recent creations

in preparing for may, we are trying to use our free time as wisely as possible... and holidays without school seem to do the trick to spur on crafty moments. on the docket for the weekend was to sew a couple pillows, make a name banner, create a growth chart, look for an ottoman to reupholster, make a wooden "F," and much more... did all of these things happen? not even close. but, there were at least a couple things that got accomplished (with help from the handyman tool andrew)

*letter "F"...not sure where we will put this, or if we will paint, etc... time will tell

*growth chart- mapped out the measurements, began the wood-burning, then stain...

drew also created a wonderfully scrumptious pasta salad while i was wood-burning for hours- haha. i was so impressed- it was delicious!

to end the day, i got to visit some of my favorite kimseys...

considering there are not many holiday breaks in the near future, i need to make good use of these upcoming weekends to use any creative energy i may have- come may, the energy will be used elsewhere...

joining the wagon world

with our new family in mind, we had to make some adjustments to our car situation... a jetta and an altima would not do the trick of fitting a car seat and a great dane all into one row. drew decided in becoming a dad, he also needed to become a truck owner. a four door tundra became his new ride. we have used it so much already... including to drive me to and from school every day for the past 2 months while we were trying to figure out our next vehicle. after weeks of discussion about honda pilots, crvs, subaru outbacks, and more... we found our perfect family car! a volkswagen passatt wagon! this past weekend, we completed our search as we joined the wagon world and bought this beauty:

it has more room than i could ever imagine a car to have. luna has the most spacious area in the trunk, while the back row has plently of room as well.

we are so excited preparing our worlds for the new addition, come may!

oh, names

geez louise, names are such huge decisions! there is such power in a person's name and it makes this name searching process that much more intense. drew and i decided a while ago that we would like to name all of our future children with a family or biblical reference. when finding out we were having a boy, we were short on boy names and began racking our brains. it did not take long and we had a strong feeling that we would not be looking much further.

since drew was younger, his favorite part about his name was taken from scripture when Andrew, the disciple, first met Jesus:

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah." And he brought him to Jesus. -John 1:40-42

the disciples in the bible were constantly called "fishers of men," and also many of them were actually fishermen-including andrew. our prayer for our child is that he would know jesus and would become a fisher of men.

"Come, follow me,"Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

Andrew Fisher McCleskey

He will go by his middle name, Fisher... a name that Drew has loved since he was young.

even though we are super excited about our little boys name, i still need 2% freedom to have leeway in case he enters the world and the name doesn't fit. so, with that, we are 98% sure that we have decided on the name of our first babe to enter the world. we could not be more excited for may!

painting and belly

we were so lucky to have such sweet help to paint the nursery... it made the process super quick and easy! we are so thankful for all of the ways that our families have shown us such love throughout the 'getting ready' for this precious baby boy.

the walls before the painting began

mitch and susan painting the edges first...

the rolling begins...

so sweet

and here is a picture of this growing belly at 25 and 26 weeks in...

ahhhh... this belly is surely growing fast... i am assuming that this little baby is doing the same! he is so much fun already- moving around like crazy, putting on shows for the kindergartners, and continuing to show us more depth to our heavenly father's love for us.

progress

hello long lost friends! i apologize for the long lack of posting... our lives have been extremely full in the best possible ways. 2 weeks ago we were completely blessed by being able to go to the YL all staff celebration (conference) in orlando, fl. it was nothing short of amazing. from hearing from tim keller and francis chan, to having the entire park of sea world rented out for us, it was a week of complete restoration. then, of course coming back into real life is just super busy when you have missed a week of work, unpacking, etc...

this weekend has been wonderful. we have been in town, settling back in to our home, working on the nursery, cleaning, seeing dear friends, and enjoying gainesville. i have uploaded some pictures from my phone to give a visual of our nursery progress...

first up- the curtains:

next, the shelves that need a lot of work (we have not even begun to try to decorate/fill the shelves). as of right now, we have just piled stuff/books for temporary storage...

we purchased our new glider/rocker chair a little while back and i have sewn 2 of the pillows for the window seat... a couple more to go, along with the window seat pad. i am thinking there will be a blanket/throw over the chair that will match the bedding of the crib. also, the rug is a rug that i used to use at school flipped upside down (for measuring purposes).

this is the beginning of our new dresser for the nursery.

here is drew after sanding, now painting and refinishing:

here is his finished product. we are still on a hunt for the perfect hand pulls to create a more manly feel (we will save the fancy ones in case we have a little girl one day). also, here is a picture of the new lamp that will match the window seat (a natural linen) that is currently being sewn by the one and only michelle wise. the frames will be hung above with prints in them and a changing table spot will be on top of the dresser.

we had a special visitor in the beginning of january that brought forth some clothes to get this little man ready for the ladies... presenting- uncle jer:

also, notice the beautiful gray walls in the background! drews parents came to help us paint on MLK weekend... i will have an entire post for that as soon as i free up space on the computer for pictures from my camera.

we have made a lot of progress, but have a long way to go before may. regardless of how much is left to do, we are counting down the days until our little guy arrives... it feels like forever, but i know it is going fast.