigger room. Ryane happen to come that night to go out to eat and so she helped us move everything and the hubby was just thrilled at my decision (well I mean not really...but it did look a lot better!!)

I blogged earlier about how we found Karson's crib so I will spare you that story again! But finally "the chair" had arrived and the room was almost complete!!  I had told Brandon when we found out we were having a baby that I could deal with a lot of things but the one thing I wanted for sure in Karson's room was a nice chair.  I nannied for a family here in Greenville and in Gracie's room there was a chair that she and I spent lots of time in...rocking to sleep, curling up after her bath, reading books before naptime.  I loved that chair and I just knew that was where Karson and I would spend a lot of time.  So we finally found one...and I have to say it is amazing and so worth it....it rocks, it glides, and it reclines!! What more could I ask for!  I just love it!

All that being said, his nursery is so special because so many people have a part in it.  When I walk in his room, I know that room is filled with love.  I love being able to walk in and have people come to my mind that also love Karson so much because their hand has been on his room.  And here are the pictures to show it....

This sign is hanging on the wall right outside his room.  Its an awesome reminder of our friends Brandon and Nicole Berry.  She painted this and gave it to us and I just love it as it first reminds me of the time we got together and prayed for Karson along with all the other times we continue to lift him up in prayer!

Right when you walk in this frame is on the wall! Another awesome reminder to me as his mama of women I truly admire and look up to.  Tara Goodson and Tracy Harvin gave us this frame for his room and everytime I look at it I know I have Prayer Warriors on our side always thinking of him and praying for him!

The stuffed animals are so sweet....My Nana saw these and "just had to get them for him" and if you know her it's just a special memory because she would do for anyone before thinking of herself.  Another selfless move on her part.  The wooden car was Brandon's that he used to play with as a little boy and I know Karson will love it as well.  Many of Karson's books came from his cousin Christopher which we are so thankful for and know we will love reading all of them. My Mom and Cristi both gave us some new books as well for Karson.  I can't wait to find out Karson's favorites although I know mine are "Guess How Much I Love You" and "Kissaroo" right now!  And then his toys that are closed away in the canvas boxes are from wonderful people at his shower that I know he will enjoy playing with.

Aunt Gail made Karson's curtains and pillow for his chair. 

One of my all time favorite parts of his nursery are the paintings on his wall!  Before those got put up I have to admit his wall was definitely bare!!!  I looked several places for wall art for a little boys room and really just could not find what I wanted. I was not sure exactly what it was I wanted but I knew I wasn't finding it when I went out shopping! SO....I am so thankful for talented people in our family. Aunt JoJo and I started talking and she said she would love to paint something for his nursery.  So I looked online and found some ideas and then our talented Aunt JoJo painted these AWESOME pictures for us! I seriously love them and I am so glad she painted these for us.  Karson even stares at them when I am rocking him in his chair!

Wow really this long of a post on just a nursery.....It may not be other peoples favorite, but for me it's special.  So many great thoughts come to mind when we walk in his room!  We are so thankful and blessed for all the wonderful people who are in our lives!

Only God!

I have to admit I am overwhelmed with joy this morning for all God has done for us and I just have to share it with yall!! Ephesians 3:20 came to mind this morning as I was sitting there holding my precious little one "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us!"

God has fulfilled this verse in our life in ways that "only God" could!! I love knowing God has placed our family exactly where we are supposed to be,and you seem to learn that more and more when things fall into place!  We are so thankful for the marriage we have, the house God has provided for us, the relationship we have, the friendships we have found here in Greenville and really just LIFE all around us! And I could go on and on, but in the end everything in life we owe our thanks and praise to the Lord because only through Him do we have life and life more abundantly! I remember being at RWOC and Cheryl Brady talking about we all fall and we all have our problems BUT only through God have we thrived, He is the answer, He is the one we PRAY to, HE is the one we give all the GLORY to and its SO true!!  I can only Praise Him for what He has done for us because without Him we would be nothing!

And even more so now, what a true blessing Karson has already been to us as a family in just nine weeks! I had no idea how much love you could have for something so quickly until he entered our lives. Once again ONLY GOD!!!  He is the answer to everything we have in life!! And as I sat there loving on Karson this morning I began to sing Kris Dillard's song Bless Your Name...It's a great reminder to me just how good God has been to us! 

God has blessed us and because of that I can't help but bless him in return!  I can't help but Praise him!!!  And even through it all....because we all know everyday isn't great, and everything isn't always awesome....BUT there is ALWAYS a reason to praise and bless his name!!

A Deserving Daddy

Sunday, June 19, 2011 we finally added another holiday to our calendars to celebrate in our little family...Father's Day!! And although we have always celebrated it with our dads this is the first year we got to make it extra special and celebrate Brandon's first Father's Day!  We stayed up here in Greenville instead of going to Sumter because it's just hard sometimes to travel with a baby.  So we decided we would enjoy Father's Day and celebrate the man of our house!! If you get around me long enough you will learn I love any excuse to celebrate.....birthdays, anniversaries, you name it we are going to celebrate.  So Father's Day was no different.  Brandon is very special to me and he deserved to be recognized on his first Father's Day! But it definitely needed to be a week long adventure.

So first up we went shopping for Brandon some new tennis shoes....it was definitely something he needed but something that I could not pick out on my own so we made family time out of it and shopped until we found just the shoes he wanted.  Later on in the week we decided he needed a golf hat for all the golf he enjoys playing :) Once again, I'm not gonna pick out something like that without him trying them on and seeing what suits him best.  So we purchased a hat!!!

I tried to fix his favorite suppers that he likes to eat throughout the week just to celebrate Daddy everyday!! And then I finally found a way to surprise Brandon.  I have to admit its SO hard to do.  He knows me way to good for me to EVER surprise him...and I'm usually not real good with surprises because I get so excited about what I have come up with that I tell him or let him guess it!!  So this time I kept quiet and Karson and I planned another big dinner on Friday night.  So Friday night we surprised Daddy with Chicago Stuffed Pizza delivered straight from Chicago!! To some it may just be pizza and so no need to order in from Chicago just order Papa John's, but for us it was a memory, an experience, a journey we had already taken together and loved and I wanted to recreate again! (oh and by the way, for those that say its just pizza...definitely have never had real chicago pizza)

We went to Chicago about two years ago and we were introduced to a pizza restaurant that we absolutely loved!  They are known for their stuffed pizza and as we walked to our table everyone who was already eating had stuffed pizza so we knew we had to try it.  It was ahhmazing!! Needless to say it's two years later and we still talk about it.  So I decided to get online and check out their website and sure enough they will ship you a pizza!  You place your order and they prepare it fresh that night, half bake it, then send it overnight to you on dry ice! So Friday night we were sitting in our home enjoying Chicago Pizza!

Karson and I also made Cookies and Cream cupcakes that day for dessert.  They were SO good!  It's the first time I have ever made them and I was very pleased with how they came out.  We did a little decorating on top as well just to add some more meaning to it!

Saturday Brandon played golf at the Walker Course with Clay because they were up here dropping the boys off at golf camp.  This can be added as another good day for Daddy since he shot a 79!  Happy Father's Day to him.  Then that night we went with Kelliegh, Clay, and Liza to Pixie and Bills for supper.  And that was our first experience there and it was SO good!  We even talked about going back for date night sometime.

We woke up Sunday and spent Father's Day with our wonderful church family at RWOC!! It so neat just to be able to stand and applaud now for our Daddy in the family along with the other dads at church.  Karson gave Daddy his gift on Sunday.  It was a frame with pictures of him in it from his photoshoot that we did when he was 7 days old and a quote saying..."He didn't tell me how to live, he lived; and let me watch him do it!" Karson cannot wait to grow up and follow in his daddy's footsteps and he wanted Daddy to know he already looks up to him and can't wait to be like him!!

Some may think we're crazy and Father's Day isn't that big of a deal but to us it is!!  He works hard for this family...he is our provider...our leader...the one who holds this house together, and because of that he deserves more than we could ever give him!!

And there's a little man in this family who is gonna grow up and want to be just like him...and he will always know that his Daddy is a Winner! And we will always Honor and Respect him!!