36 weeks is upon us. Only 4 to go until MJ’s ‘official’ due date. Things are rolling along as I eluded to in the title of this post. Paint rollers, that is. We painted our living area yesterday. We’re running out of weekends to get things done before her arrival. According to the baby app on our phones, we need to pack a bag for the hospital this week as well. I guess that means she could come at any time now. Let’s hope she doesn’t come just yet.

This weekend will mark our last big trip before she arrives. We’ll load up for the 5.5 hour drive to Arab for Kris’s Alabama shower. This is the one where MJ will get a baby’s lifetime supply of Auburn paraphernalia. She already has AU bibs.

[soapbox] You can see where the influence comes from as well. How much Virginia Tech stuff does she have? None. Exactly. That’s alright, I suppose. I’m hoping she’ll rise above the SEC and ACC anyway and be an Ivy League girl (on full scholarship!). Or maybe she’ll skip all that higher education nonsense and go straight to the mission field. She will have my blessing. The Lord works in mysterious ways! [end rant]

It will be a fun weekend catching up with family and friends. I’ll be sure to post pictures upon returning.

Anyway, the wife and myself are getting so excited we can hardly stand it. But I expect she’ll be here before we know it. It’s still hard to believe we’ll have a little baby soon! I guess that’ll sink in once we return home.

We’d appreciate your prayers as we’re away traveling this weekend, and as we continue to prepare for MJ’s entrance into the world.

[bookshelf and toy basket]

In regards to the shower I’m only speaking from hearsay, though. I was home finishing the “fruit” pieces I’ve been working on for the nursery. Pictured above are the apple and pear, and the small detail I added to the frames when building them. We’ll post more pictures later after everything is on the walls and cleaned up!. I’m just glad I got them finished, and that they will be all ready for her homecoming. After wrapping those up I began painting the nursery. Dad came over a little later and helped finish the cutting-in. We had it rolled by early afternoon.

You can see the “tempered gray” color we chose for the nursery in the background, and in the foreground Kris’s latest addition to the decor hanging on the crib. It’s all slowly coming together. We’re excited. I love just pausing as I walk by her room, imagining I’m looking in on her as she’s sleeping soundly in her crib.

It was a busy day all around and everyone was exhausted last night.

We procured one more piece for MJ’s nursery last night: her dresser/changing table! It’s a “mid-century style” dresser, the owner informed us as we were looking it over deciding whether it suited our needs. She was a furniture collector and was only selling it at her husband’s insistence that she part with a few pieces. To prove his point he said, “There’s a reason our cars are not parked in the garage.” I’m thankful for his persuasion. It’s a great piece, solid wood with dovetailed joints and unique pulls reminiscent of former days. Now we’re debating on refinishing it… or not. It would be a shame to paint the beautiful wood, but the crib is white and we’re not crazy about the color of the stain on it at present. Do I want to undertake a refinishing project, though? That’s yet to be determined.

This was one of the last remaining “big” pieces that we needed to find for the nursery. The last one remaining is a chair. The all important rocking chair so we can hold our little baby girl in our arms and comfort her and rock her till she dozes off into her little baby dreamworld. What those dreams must be like! Dreams of the new world she is experiencing. Possibly dreams of wishing she was back in her more “comfortable” home. How I can’t wait for that day to stare down at her and pray for her as she drifts off. It’ll bring tears to your eyes. With a grateful heart.

What is a layette? This is among the many new terms I’ve been learning lately. So, here’s your newborn vocabulary education for the day:

lay·ette noun \lā-ˈet\

: a complete outfit of clothing and equipment for a newborn infant
See layette defined for kids »

It seems as if Mary Jane will be here before we know it. Amidst packing to move and baby showers in the coming month, there is hardly a weekend to spare. We’re slowly completing our checklist of necessaries for our beautiful girl’s arrival, only 11 weeks away now. We still have about three weeks before we’re moving, which makes it a little challenging to really get everything officially set up.

Our biggest find this past weekend was a crib. Mary Jane will at least have somewhere to sleep!

I’m in the process of making some large format art for the nursery as well. This currently involves building two 30″x30″ cedar frames, buying mat board, and collecting fabric scraps. That’s all I’ll disclose for now. We’ll post a picture upon completion of what those materials manifested themselves into. It’s a fun time and we couldn’t be more excited about all the Lord is doing right now. What joy his blessings bring.

Photo credit: Myself, this is the first outfit that Daddy picked out for his beautiful little girl, who he can’t wait for to get here!

“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about?” -Anne Shirley

We’ve been reading Anne of Green Gables aloud to baby girl in the evenings. This book is one of my all time favorites, and I am so happy to share it with her and Corey (it’s his first time to experience Anne, too). I can’t wait to share my love of all things written with this girl. I think books are the first thing we bought when we found out she was coming. Which reminds me of another good quote…

“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” -Erasmus

Yes. Yes, I think that’s about right.

fresh, white tulips and 4 volumes of interviews on the art of fiction by the paris review.

here are some pictures of my pregnancy. the first one is from about 6 weeks ago, and the last two we took around my birthday. the girl and i are both growing steadily. there are only 15ish weeks left until her arrival. it seems like forever, but i also cannot believe where the time has gone! corey and i are in the process of finding a new place for the three of us to live. this has proved to be somewhat nightmarish, as i keep holding out for that “perfect” somewhere. Lord willing, a place will be found soon and we can begin preparing a sweet, little nursery for this girl’s arrival. hooray!

For the 3rd annual Sosebee Family Christmas Tree, we piled into the 2 wheel drive sleigh and headed North, back to the beautiful, wild, and untamed mountains of North Carolina where you can walk among the seas of douglas firs searching for that perfect tree.

Though, apparently the masses got a jump on us this year. It was slim pickings when we pulled onto the lot at Grandy Mountain Tree Farm. It was still fun walking through the remaining trees and searching for “our” tree. It took us longer to settle on one this year, but we found it in the end. We called the man over and he fired up the chainsaw and in a few seconds was hauling out tree up the hill to be bailed. They tied it down on the roof for us and we headed South back down the mountain.

So, if you’re ever up around Cashiers, NC and need a tree just “follow the star” to Grandy Mountain.