Nesting

At first I wasn't quite sure where the term "nesting" came from or really what it meant, but after these past few months I think I have a pretty good idea.  When I started chunking stuff that I thought I could never live without- like my Miss Boyd-Buchanan flowers from high school (yes, I dried them and somehow kept them around all these years) or the RSVP's from our wedding, I knew something was up.  I don't consider myself a pack rat, but I LOVE to hang on to things that were special at some point in my life and represent those times. It really started this fall when I started cleaning, I mean really cleaning like a mad woman. I was throwing away things left and right and had no problem with it.  When I mentioned this to my friend Abbey, she replied,  "ah, you're nesting."  Nesting? I thought. Okay whatever that means.  As our home projects began- and boy have there been many, I heard the term "nesting" many more times.  The more I thought about it the more it made sense.  Nesting- getting your nest ready for your new arrival.  I was pretty close. 

The list of things we have done to our "Nest" to prepare for our upcoming newborn (ok, so some of them are things we've been wanting to do for a while and what better time than before we have a baby hehe)

-New Carpet in all 3 bedrooms

-Installed Hardwood in the living room and hallway

-Painted Nursery, Office/Guest Bedroom, Guest Bathroom 

-Put down new floors in Guest Bathroom

-Re-Painted all the doors and closets

-Installed new baseboards throughout the house

And last on our list- which we've decided is just going to have to wait til after Kate gets here is tiling our kitchen.  We've done all the work ourselves- except installing the hardwood & carpet so we're EXHAUSTED and with the holidays approaching rapidly and Kate's due date even faster we decided we didn't want to create more stress for ourselves than we already had.  

Here are a few of my own projects I've done for Kate's nursery.  I LOVE crafts, painting, sewing- really any project, so I have had lots of fun these past few months. 

First, I repainted and reupholstered a chair that was my grandmother's -who Katheryn "Kate" is named after. She passed away in May from cancer right after we found out we were pregnant. It was hard for me to grasp because she was so looking forward to me having a baby one day.  I prayed and prayed she would be healed, but sometimes God has a different plan.  It was hard for me to come to terms with it, but I know that God is in control and sometimes what we want just isn't in His will.  Her funeral was the biggest celebration of life ever! I know it sounds weird to say, but it was seriously the best funeral service ever.  It was unique and truly celebrated the life of an incredible woman who I am honored to be named after (Hailey Katheryn) and even more so to name my baby girl after! 

Love the Fabric I found for this chair- had her curtains made out of the same fabric!

My Etsy Purchase that was totally the wrong colors,

 But I repainted it and you can't even tell :)

   

    Chandelier I found at a consignment shop, just had to reupholster the lamp shades

I had a lot of fun with this shelf! It really matches the bedding well too

Cover Girls

Thanks to my mom, Kate and I have our first magazine cover together!  Last year Molly Bojangles graced the November issue of Women's Way with her "moo" (this will probably not be what Kate calls my mom hahaha).  But this year, mom just HAD to include Kate of course!  Oreck has just come out with a Kid Vacuum so I guess it works! :)  So there we are all four Johnson-Johnston girls! 

My mom is an amazing business woman and I credit her incredible success to not only her business smarts, but her personal care and attention to all of her customers.  I'm just proud to call her my momma in more ways than one!  If you ever visit the Chattanooga Oreck Vacuums store (located at 7200 Shallowford Rd) it won't take you long to fall in love with many of the products that Oreck offers for a clean & healthy home.  I won't go into saleswoman mode, as Steven tells me I often do, but trust me you will LOVE an Oreck. Ok, I could talk forever about vacuum cleaners and other household cleaning products, but I won't bore you. 

A New Chapter

Ok, so I "started" our blog in April, but kinda failed at my first attempt to join the blogging world. Well I'm back and I've got A LOT to talk about! :) A lot has changed in our lives since April and our lives will never be the same. In LESS than a couple of months from now we will welcome our first child, a sweet baby girl, into our lives. This little fact has actually not really sunk in all the way yet. The nursery is finished, but the reality that our very own child will be here soon is still really hard to totally grasp. I am beyond excited to be a mommy, but I may be even more excited about Steven becoming a daddy. Seriously, he is going to be an AMAZING daddy! Just watching him with kids has always made me excited about him being a daddy and now he's MY baby daddy :) How lucky am I?!?

I Mean Look at that Sweetness!!!

As we prepare for Katheryn Avery "Kate" to join us in January (maybe December?!?!) I can't help but think about how drastically our lives are going to change! But with all the adjustments we will have to make, I can't help think about all the joy that this new life will bring! I often think about what she will look like. Will she have my blonde hair and blue eyes, or her daddy's dark hair and gorgeous green eyes? I do imagine she will be quite a girly girl. I mean her mom is already thinking she needs to get started making her hairbows to match every outfit :) Is she going to have my stubborn, obstinate will or her daddy's agreeable, easy going temperment. Hopefully the latter, but they say you reap what you sow and my mom says she can't wait! hehe. Whatever her personality and temperment, she is MY baby girl and I can't wait to watch her life grow and unfold before me. So here we go into this new chapter of life- ready or not! Mommyhood here I come and I can't wait to see what all you have in store for me!!!

Here's a preview of some of our pics from our
Maternity session with the AMAZING Kristine Neeley!!!


Our Lil' Pumpkin :)




One of my Favs!!! :)

Check her out! www.kristineneeley.com

He Makes ALL things New

As I sit here on this beautiful Spring morning I am reminded why this is absolutely my favorite season of the year! Flowers are blooming, grass is growing, eyes are itching, and Steven is sneezing, but yet I wouldn't trade it for anything. Just like the flowers that emerge from the ground and from their deep winter slumber, I am reminded of the seasons of my life. As I look back on the last 24 years of my life and reflect on the various seasons both good and bad, I am thankful for every single one. I see how God has used them to shape me into the person I am. Looking back I have come to terms with the fact that no one lives a perfect life and what is in the past is in the past...so let's just move forward. I also know that life will always have it's ups and downs , but God will ALWAYS be faithful.

Life to me can be summed up in seasons and I truly believe God gave us the actual weather seasons to remind us that life is ever changing and continuous. Nothing stays the same - Thank you Jesus! So even when we're facing a season as yucky as winter, we should be reminded that Spring is right around the corner. God uses these "winters" in our lives so when our "springs" are here we are truly grateful. I believe that in our life season of Spring we see new personal growth and blossoms of new life because we've made it through another winter!

I am trying to soak in every single day of this gorgeous Spring weather! I want to take in every single smell of the blooming hyacinth, every single sound of the Robin and her new babies chirping, and every single new growth that reminds me that I am a new creation in Christ. Meditating on this fact daily reminds me that the old is washed away and there is so much that He wants to do in my life. So with the ever changing weather I am reminded that there is room for change and improvement in my life and when I feel like "winter" will last forever I'm reminded that "Spring IS Coming!"