lately

We've been pretty busy lately trying to prepare for Crew. From decorating the nursery, cleaning and grocery shopping, it's kept me pretty worn out! Hopefully it's just making the time go by faster though!

This was last Sunday after going to church where my grandparents are members, my parents grew up (& got married), and where I went when I was little - They celebrated 100 years as a church! (37 weeks)

We got the carseat installed and ready to go!...with the help of Remi of course. (37 weeks, 1 day)

Last Friday night we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant with Tyler and Amanda. I asked for the spiciest thing they had to try and urge Crew to come out...must not have been spicy enough because he's still not here! (37 weeks, 5 days)

Tiffany and baby Elliott sent the sweetest gifts to Crew this past weekend. I can't wait to use it all! I love blog friends! (37 weeks, 6 days)

Will gave his first pedicure last weekend also! He did pretty good for his first time! (Thank goodness because I can hardly reach my toes!) (37 weeks, 6 days)

We got home from the grocery last night and realized how many apple things I wanted to buy. I guess I'm craving it?! Weird thing is, I don't even like apples that much normally. (38 weeks, 1 day)

That's pretty much all that has been going on around here. We are so ready to meet Crew and cannot believe it's almost time! I (still) have not packed our hospital bags, but it is on the to do list for the next few days. My last day of work before maternity leave is tomorrow or Thursday so hopefully I'll have a few days to rest...and finish all we have to do...before our sweet baby gets here. BUT if he wants to come before our list is completed, that's fine too! I keep thinking things like, "this could be our last Tuesday as just Will and Courtney." It's so crazy to think our son will be here any day now!

baby shower #2

We had our second baby shower two Sundays ago. It was held at our "home" church in Bartlett. We had 10 amazing hostesses that made everything so perfect. They took aspects from Crew's nursery and incorporated it into the shower decorations. We loved every bit of it and felt so incredibly loved by our church family who came to celebrate Crew's soon arrival.

Who wouldn't love a table full of desserts and delicious fruit?! And that punch! YUM!

Crew's personalized blanket used as decor.  So cute.

Our wonderful hostesses!!

My Mom and Mother-in-law

Let the shower begin!

Isn't this adorable?!

Checking out Crew's diaper bag!

Like I said, we felt so special and so loved after this shower. Crew received so many adorable things and we are ecstatic for him to arrive so he can enjoy it all!

Ginger had to check out everything once we got home...she is wondering why she can't have any of the new stuffed animals!

Weekend Recap - First Baby Shower

Another great weekend has flown by. We had our first baby shower this weekend. It was given by our couples group at church and we loved it. I'll do a separate post for it later this week, but here are a few iPhone photos for now!

On the way to the shower...

Remi and Ginger seem to think that any toy/stuffed animal we get for Crew should be theirs. Ginger spent a majority of the day Sunday staring through the bars on the crib and whining because she couldn't get to this stuffed lion.

At church yesterday morning, the THREE of us got to give the welcome greeting!

Yesterday afternoon my Dad came over to put the finishing touches on our closet renovation. I'll hopefully also have a before/after post on that too!

Will and Remi cuddling last night...

On the pregnancy front, I am officially uncomfortable. 

8 weeks to go.

Weekend Recap - A Beautiful Memorial

The past week has been a whirlwind. Some of you knew that Will left again on July 12th for a trip to China with a small group from our church. He was home 5 days in between Africa and China. I hated to see him go again, but am so thankful for the time he had in China, all he got to experience, and the impact he had on people there. He has a servant's heart and I am so grateful!

My family is big on surprises. I can remember several times my dad went out of the country for mission trips and my mom would always love to do something for him while he was away so he'd be surprised when he got home. So when Will left for China, we were going down our longggg list of things to do before Baby K arrives and choosing what we (my parents) could do to surprise Will. The consensus was to build our closet expansion! Woohoo! Will's clothes are getting the boot from his old closet because it will now be Crew's closet. We live in an old house where there's not much closet space so my dad built a pretty amazing walk-in closet in our bedroom. The only good thing about not being able to talk to Will while he was away was that I had no chance of spilling the beans about his surprise! My parents were at our house every day working so hard while Will was gone. It's almost done and I can't wait to show the finished product! Our bedroom also managed to get a fresh coat of paint...and soon will have it's own makeover too. (once I decide on bedding!) I felt pretty useless all week because of being preggo...and not knowing a thing about carpentry...but I am so incredibly thankful for my parents and all their hard work this past week! Will was SO excited to see the closet and I know he'll have a blast organizing all his clothes...one of his favorite things-organizing!

Ginger got to come to work with me one afternoon last week and loved it. She was the perfect little office dog!

Remi was excited when I told him his daddy would be home

We were all so happy to have Will home on Saturday! No more traveling for him!

This past Thursday my grandmother passed away. She had been battling Alzheimer's for years and years and her struggle is now over. We had her funeral yesterday and it was so special remembering her life and how special she was to everyone. The only thing that has brought peace during this time is knowing, without a doubt, that she is with her Heavenly Father now and that she is healed in Heaven. She was a woman of faith and loved her Savior. I am so thankful for God's grace and His promise of eternity with Him. She is healed of her disease, reunited with family, and celebrating in Heaven. How amazing to think about!

I am so grateful that Will was able to make it home in time for the funeral. I was able to get a hold of him Thursday when it happened. He came home with a special story that was shared at Grandmother's funeral yesterday:

This past week we were in China for a mission trip. Conversations regarding the Gospel must be done carefully and intentionally, as most of the Chinese have no knowledge of God. Late one evening I was emailing Courtney to check in on her and her family after hearing the news of her grandmother's passing. One of the Chinese students we were with asked me what I was doing, and so I explained the situation. He responded saying that it was so sad to hear. Amazingly, God used this story of sadness to provide an opportunity to share the Gospel and the hope that we have in Christ after death. This student heard the name Jesus for the first time with the help of Grandmother's faith and the promise of forgiveness and eternal life that Jesus has given us.

Weekend Recap - He's Home!

I'm back from the beach and Will has made it safely home from Africa. Boy, did I miss him! That was 8 days of no communication that I'd rather not do again...but he's going to China in a few days so we might have to do that just one more time. I'll be posting on my family beach trip this week and he'll probably do a post or two of Kenya and Tanzania. He had such a great time and I've loved hearing all the stories! Thank you to everyone who prayed for him!

I got back home Friday and spent the day resting at my parents with our dogs and their dogs (because they didn't get back until Saturday). I think it's safe to say that Remi missed Baby K...or just his pillow!

Almost time to pick Will up from the airport! Remi was pretty excited.

He's back! AND he grew a beard while he was gone! I kept just staring at his face at the airport because I had never seen his beard this long. He didn't shave the week before he left and while in Africa. I missed my husband so much and it was hard leaving him this morning to go to work! Already dreading him being gone again for the China trip, but I know he'll have a great time!

On Sunday morning we had church down at the river (Mississippi) for baptism and brunch. It was SO HOT (which is why we didn't stay for brunch...I was dyin'!), but it is so neat to see people baptized in the river. We almost didn't go because of being tired from traveling, but I'm glad we made ourselves get out of bed!

The rest of Sunday was spent watching movies and sleeping! We came home and ate lunch then went back to bed. I knew Will was tired despite his denying it. He actually stayed awake until about 4:30 and then slept for 2.5 hours. (He was 8 hours ahead in Africa so I guess his body was thinking it was nighttime!) He woke up for dinner and we watched a few episodes of One Tree Hill then back to sleep again. He's going to have just enough time for his body to readjust to the time difference before going to China and being 13 hours ahead! Makes me tired just thinking about it!

Weekend Recap - Father's Day

We had a pretty nice, relaxing weekend. We met up with Tyler and Amanda Friday night for some Jerry's Sno Cones. Yum!

On Saturday, Will worked all morning so that meant I got to sleep in...which was needed and appreciated! That afternoon we went to Lowe's to get paint samples for the baby nursery and I can't wait to see how they look on the wall! I'm still having so much trouble deciding what fabrics I want to use for the crib/curtains, but maybe seeing the paint on the wall will help.

Saturday night we went to my parents' for a Father's Day dinner. It was nice spending time with the fam!

I am so thankful for my Daddy-O and how impactful he has been on my life! Crew told me he can't wait to meet his Poppy!

Sunday morning we went to church. The entire time we were standing up singing, Crew was kicking away. I think he loved the music. I got a little emotional thinking about our baby boy. My main hope and prayer for him is that he grows up loving the Lord and accepting Christ as his Savior one day. I couldn't help but get teary-eyed just thinking about it! 

 After church Will and I went to lunch and stopped by an estate sale on the way home. I'm on the hunt for unique/vintage things for the nursery. I ended up getting a vintage decorative pillow for $1 that I think might end up in Crew's room. Will got a vintage gas can for $5 that he was pretty excited about.

Yesterday afternoon Will started priming the nursery. Our spare bedroom was a bright fire engine red previously. I lived in this house all throughout college and this was the color my first roommate painted it. It took 8 coats of paint to get that red on the wall so I never wanted to change it until we were ready to paint for a baby. I knew it'd be hard to cover up the red. Will got one coat of primer on the walls, but it's going to need a second one!

Remi, Ginger and I were hanging out keeping Will company while he painted, but the fumes were getting too strong so we had to go to another room. Whew!

Bye bye red walls!

Will's audience :)

We are also trying to sell the bedroom suite on Craigslist this week which is why there's a bare mattress. We've got a lot of rearranging/organizing to do before Crew gets here. Will had been using the closet in this room for his clothes too. We emptied out the room and ended up putting so much stuff in the attic. I can't wait till the room is filled with Crew and all his baby things!

Remi, Ginger and Crew got Will some of his favorite things from Target for Father's Day along with Father's Day cards. I think he liked it all! He's going to be such a good daddy to Crew!

I took this last night while Will was in his "man cave" cleaning his gun and Remi stood watch. Love my boys!

Hope you enjoyed your weekend!

rainy days

I had to document Remi's muddy self after all the rain we got last Saturday. He's a mess!

At least someone enjoyed playing in the rain!