Kitchen - Before & After

We moved into our home 7 years ago and have only painted 1 of those rooms since. I have really enjoyed the colors of the rooms, but was ready for an update/change. It is amazing what a coat of paint will do to a room. Here are the before pics of the kitchen:

 I love white cabinets and the tile floor, so we definitely kept those. 

After: a new coat of paint, rearranging of accessories (to keep things super-affordable, I just used accessories from other rooms in the house), and a little less clutter:

 This shelf can be turned updside down and comes with hooks to hang pots and pans. The tray is metal and I plan on using magnets to post reminders, recipes, etc. Both of these are from when I sold Southern Living @ Home.

The blue paint stopped at the fridge, but we decided to extend the red into the eating area, and I love it! It also complements the living room color (a shade of yellow) and the existing curtains.

So what do you like better? The blue or red?

Genesis Weekend & a Fun Craft!

Last weekend our Life Group classes got together for a time of fun, service projects, and fellowship together. I have to show you what our class did for our "fun" time. We went to the most adorable store in Germantown called "Bumbletees" to make pillowcases. The staff at Bumbletees is so creative, sweet, helpful, and made our day! We were able to create our own design, then we chose from dozens of the latest cute fabrics, and here are the results:

These girls are so creative and talented! 

For more info on Bumbletees, you can click here. 

I seriously wanted to go home with everything in the store. :)

34 Weeks & a Shower!

• Progress: 34 weeks
• Size: 20 inches long & 5 pounds; about the size of a large cantaloupe
• Symptoms: More indigestion, leg cramps, and swelling. Totally bearable!
• Development: His fingernails now reach the end of his fingertips; he is filling out in weight.
• Highlight of the week: My sweet friends (in the pic below) threw me and Liam a precious baby shower! Some of the details of the day: 

The sweet hostesses

The theme was perfect and matches his nursery - baseball, navy, blue, and red.

Gloves, baseballs, bats, and uniforms used by Liam's Dad & Grandfather. 

The food - incredibly delicious!! My fav peanut butter & chocolate chip cupcakes & more!

My mom, me (and Liam), & Will's mom.

These are all the pics I was able to get before my memory card became full. I'm gonna have to work on that before Liam makes his debut!

A Milestone: Setting Up the Crib

The wood floor in little guy's room is laid! At the beginning of the summer Will and his Dad began a massive hard wood floor project (covering the entire house except the kitchen). 4 student ministry trips, appendix surgery, and 6 weeks of recovery later...the wood floor in the breakfast area, living room, hallway, and BABY's ROOM is now done! I'm so proud of the great work that my handy-man husband has done and for the help of my sweet father-in-law. 

So on Friday night of last week we began the assembly of the crib. Then we heard our doorbell ring, and sweet friends Ben and Emily Anne stopped by to say "hello." We love spending time with these two. They ended up helping us put up the crib (I'm sure this was NOT on their agenda for their date night!). They were such good sports about it. One step closer to being ready for our baby boy!

Oh, Maggie, that is NOT for you girl!

More pics of his room to come soon!

33 Weeks

33 Weeks

• Progress: 33 weeks 
• Size: 18 inches long; 4.5 pounds
• Symptoms: the indigestion and leg cramps are still here. My mother-in-law shared with me that if I eat a spoonful of mustard before I go to bed that this would help the leg cramps. Wednesdays are 12-14 hour work days and this past Wednesday we also had the Middle School skate party (don't worry - this wobbly pregnant lady did NOT skate!). To combat the leg cramps I grabbed a corn dog with mustard at the skating rink (much better than eating the mustard by itself). Guess what? It worked!
• Development: Eyes are opening and closing during wake and sleep times; can differentiate between day and night; the immune system is developing, helping him to combat infections once born.
• Highlight of the week: last Friday we had an ultrasound again of our little guy. We tried again for the 4-D (these are just so neat!), and we could see hair on his head and we could see his tongue. We didn't get a good view of his face because he kept putting his feet in his mouth (gross, right?!) and hands over his face - already being stubborn (Ha! He gets that from me). 

*My sweet friends in the pic above threw me a baby shower (my 1st shower!) on my last day in the office. Never have I worked with a sweeter group of people, and I will sure miss seeing them everyday. 

The super cute "Liam" banner that Sarah and Leagan made for the shower.

A New Perspective...

We are huge readers in the McKay house. If you've been to our home (especially in the last few weeks) you'll see that every nook and cranny is filled with books. There are some books I read that seem "good" or "average" and others that are "extraordinary" and "life-changing." I want to share with you one of the "extraordinary" books that I'm currently reading: "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp

Warning: I had tears streaming down my face within the first 50 pages. Her story is compelling and convicting, and has spurred me on to write my own list of 1,000 things. A list of 1,000 what? You'll have to read the book to find out exactly what I mean, because I've gotta spend time working on that list...

Childbirth Class

Saturday Will and I went to the Childbirth Class at Baptist Women's Hospital (where our little guy will be born in less than 8 weeks). I was so proud of my husband for making it through the 8 hours of class and the 45 minutes of childbirth videos (gross!). The nurses that taught the class were very knowledgable and helpful, but after hearing about all the things that could go wrong with the birth, epidural, C-section, etc., I definitely left more apprehensive about it all than I thought (but the nurses assured us moms that these feelings of nervousness were totally normal). The tour of the hospital, lists of what to pack, meeting the nurses, and meeting the other couples were the highlights of the class - overall, I'm so glad that we chose to go.

Ready or not, Liam will make his "grand entrance" in 8 weeks!