The Organ Family

Favorite Baby Products: Hand Wipes

2012-01-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

I am in LOVE with this product! I actually came across BabyGanics Hand Sanitizing Wipes by accident. A few months ago I was making my normal order on Vitacost.com and I needed to add a couple dollars more in product to qualify for free shipping. So I browsed the baby section for something small to add to the cart. I found these wipes and thought I would try them out.

Best decision ever! I am a huge germaphobe and I always have sanitizing wipes within reach: the car, purse, & diaper bag. It wasn't until McKinley got a little older and started putting things in her mouth (hands, fingers, toys, really anything) that I really thought about what was in the wipes. Yes, they were killing germs and that was great for the adults that don't put their hands in their mouths, but for McKinley it would mean that whatever chemicals/products were in the wipes would end up in her mouth also. She would probably be better off with the dirt and germs on her hands rather than the products in the wipes...yuck!

This product is definitely a "must have" in my book. Of course good ole' soap & water is the best for cleaning dirty hands & toys, but these work great when we are on the go.

Favorite Baby Product: Amber Teething Necklace

2012-01-24T07:37:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite baby product of all time (so far:). If you have a child who is teething or will be in the near future, order one NOW! I am a true believer in doing things the natural way and this is as natural as it gets.

At McKinley's 6 month well visit we were talking with the Doctor about what to expect when M started teething. We were told that the teething process would possibly cause disrupted sleep, low grade fever, excess fussiness, excessive drool. I then asked the Doc what she recommended for relief of those symptoms.

Her very first recommendation was to purchase an Amber Teething Necklace, followed by letting her chew on a frozen wet washcloth & teething toys. If those things didn't give any relief she recommended Hyland's Teething Tablets. Finally, she said as a last resort we could use Tylenol.

I went home and started researching teething necklaces. I really liked what I was reading. I was very impressed with the customer reviews and testimonials and knew immediately I wanted to order one. I purchased M's necklace from Amber Artisans (***If you order from Amber Artisans the necklaces ship directly from Lithuania, so allow extra time for shipping***). Here is a little section from Amber Artisans website talking about why Baltic Amber is so great:

•Immune boosting properties

•Reduction in teething pain

•Calm a baby without resorting to drugs

•Anti-inflammatory and therapeutic properties

•Recognized by allopathic medicine as a natural analgesic

Baltic Amber has some of the highest concentrations of Succinic Acid found in nature, and this is what makes it so special.

I ordered the longest length available because I didn't want McKinley to grow out of the necklace too soon. She wears the necklace around her neck while she is awake and then it goes on her ankle when she goes down for her nap or for bedtime. Because the benefits of Amber aren't just for teething issues, M wears the necklace even when she is not teething.

McKinley is 8 1/2 months old and has 4 teeth (bottom 2 & top 2) and another one that should be cutting through any day. Other than a tiny bit of diaper rash, M has shown no other signs of teething. Her sleep pattern was never affected, she never had a temperature, there was no drooling, and we never had to give Tylenol...knock on wood!

Who knows, maybe McKinley is one of these babies that isn't really affected when cutting teeth or maybe this $20 piece of jewelry was the best purchase a momma could make. Either way, M wears her necklace everyday and whether or not it makes her feel better, I think she sure looks pretty cute:)

McKinley's 1st Sink Bath

2012-01-05T01:12:00.000-08:00

When packing for our Holiday Vacation to Searcy, I knew I needed to take only the necessities when it came to all of McKinley's baby things. One item I decided to leave behind was her bath tub. I figured that my parents kitchen sink would work just fine. What I was not expecting was how well it worked! It was so nice not to have an aching back or hurting knees from bending over a tub. I might just pack away the baby tub for good.

Of course you can't expect my child to have her 1st sink bath and it not turn into a photo shoot.

Annual Johnson Family Photos 2011

2012-01-04T23:30:00.000-08:00

I know you have all been waiting for these next set of pictures:) So without further ado...

The Annual Johnson Family Photos:

McKinley's First Christmas

2012-01-04T10:38:00.000-08:00

This Christmas will always hold a very special place in my heart for two reasons, it was our first Christmas as a family of three and it was also McKinley's first Christmas.

As fun and exciting as this Christmas was, I can only imagine what each additional year will bring as M starts to understand and enjoy this holiday even more.

Mike and I tried not to go overboard and thought we did a pretty decent job at keeping presents to a minimum, but this kid still made out with some pretty great loot! Our Families are the best! Thanks for making McKinley's first Christmas special!

Christmas Eve:

McKinley loved to help unwrap all of her presents.

I was really proud of this gift. I found it for $10 at a consignment sale. It doesn't have a scratch on it!

This next picture was obviously not taken on Christmas Eve, but I needed to include a picture of M's suitcase from her Grandma & Granddad Organ. I love this suitcase! It is so cute!

This little girl must be loved because both sets of grandparents got her a suitcase/overnight bag anticipating her coming to visit.

There was one other gift that M received from Uncle Phil, Aunt Amy & Easton that I can't wait to try out. They got her the Cloud B Twighlight Ladybug Constellation Night Light. We didn't get a picture of it, but I know M is going to love it once we move her to the nursery.

Christmas Day:

Outfit #1

I was super excited that M got several toys that were just like the toys I had as a little girl.

Her first Barbie!!! Thanks Aunt Sara!

She loved her Cinderella clothes. Thanks Uncle Rob, Aunt Maya & Serkan!

Outfit #2

This is the overnight bag M got from Grammy & Bubba Johnson. When we opened the bag we found a note!

The note in the Zebra Bag read:

To Our Sweet McKinley,
Whenever you are ready to come see us just load up you Zebra and tell Mom & Dad that you are packed and would like to go to Grammy & Bubba's house. We will always be ready and waiting to give you a big hug.

With all our love, Grammy & Bubba

Yep, this is her 3rd Christmas outfit of the day and it is not because we were wanting to have a fashion show. I will just say that I did a few loads of laundry that day:)

Johnson Christmas 2011

2012-01-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day was spent with my family. We did our normal Christmas morning routine: opened a few gifts, ate breakfast, opened the rest of the gifts.

My Aunt Sara and her boyfriend came over mid-morning to spend the day with us. We spent the rest of the day eating, laughing, opening our stockings, and of course taking lots of pictures. The annual Johnson Family Photo Shoot was a lot of fun (I will reveal those photos in a later post), but the most exciting thing this year was finding out what was in our stockings.

In the past years it always seemed like everyone was always scurrying around last minute to buy junk to fill the stockings. So this year we started a new tradition. Instead of buying things to put in every one's stockings, you could only fill the stockings with items that were free. They could be re-gifted items, buy one get one free items, free samples, etc., but they had to be FREE!

Last Christmas we drew names so each person would only have to fill one person's stocking. That gave us a full year to find our free items. Some of the stocking stuffers were hotel toiletries, single flavored tea bags, restaurant mints, lotions, tools, a $25 Chili's gift card, fishing lures, food items such as hot sauces, soup mix, BBQ sauce & rub and that's just to name a few.

It was so much fun to see what people came up with to put in the stockings. There was a ton of great & creative things. I wish I would have thought to take a picture of all the free loot. Oh well, there's always next year.

Anyway, here are some pictures from Christmas Day:

First picture of the morning. It is a horrible picture of Mike and I, but McKinley was obviously excited that Santa had come!

Another "not so great" picture, but what do you expect when everyone first rolls out of bed.

Another new tradition we started this year was "Finding the Pickle". Again my Mother's idea, evidently this tradition started in Germany. Someone hides the "Pickle Ornament" in the tree amongst all the other ornaments, then whoever finds it Christmas morning wins a prize. In our case, the prize was $20, but we decided that the winner should sign & date the $20 bill and then store it with the pickle that way we will always know who found the pickle each year.

This was actually a lot of fun. We had all forgotten about looking for it until my husband thought he would try to be like one of the sneaky people on Survivor looking for an immunity idol. I thought Mike had gotten up to go get more coffee until I look over and see him searching the tree. He probably had been looking for a good 4 or 5 minutes before any of us caught on. I can only imagine what it looked like to have 4 adults scouring this artificial tree for a pickle. In the end Mike was the winner.

This year there were several handmade gifts given. My sister learned how to crochet and made these matching Infinity Scarves for McKinley and me. They are so cute!

My sweet husband surprised me with a "Little Blue Box"!

This is McKinley's 2nd outfit of the day.

Our last picture of the day and McKinley's final outfit of the day:)

Organ Christmas 2011

2012-01-02T19:35:00.000-08:00

Now that the Holidays have come and gone I finally have time to get some blogging done. This Holiday season was definitely a busy and exciting one.

Our Christmas celebrations started by spending Christmas Eve day with Mike's Family. Everyone was able to make it except for Mike's brother David and his wife. It was nice catching up, having a meal together and doing a little gift giving.

After opening gifts and having a little dessert, we headed to a special Christmas Eve Worship Service and then home to put M to bed since Santa was coming.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-31T19:08:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from The Organs!

Breakfast with Santa

2011-12-31T06:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas time is finally here! Now that we have a child, the holiday season is extra special and a little more exciting. One of the things Mike & I looked forward to the most this Christmas was taking McKinley to see Santa.

We knew the best (and least stressful) place for M to meet Santa was our church's "Breakfast with Santa". Trying to time our visit with Santa between feedings and naps was a little tricky, but thankfully it all worked out.

Waiting to see Santa:

McKinley did great with Santa...no tears!

After our visit with Santa we headed to get a few pictures of the family and of McKinley in her cute Santa outfit.

Since it was now nap time, we did end up having the inevitable breakdown...this one was over wanting to eat her own shoes.

Thankfully we ended on a happy note!

Fall Family Photos

2011-12-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

When we were home for Thanksgiving I asked my Mom if she would take some pictures of Mike, McKinley and me. This was right around M's 6 month birthday and we haven't had a good picture of the three of us since she was born, so I though this would be the perfect time for family photos.

Mom-Thanks for taking these wonderful pictures of our family! You're the best!

6 Months Old

2011-12-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

McKinley turned 6 months on November 2nd. My Mom took these great pictures that capture this fun age. I especially love these pictures because I made the dress and the hair bow that M is wearing.

I know it is almost January 1, 2012 and I am just now posting these, but I guess better late than never:)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-30T10:54:00.000-08:00

Here are a few snapshots from our Thanksgiving Holiday in Searcy:

I was not aware until now that almost all the pictures have McKinley in them. I guess that is what happens when there is a new baby:)

We had such a great time in Searcy. I think McKinley really enjoyed her first Thanksgiving!

Early Morning Family Fun

2011-12-30T09:24:00.000-08:00

Another 1st: Radnor Lake

2011-12-29T05:02:00.000-08:00

McKinley finally experienced her first trip to Radnor Lake. It was a little chilly the day we went, which was great because M got to wear her cute hat!

This was the best family picture we could get that day:)

Radnor is such a great place for quality family time. This was definitely the first of many trips.

Orlando Family Vacation: Part 2

2011-11-05T07:08:00.000-07:00

POOL TIME!!!

One of the things Mike and I were really excited about being able to do on this Orlando vacation was to get McKinley back in a swimming pool. The last time she was in a pool was back during the summer and she was still in her newborn stage.

She loves bath time and we wanted to see if she would like the pool just as much. She definitely enjoyed splashing around, but she mostly enjoyed dipping her fingers in the water and then putting them in her mouth. She would do this over and over and over. The pool was a salt water pool and we think she liked the taste.

There is nothing like napping on the pool deck (with our fingers in our mouth, of course).

Our last day at the pool, the resort had arranged for an alligator show & tell.

We couldn't leave Orlando with out having a ceremonial dunk in the pool. We actually had dunked her under water a couple days before, but this was the first one that I caught with the camera.

Even though I was nervous, she obviously survived and really wasn't phased by the potentially traumatic event.

Orlando Family Vacation: Part 1

2011-11-04T01:48:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Mike, McKinley and I traveled to Orlando for vacation. This was McKinley's first major trip away from home and she did great! It was a fun week getting to spend time with Granddad, Grandma, Uncle Phil, Aunt Amy & Cousin E.

We experienced a "first" while on vacation. Since we were using disposable diapers on the trip, McKinley was able to get her feet to her mouth and spent the entire week sucking on her toes!

What is vacation with out miniature golf? The boys played while the girls took score and cheered them on.

McKinley was really enjoying mini golf!

The whole family spent a day at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure.

E. is just like his Uncle Mike. He had to have his picture taken while doing a little pose.

The main reason we chose to visit this particular theme park was because of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It definitely did not disappoint. The rides were fun, the shops were cute & the Butterbeer was amazing!

Our week in Orlando was a lot of fun. I think we all needed a little vacation!

Happy Fall Ya'll

2011-11-03T01:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween

2011-11-02T01:30:00.001-07:00

With this being McKinley's first Halloween I was having a hard time deciding what she was going to wear. I knew she needed 2 outfits: a costume for Trunk or Treat and something festive but practical to wear on Halloween day. Once October 31st arrived we had 3 different outfits:)

Here is our little "Sweet Pea" in her Trunk or Treat costume.

I found this onesie a few weeks back and thought that it would be perfect for McKinley to wear the day of Halloween. As soon as I put her in the onesie, I grabbed her and the camera and went to take a couple pictures. Before I could even set her down for the first picture she had spit up (which is a rare occurrence at this stage) all over the front of the onesie. So thanks to the help of Photo Shop, I was kind of able to salvage a few shots of her in this outfit before it was taken off & put in the hamper.

The final outfit completely revolves around the very festive hair accessory. I found it at a store a few days ago and new M had to have it, but I wasn't sure what outfit she would wear it with. I couldn't pair it with her "My First Halloween" onesie because I thought it would be too busy. So I needed to come up with a 3rd outfit and I remembered a tutu tutorial (try saying that 10 times fast) I found on Pinterest. So on Saturday morning I went to the store and bought the necessary items and made a tutu to coordinate with the hair bow.

Trunk Or Treat 2011

2011-10-31T10:28:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday night our church hosted their annual Trunk or Treat. With this being McKinley's first Halloween, we had to participate.

Over the past month I have looked & looked for a costume for M. I wanted one that was cute and budget friendly, but I wasn't having any luck finding anything that fit that criteria for a 6 month old. Then I remembered an outfit that Bubba & Grammy gave us at one of our baby showers. Crossing my fingers that it would fit, I put it on McKinley and we ended up with a cute little "Sweet Pea".

We had a great time getting to see all the kiddos and adults dressed up. Now that we have a little one I am thinking the entire Organ clan will dress up next year!

Got Milk?

2011-10-27T01:31:00.000-07:00

Before I was even pregnant, Mike and I knew there would be added expenses once we had a baby. We knew there would be diapers, clothes, toys and all the other items that Babies R Us tells you you need:) But nobody ever told us that one of the expenses would be a deep freeze. I'm sure it isn't a necessity for every new parent, but if you look at the picture below it was obviously a necessity for the Organ Household.

Our regular freezer was packed so full that I couldn't buy ANYTHING at the grocery store that needed to be frozen. So a couple of weeks ago Mike and I purchased this deep freeze to hold all that golden goodness.

After moving everything from the upstairs freezer to the deep freeze, it is already halfway full!

We are always looking to make extra money, but I'm thinking "Organ's Dairy Farm" might not be the right in-home business:)

Smile for the Camera

2011-10-26T01:30:00.000-07:00

I recently realized that other than some pictures taken during the first two weeks of McKinley's life, there weren't any recent pictures of Mike and me with McKinley. So a few weeks ago my mom snapped some needed photos.

A big thanks to Grammy for taking the pictures and to Aunt BJ who probably made a fool out of herself getting McKinley to smile.

Photo Shoot: Before & After

2011-10-23T01:29:00.000-07:00

This past April, I shared this post of the amazing pre-baby photos my mom took of Mike & me. My mom (or Grammy as she is now known:) thought it would be fun to take post-baby photos of us at the same location, in the same poses (or as close as possible), wearing the same clothes and putting McKinley where my round belly used to be.

Thanks Grammy for the great idea! Here are a few of the "Before and After" pictures:

Mums, and Pumpkins, and Gourds...Oh My!

2011-10-22T01:18:00.000-07:00

Every October, Mike and I make a trip to the Nashville Farmer's Market to purchase the necessary fall decor for our front porch. This year was extra special because it was our first Farmer's Market trip as a family of 3!

McKinley slept the majority of our time at the Market.

Her first pumpkin.....

....which she decided to lick!

This picture makes me laugh because it looks like she is thinking "Come on, really!?! You are making me pose for a picture with a tiny pumpkin!"

St. Louis and Babies

2011-10-21T00:52:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago the Organ clan made our way to St. Louis to visit my cousin Maya and her husband. The reason for the visit was to meet their new son and introduce them to McKinley. Maya and I were pregnant at the same time and our children were born exactly two weeks apart.

We had such a great time getting to see everyone and catching up. I am so excited that our little ones are so close in age and I predict they are going to be great friends, just like their mommas!

Our Little Razorback

2011-10-20T01:24:00.000-07:00

Woo Pig Sooie!!!

Go Hogs!!!

An Organ & Johnson Production

2011-10-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

It seems like it was just yesterday when each of our families opened a gift bag containing a precious little onesie that revealed that we were expecting!

12 months later, here is a picture of our little cheese ball wearing that special onesie.

What an amazing year!

Little Fish

2011-09-23T00:49:00.000-07:00

Of course I am playing catch up, but better late than never:) I couldn't let us get into fall without posting pictures of McKinley's first pool experience.

Fun with Daddy

2011-09-18T00:47:00.000-07:00

Everyone tells us that McKinley looks just like her Daddy.

I just don't see it, do you:)

We Will Never Forget!

2011-09-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. On our way to church we drove by our local fire station and this is what we saw:

343 flags in honor of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.

Also a picture of each of the 343 firefighters that lost their lives on September 11, 2001.

We will never forget!

Black and Whites

2011-09-16T02:13:00.000-07:00

As if we hadn't already posted enough pictures of McKinley, here are a few of our favorite black and white images from her 3 month photos:

3 Months Old

2011-09-15T02:30:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, Mike and I have been in the process of taking McKinley's 3 month pictures. Notice I used the word "process". Due to the very short attention span of a 3 month old, the fact that there are really only two times a day that light is great for outdoor pictures, and the best smiles come when Daddy gets home from work, it took us about a week to get all the shots we wanted. Then it took another couple of weeks for me to sift through the plethora of pictures (1,174 to be exact) and edit the chosen images.

Being that this didn't sound like a walk in the park, you are probably wondering why we decided to take on this task? The truth is we are CHEAP! After doing research, I found that most photographers only allot an hour of time for each photo session. Knowing how uncooperative McKinley can be when she is either hungry or tired (which for a 3 month old is the majority of the time), we just decided not to take the chance of paying a ton of money for mediocre results. I think we made a very wise decision because our very first try at outdoor pictures resulted in zero pictures and me in tears. We tried our hand at McKinley's newborn pictures here and we were happy with the outcome, so we decided to try the her 3 month pictures. I am planning on posting all the edited pictures on Facebook, but here are some of our favorites....enjoy:)

Cry Baby

2011-08-24T01:21:00.000-07:00

Mike and I are in the process of taking McKinley's 3 month pictures. Through LOTS of trial & error, we found that we get the best expressions out of McKinley when she sees her Daddy for the first time after he gets home from work. So each evening, Mike calls when he is about 5 minutes from the house, so I can put McKinley in an outfit and get her set up for the photos. Once Mike gets home, I am ready and waiting with the camera to catch M's expressions as he walks around the corner. Surprisingly, it has worked really great so far. Last night however, Martini got a little jealous and started barking. It scared McKinley and this is the sequence of photos that followed:

Cloth Wipes

2011-07-20T01:12:00.000-07:00

If you read our blog, you will know that for the last few years Mike and I have tried to live as green and as organically as possible. We recycle, we use cloth bags at the grocery store instead of plastic, we use cloth napkins instead of paper towels, all of our cleaning products are non-toxic and environmentally safe, and even our toiletry products are organic.

Once I found out I was pregnant I knew that I wanted to try to do the same thing with our little one. We researched and picked a Pediatrician that would support our lifestyle, I chose to breastfeed instead of using formula, and I wanted to use cloth diapers. You can see my post on cloth diapers here.

There is a myriad of reasons we decided to go cloth: Environmentally friendly, cost effective, better for baby. Once I made the decision to use cloth diapers, it never occurred to me to think about what I wanted to use for wipes. I just figured that I was doing great just by using cloth diapers, so throwing away a few wipes each day wasn't a big deal.

When Baby McKinley finally arrived we had to use disposable diapers the first few weeks of her life. It hated watching Mike take a bag of trash out every other day, especially when we are used to setting one bag of trash out each week. Finally the day came when we could start using the cloth diapers. Even though I wasn't necessarily looking forward to doing a little extra laundry, I was just glad that we weren't filling up a trashcan and making emergency runs to the store to get disposable diapers. Besides the cloth diapers a just too cute:)

Thankfully, the cloth diaper routine was easy. After a couple weeks of cloth diapering I started doing research on cloth wipes. It didn't take me long to decide to ditch the disposables. I realized that by using cloth wipes, it wasn't going to add anymore to my work load and it was just one more way to live cleaner & greener for both baby & the environment.

While online I found several sites with instructions on making your own cloth wipes. Most of the cloth wipes are made from fleece and I just happened to have a ton of fleece fabric left over from a sewing project. In an effort to save some money I decided to make our own wipes. I already had the material, now I just needed the time:)

The finished products:

Once I finished sewing the wipes I needed a wipes solution. I found tons of homemade solution recipes online, but I ended up ordering a pre-made solution from Lusa Organics. It is called Baby Wipe Juice and I absolutely LOVE it! It smells so good and it is super concentrated so a little goes a long way. It will take me several months to use up the bottle of solution. I am so impressed with their Baby Wipe Juice, I can't wait to try some of their other products.

Also, the company that I order my cloth diapers from, Jack Be Natural, posted this video that shows how to fold your cloth wipes so when you pull one wipe out of a wipe warmer or bin, the next wipe pops out the top ready to go. It makes the diaper change so much easier.

Baby Makes 3

2011-07-15T02:19:00.000-07:00

DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL:

MOMMA'S SWEET BABY:

FINGERS & TOES:

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-14T02:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent pictures of McKinley that were taken on the Fourth of July. A big thanks to Grammy for the headband!

McKinley Grace Organ

2011-07-12T06:26:00.000-07:00

The official birth announcement:

Daddy's Little Girl

2011-06-29T02:15:00.000-07:00

We are loving that McKinley has reached the stage where her personality is starting to show. She is smiling, cooing, and making the most adorable faces. We have been trying to figure out who she most resembles. From this picture I think it is pretty safe to say she is definitely Daddy's girl!

See any resemblance?

How about now?

I have a feeling I am going to have my hands full:)

Baby Nursery: Handmade With Love

2011-06-25T00:17:00.000-07:00

I realized the other day that I have never posted any pictures of the nursery. McKinley's nursery was definitely a labor of love, but I enjoyed every second of it. As soon as Mike & I found out we were having a girl I started planning the nursery.

When we started shopping for nursery decor I couldn't believe how expensive things were. We had a small budget for the nursery so I tried to come up with creative ways to pinch pennies:

1. Instead of buying a changing table, we used a dresser we already owned, which actually worked out great because it gave us a ton of extra clothes storage.

2. Instead of buying a nursery bedding set, I sewed all the bedding and drapes. I am so glad I did this because not only did it save us money, but I got to use the fabric that I wanted, and I only made the bedding pieces that we needed.

3. I painted the canvas wall art for the room. This was the scariest project I did by far. I do not have one artist bone in my body. The most expensive part of this project was the cost of the canvases, but I waited to buy them until I had 40% coupons at Joanne's. The paint was only a couple of dollars.

4. I made the crib mobile. It is nothing fancy, but it works great and only cost me the price of a dowel rod, which is around 90 cents. I already had the fishing line, hot glue, paint, and most of the tissue paper.

5. Instead of buying lamps, I found Chinese paper lanterns. I bought 2 different size lanterns and hung them in two different corners of the room. Not only was this a very cost effective way to provide soft lighting for the room, but they take up no space on the dresser of bookshelves (which is very limited).

So here are some pictures of the (almost) finished nursery. We still have some pictures to hang on the wall, but for the most part I can check the nursery off the to-do list!

When I first started looking for fabrics for the nursery I wanted something modern and chic. I did not want your typical baby girl nursery colors. I went through tons of fabric samples, and in the end I through out my original vision and picked the traditional pink & green. So much for being modern and chic:)

My sewing projects included the crib bumper pads, crib skirt, and drapes with black out lining. Since these three items are all straight line cuts I didn't use a pattern for any of the projects. I just sketched out the design and figured out the measurements as I went a long. There was a bit of trial and error, but very few set backs. I am very happy with how everything turned out.

I knew I wanted McKinley's initial(s) somewhere in the room. I knew it wasn't in the budget for me to order something custom, but I wasn't sure how to execute something handmade with out it being tacky. Thankfully, I was walking through a craft store and saw a picture that inspired me to create the "M" canvas that now hangs above McKinley's crib.

The "M" canvas matches the stripped fabric used in the nursery. It is simply a painters canvas, a paper mache "M", painters tape, craft paint and some hot glue and velcro to attach the letter to the canvas.

The pom-pom mobile was inspired by decorations used at my baby shower at Otter Creek. I painted and hot glued two dowel rods together and simply stapled fishing line to the middle of the pom-poms before fluffing them. Mike helped me tie and hot glue the pom-poms into place on the dowel rods. We hung the finished mobile from the ceiling using an eye hook and more fishing line. The instructions on how to make the pom-poms can be found here.

In addition to the "M" canvas, I painted two canvases to go above the cubical book shelves. I knew from day one of planning this nursery that I wanted something that reflects our faith somewhere in the room. I found canvases very similar to these online and decided to recreate them as best I could. The nice thing about hand making this wall art is that Mike and I were able to pick and choose what bible verses we wanted displayed.

This was definitely a very time consuming project, but I wouldn't change it for a thing. I had so much fun creating a complete room from scratch. I just hope I will have the same amount of time and energy to do this all over again when the next little one comes along.

Milk Drunk

2011-06-24T00:09:00.000-07:00

These are 3 of my favorite pictures of our sweet little McKinley Grace! I had always heard the phrase "milk drunk", but had never really experienced it until my Mom snapped these pictures...

A Day of Firsts

2011-06-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was a big day for the Organ Family. It was a day full of firsts!

Mike got to celebrate his first Father's Day. McKinley and I tried to make it special with a couple cards and a few gifts, but it was mostly spent changing diapers and helping with feedings. Oh the life of a new father!

Sunday was also our first time as a family of three at church...and we survived. This was the outing I was most dreading. But luckily no crying outbursts, diaper leaks, or feeding sessions. The only thing we had to combat during the middle of service was an outbreak of the hiccups, but I thought they were kind of cute:)

Belly Pictures

2011-06-21T02:11:00.000-07:00

Many of you have asked to see belly pictures. Well here they are...finally:

23 Weeks:

27 Weeks:

35 Weeks:

I originally had planned for the last belly picture to be one that we took before we left for the hospital, but with the little bit of drama surrounding my delivery and the rushed state we were in, taking a photo of my belly was furthest thought in either of our minds. So the final belly picture will have to be one that was taken on Easter Sunday (one week before I delivered).

39 Weeks:

She's Here...

2011-06-20T01:38:00.000-07:00

McKinley Grace was born on May 2nd at 10:50am. She weighed 8lbs. 1oz. & was 20.5 inches long. Mike and I could not be more thrilled and in love with this sweet little girl.

I am obviously playing major catch up on the family blog, being that May 2nd was 7 weeks ago. One thing that I have learned in those 7 weeks is that time is precious and certain things fall by the wayside, one of those things (unfortunately) is blogging. I will apologize in advance since I have a feeling I will constantly be lagging in my blogging duties.

I will end the post with a more flattering picture of McKinley, but I had to include the top picture. It is from a recent photo shoot gone bad:)

"Every good and perfect gift is from above." -James 1:17

Baby Showers Galore: #3

2011-04-17T01:09:00.000-07:00

Baby Shower #3: Nashville

This shower was thrown by two of my long time Nashville friends, Karen & Liana. Both lovely ladies I met while working at Blue River Canyon. All the guests at this shower were old Blue River Canyon co-workers/friends and some of my boot camp buddies. Being that I haven't worked at BRC in over a year and haven't attended boot camp in 8 months, it was so nice getting to see everyone and catch up. Oh, the cake and gifts weren't bad either:)

The Sweet Hostesses and the Pregnant One!

I had such a wonderful time and was surrounded by such great and loving people. Thank you to everyone who made this such a special day!

Baby Showers Galore: #2

2011-04-14T01:09:00.000-07:00

Baby Shower #2: Searcy

The following weekend after the Otter Creek Shower was my baby shower in Searcy. This shower was very special to me for a couple different reasons. First, there is something very comforting in coming home and seeing people and faces you have known since you were a little girl. Second, the relationships that the Johnson Family and the Organ Family have with these people/families are life long relationships that will be cherished forever.

This shower was hosted by 7 wonderful women (one of whom is not pictured) who generously gave up a Saturday morning to shower this baby with gifts:)

After the first two showers McKinley is going to be one of the best dressed kiddos ever! And I still have one more shower to go:)

Baby Showers Galore: #1

2011-04-13T01:09:00.000-07:00

Baby Shower #1: Otter Creek Church

A couple weeks ago the four ladies in my life group hosted a shower for McKinley and me at our church. I have known these ladies for several years and cherish each one of their friendships. They all did such a great job to make this day very special!

The food and decorations were perfect!

The Baby Blessing!

Reading of "You Are My I Love You", Singing of "Bless My Daughter", and a prayer over our family. This was an absolutely beautiful way to start a Baby Shower!

What a wonderful day! I am very blessed to be surrounded by such great family & friends. I am thankful to know that McKinley will be raised around such love and great examples.

Pregnancy Photo Shoot

2011-04-04T01:03:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, while we were home in Searcy for one of my Baby Showers, Mike and I were treated to a pregnancy photo shoot by one of the greatest people I know...my Mom! Here are some of my favorites...

Warning there are a lot of pictures:)

8 Years Ago Today...

2011-03-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

...I married my best friend & soul mate.

Happy Anniversary Mike!

I came across this picture and had to include it in the post. This must have been when we first started dating. We look soooo young!!!

Childbirth Classes

2011-03-22T02:57:00.000-07:00

I knew I wanted Mike and I to take a few childbirth education classes before Baby Organ arrives. After doing some research we decided to take all our classes through The Women's Hospital at Centennial. I found a "First Time Parents" package of classes that included a 5 week labor & delivery series, a newborn care class, & an infant safety and CPR class.

This past Tuesday was our 5th and final labor & delivery class and we also attended our newborn care class on Thursday night. I am so thankful we took both of these classes. There were several things taught in the class that were common sense, but there was so much more to learn. Who knew having a baby could be so complicated? We had the same instructor for both classes and she was wonderful. I wish I could hire her to be my labor & delivery nurse, doula, & baby nanny:)

I learned 3 major lessons in the labor & delivery classes.:

1st: I learned just how important my birth partner/support person will be during L & D.

2nd: I realized that no matter what birth plan I choose or what plan I end up having to follow, there is no right or wrong way. It will be special no matter what.

3rd (most important): I learned that no matter how hard I try, there is no controlling the labor process. It is easier to go with the flow. Things may not go the way I want them to go or have planned them to go, and that is okay.

Overall, this class was great. Now I just hope we remember everything we learned once the panic sets in!

During the newborn care class we talked about the hospital protocol and procedures that will take place once the baby is born. This put me at ease knowing ahead of time what normally is done from the first moment after birth until we leave the hospital. We also learned how to bathe the baby, care for the umbilical cord, change a diaper, feed and burp & how to swaddle. I let Mike have all the hands on practice.

I couldn't end this post without sharing pictures from our labor & deliver class where Mike was very eager to try on the 30lb. "Empathy Belly"!

Diapers

2011-03-02T09:18:00.000-08:00

So I technically have 9 weeks left until this little one makes an appearance. I had no idea that for someone who doesn't work and has no children that my life could be so busy. I feel like this pregnancy has gone by really quick. The first trimester was a little slow and I didn't help much that I was sick all the time, but I think the new excitement is what got me through those first 3 months. The 2nd trimester flew by since it happened over the Thanksgiving & Christmas Holidays. Now I am in the 3rd trimester and my schedule is completely full with childbirth classes, doctors appointments, baby showers, and consignment sales:) I am finally realizing that these last 9 weeks will be gone before I know it so it is time to get on the ball and finalize some things.

First thing on my list is to make a decision about what type of diaper we would be using in our house. I have always wanted to use cloth diapers. I feel that it is better for the earth & also cheaper especially if you have more than one child. But here lately I have been wavering on if I can really commit to the whole cloth diaper thing. I have spent the last few days doing extensive research on this subject and have finally come up with a decision!

Thanks to many conversations with friends and family and the huge amount of information on the internet it has been decided that the Organ household will be using cloth diapers. I am really excited about this decision. Even though dealing with dirty diapers & extra laundry doesn't sound like fun, I think this will be a decision that fits who our family is and what type of family we strive to be.

I am being brave and going with a newer brand of cloth diapers, Kawaii Diapers. It is a brand that none of my friends use, but has gotten great reviews and (depending on which style of diaper) is about 1/2 to 1/3 of the price of most other cloth diapers (which is really exciting!).

I tried to be as thorough as possible in doing the financial research for cloth vs. disposable and what I found (on the internet) is that most families spend about $40/month on disposable diapers. That is roughly $500/year. For the Kawaii diapers I will be spending a little less than $300 for everything I need, and that is if I buy the most expensive Kawaii diapers.

I know that is a lot of numbers, but it boils down to this. Lets say (for numbers sake) it typically takes a child 3 years to potty train:

Disposable diapers for 3 years: $1500

Kawaii Cloth diapers for 3 years: $300

And the best part about all this is that when we have our second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, etc. child we hypothetically won't have to spend another penny.

I know I haven't figured in electricity & water costs for washing and caring for the cloth diapers. That information was hard to come by, so to be fair cloth diapering will cost us a little more than $300 total. But I still think the savings in the long run is worth it.

I have nothing against disposable diapers, over the last month or two I honestly thought I didn't want to mess with cloth and I would be using disposable diapers, but after the last couple days I have finally made up my mind and I just hope I don't regret it after a week of cloth diapering:)

Organ Family Christmas 2010

2011-02-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

This year Organ Family Christmas was split into two. Organ Christmas #1 was on Christmas Eve-Eve in Searcy. We spent the day with Mike's parents and his brother Dave who flew in from Houston. Unfortunately Dave's wife couldn't make the trip, but we really enjoyed our visit with Dave. The day was spent like most holidays with food, a little golf and then the good ole holiday tradition of opening gifts.

Here is family photo #1

(you will see family photo #2 later)

We tried to get Martini to be Santa's helper, but she was not liking her outfit at all!

Then, the Monday after Christmas, the rest of the Organs gathered at our home to celebrate Organ Family Christmas #2.

Martini loved her two new bones so much so she couldn't decide which one to chew.

Baby "M" even got a few things.

After dinner we played a new game that Easton got for Christmas. It was just like Pictionary, but instead of drawing the object you had to build the object out of Legos.

Here is family photo #2

Funny Family Photos

2011-02-02T12:18:00.000-08:00

For the past 4 or 5 years my family has taken group pictures during the Holidays. We get a couple normal pictures and then we take several goofy family photos. Here are the photos from last year (2009).

This year for our Funny Family Photo shoot, my Dad took on the task of finding our funny accessory. He definitely did not disappoint! Before taking the silly pictures, we did manage to get one great family photo. Enjoy!

Johnson Family Christmas 2010

2011-02-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

Santa's Helper

The perfect gift! Just in time to put the nursery together:)

I wasn't going to post this picture until I saw BJ's face!

This was a special gift. Not only is it a painting of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy (BJ lived in Florence for the entire 2010 fall semester). But most importantly, it was painted by a great friend of the family, Martha McKee. The painting is absolutely beautiful!

If you can't read the shirt, it says "Biker Grandpa"

While BJ was overseas she bought Christmas presents for everyone. Here are a few things she brought us.

I just had to share some of the cute things that Baby "M" got for Christmas.

Aunt BJ brought this from Italy for Baby "M"!

Shane & Sara arrived mid-morning to open stockings and spend the day.

Family Time:

Grandpa & Grammy with their Grand-doggies

This last pictures sums up the day:)

Baby Brunch

2011-01-31T08:28:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it is the beginning of February and I am just now getting around to blogging about all of our Christmas Festivities, but I am super excited to get to share this post with everyone!

I have always known that when I became pregnant I didn't want to find out the sex of the baby, but a couple weeks before my 20 week ultrasound I realized that I hadn't really discussed this issue with Mike. Once we started talking I was a little surprised to find out that he wanted to find out the sex and this wasn't really an issue he was going to waver on. So we came to a compromise: we could find out the sex of the baby, but I didn't want to do it in an ultrasound room in front of a complete stranger.

He agreed and the following is the plan we came up with...
Since the ultrasound was going to be a week before Christmas I thought it would be neat to have the tech write the sex of the baby down on a card and we would wait to open it until Christmas Eve were we could share this experience with both families.

Mike's parents hosted a brunch for both families at their house on Christmas Eve morning. After stuffing ourselves with great food, it was time for the big reveal. Originally we were just going to open the card, but when we went in for the ultrasound appointment our tech told us we would get to take home a DVD of the entire ultrasound. So we decided to prolong everyone's anticipation (including ours) and we watched 30-45 minutes of the ultrasound video until finally there it was on the TV screen, 3 words that changed our lives forever...

I'M A GIRL!

Ultimately we didn't care what the sex was, as long as the baby was healthy. But I think Mike would have loved to have a boy and I really wanted a girl. Actually I wanted a girl sooooo badly that I had convinced myself it was a boy hoping it would prevent me from being disappointed. So I was genuinely surprised that it was a girl.

Once we all celebrated and were given plenty of name suggestions:), the Grandparents presented us with books for our little girl. The Grandfathers gave her "I Already Know I Love You" by Billy Crystal and the Grandmothers gave her "Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney. Then, Mike and I gave each family a picture frame with an ultrasound picture so they would remember this special day. I even found a perfect frame for our house that Mike got to open.

This was such a fun and exciting day. I am so glad that we found out we were having a little girl in the presence of the people that love us the most. Hope you enjoy pictures from that morning.

I can not end this post without giving a HUGE thanks to my mom who took all the pictures that morning. There was so much going on I forgot to even get my camera out. Without her we wouldn't have had any pictures of this fun event. Thanks Mom, I love you!

Scotland- Europe 2010

2011-01-30T06:13:00.000-08:00

I have finally found time to finish the last of our Europe 2010 Vacation post-

Edinburgh, Scotland!

While in London, Mike and I decided to board a train a travel to Edinburgh, Scotland for a quick overnight trip. We knew we didn't have a lot of time to spend in Edinburgh, so once we arrived we checked into our hotel, dropped off our luggage, bundled up (it was absolutely freezing) and went out to explore the town and do a little shopping! Once the sun started setting, all the stores stared closing, so we grabbed a quick snack and then headed back to the hotel to warm up and rest before going to dinner. We ate at a really great vegetarian restaurant. Unfortunately, I started experiencing "morning sickness" on our way to dinner. So once we were finished eating we headed back to the hotel so I could rest up since the next day would be a busy one. Here are a few pictures Mike took our first evening in Edinburgh.

There were several reasons we had for visiting Edinburgh. Shopping and touring the castle were top on our list, but there was one other place I wanted to visit...The Elephant House Cafe, "the birth place of Harry Potter". This is where JK Rowling did most of her writing on the Harry Potter series. If you click on the link above you can watch an interview of JK Rowling in the cafe that was taped right after the first book was published and the second had already been sold.

Once we heard all this information about The Elephant House we decided this would be our breakfast stop before heading to the castle. Here are a few pictures of the cafe. The picture of the castle is the actual view from inside the cafe...Hogwarts anybody?

After we finished eating breakfast we walked up the hill to the castle gates. The tour of the castle took us a couple of hours. The views from atop the castle were amazing. Once we were finished touring the castle we headed out to eat lunch and do some more shopping before boarding the train back to London.

Here are a few pictures from the train ride home. I mostly read while Mike listened to his iPod and ran around the train taking pictures of the countryside.

Windsor- Europe 2010

2011-01-15T06:13:00.000-08:00

Our second day trip outside of London was to Windsor. Since
Windsor is right outside of London we decided to save a penny and travel by bus.

The very first thing we did once we arrived to Windsor was tour the castle. I loved this part of the trip. The tour of the castle was very casual. Since we each had our own audio guide, you were able to explore the castle at your own pace. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside any of the buildings, but here are a few pictures of the grounds and the castle itself.

Once we finished the tour of the castle we were all starving. We found a little pub down the street and stopped in for a bite to eat. The food was good, it was traditional pub fare. While were were waiting on our food, Mike found these 3 signs hanging in the pub.

After we finished lunch we decided to walk the streets and do a little shopping. Even though it was pretty cold that day, we really enjoyed walking around and experiencing Windsor.

Who knew Batman lived in Windsor?

Mike took this picture while we were waiting at the bus stop for our ride back to London.

You think he was cold?

Bath- Europe 2010

2011-01-14T06:12:00.000-08:00

A few days after arriving in London, Mike & I boarded a train along with his parents and the rest of the Harding University group and headed to Bath for a day trip.

One of the first things we did once we arrived in Bath was tour the Roman Bath House.

Once we finished our tour of the Bath House, we spent the rest of our day walking and touring the city. We ate at a wonderful cafe for lunch and did a lot of window shopping.

Before heading back to the train station for our departure back to London we stopped at Starbucks for an afternoon snack:)

London- Europe 2010

2011-01-14T03:32:00.000-08:00

Back in November, Mike and I were lucky enough to get to spend a couple weeks in Europe. Our primary reason for taking this trip was to visit Mike's parents who were teaching in London for the entire fall semester. Little did we know when we originally planned this trip and bought our plane tickets that we would have an even better reason to travel to London to see Mike's parents. We had a "little" secret to share with them:)

Since we had been to London before, we decided that some of our time should be spent doing things away from the city. We planned 2 day trips, one to Bath & one to Windsor. We also took a few days and traveled to Scotland. I will have later posts on those 3 trips.

Our first night in London was a late one. Our flight didn't get in until around 11:00pm and we didn't arrive to the flat until after midnight. Since we had such a late night the night before, our first full day in the city was a rather light one. Mike's parents awoke early and headed to church and left us to get extra sleep. Once we woke up and showered we ventured out into the city. It was a very rainy day so we decided to grab some lunch, snap a few pictures and then head back to the flat to meet up with Mike's parents and reveal our big secret!

The rest of our time in London was spent doing random things. We visited several of our favorite markets, spent time in a few museums, and saw a couple musicals. This trip was very laid back which made for a very enjoyable vacation.

Here are some of the pictures from our time in London:

Our first meal in London was at The Globe Pub.

We were a little jet lagged:)

This is a picture Mike took. I thought it is really beautiful.

Surprise...We're Expecting!

No trip to London would be complete with out a visit to Harrods!

One of the museums we decided to visit was the Victoria & Albert Museum. They had this beautiful Chihuly Sculpture on display in the lobby.

They also have a life size replica of Michelangelo's David.

While in London we saw two amazing Musicals, Wicked & Oliver! We had front row seats for both shows!

If you look closely you can see the theater for Oliver in the background:)

Breakfast at a cafe around the corner from our flat.

This picture was taken at a French restaurant where we decided to stop for an afternoon snack.

Tube station snapshot;)

Portobello Road Market:

Covent Garden:

Europe 2010 was definitely a memorable trip! We had such a great time visiting family and traveling abroad.

Lordy Lordy Look Who's 40!

2011-01-13T01:31:00.000-08:00

On December 28th, 2010, my sweet and wonderful husband turned 40 years old! Between all the traveling , the holidays, and the new baby excitement we didn't get to do anything special to celebrate this milestone...

but we did have balloons & cake!

Happy 40th Birthday to the greatest guy I know!

Cranberry Orange Scones

2011-01-12T02:20:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, Mike and I woke up to a very snowy morning. Since I knew we would be hanging around the house for the for the first part of the day I decided I would make scones for breakfast.

I had seen this recipe for Cranberry Orange Scones on Barefoot Contessa and had been wanting to try it out. I was a little nervous about making homemade scones. I always thought they would be difficult to make and very time consuming. I was wrong! These were so simple to make and best of all they were so yummy!

Here is what they looked like straight out of the oven.

This is the final product. Once they were cooled, I glazed them with an orange juice & powdered sugar mixture.

This recipe made 16 scones total. I baked 8 of them and wrapped and froze the other 8 to bake at a later time. I am now on a mission to find other scone recipes to try. Mike has already requested strawberry scones & blueberry scones:)

It's A Wonderful...Date Night!

2010-12-21T06:39:00.001-08:00

I am so excited about our date night tonight! Mike and I are going to see It's a Wonderful Life at the Belcourt Theater. The Belcourt Theater will be showing the classic movie everyday through Sunday December 26. To make this event even more special, the theater will be serving wintry treats like hot chocolate and homemade vanilla bean marshmallows, half-dipped in dark Belgian chocolate sprinkled with peppermint dust!

Titans Vs. Jaguars

2010-12-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday Mike & I braved the cold weather and the snow and headed downtown to enjoy an afternoon of football. It is no secret that our precious little Titans have been on a loosing streak, but the committed fans that we are, we weren't going to let a few losses stop us from cheering them on.

In the end they didn't win the game, but we had great time anyway.

The Big Baby Reveals

2010-12-12T13:35:00.000-08:00

The first and biggest baby reveal of all was on August 29th, 2010. When I woke up on that Sunday morning I lay in bed for awhile trying to decide if I should take a pregnancy test or not. I knew I hadn't been feeling like myself for about a week and my period was 4 days late, but I didn't want to jump the gun and take a test only to have it come back negative. After thinking about should I or shouldn't I, I realized 4 days late is really late for me. So I figured I would take the test and if it came back negative I would throw it away and pretend like it never happened.

Once Mike was out of the bathroom and taking care of the dog, I snuck into the bathroom to take the test. I was too nervous to look at it, so I went about my morning bathroom routine and actually after a few minutes forgot I had even taken the test. But as soon as I remembered I looked down and saw two blue lines!

After I quickly calmed myself down I emerged from the bathroom to share the shocking, but great news with Mike...

Once the test had confirmed the pregnancy, Mike & I put together a plan and figured out when would be the perfect time to make our public reveals.

The next big baby reveal was to my family on September 8th, 2010 . It had been on the calendar for months that I would be travelling to Searcy this particular weekend to help my mom get ready for her first big trade show for Red Suit Studios. Mike and I originally wanted to wait until Thanksgiving to tell all the immediate family, but once we saw how sick I was during my first trimester we knew there was no way I could stay with my parents for 10 days and them not realize something wasn't right. So we decided it would be best for Mike & Martini to join me for the weekend and we would tell the Johnson clan then. Unfortunately, my sister was living in Florence, Italy for the semester so she wasn't there for the reveal, but we had something special planned for her later.

Instead of just telling our families the big news, I thought it would be neat to have them open a gift. I found this cute onesie online that could be personalized to read "An Organ and Johnson Production", so I spent way too much money, ordered it, and wrapped it and that is what both sets of parents opened to reveal the big news.

The next reveal was to our life group. We have been in this life group for almost 8 years and these families hold a special place in our heart. We knew the month of November was going to be crazy for us since we were traveling to Europe and then had the Thanksgiving Holiday in Arkansas. So we decided the reveal should happen at our "Annual Life Group Chili and Pumpkin Carving Party" on October 30th.

We wanted to share our news in a unique way, so I thought it would be a great idea to carve our announcement on a pumpkin. That evening, once all the pumpkins were carved and lit, they were placed together so everyone could take pictures. While everyone was looking at their great carving abilities, Mike went and lit our special pumpkin and added it to the group officially announcing our pregnancy!

Unfortunately, the night of the party we were without a few of the members due to sickness, but we had a great time revealing to everyone that was there.

We revealed the news to Mike's parents on November 14th. For this reveal we travelled all the way to London, England! We had arrived to London very late on the 13th and decided it best that everyone get a good night sleep before we shared our news. So the next day when Mike's parents got back from church we handed them a little wrapped gift. I think they were more that just a little surprised to open up a little onesie:)

(while in London we found the cute onesie in the picture)

On Thanksgiving day we made our final reveals. Not only did we call both of Mike's brothers and shared our exciting news with their families, we also Skyped with my sister in Florence, Italy. We knew ahead of time we were probably going to be able to talk to her that day via Skype, so along with her birthday present my mom sent an envelope that read "Do Not Open Until We Skype On Thanksgiving!". I don't think she peeked because she was totally surprised when she opened the envelope and saw this:

An extra treat was that my Aunt Sara and her boyfriend came for Thanksgiving dinner and were there while we Skyped with BJ so they got to hear the news too.

One special reveal that I made over the phone a few weeks ago was to my best friend and cousin Maya. Since she lives in St. Louis it just wasn't possible to tell her in person. Much to my surprise when I told her our great news, she had great news of her own...she was expecting too!!! Even more exciting is that she is due on May 14th, just nine days after me. I am so thankful that I will get to experience this journey with such a special person!

A big thanks to everyone for making this such a joyous time. It was so much fun letting everybody in on our little secret!

It's a BABY!!!

2010-12-11T13:25:00.000-08:00

(Ultrasound Picture from 8 week OB visit)

WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!

I know I am way behind on posting this news. The truth is Mike and I have been crazy busy! Between finding out we are pregnant, fighting morning sickness (let me rephrase, all-day sickness), traveling to Europe, Thanksgiving in Arkansas and now planning Christmas I just have not had time to devote to our blog.

Thankfully, right now it is snowing outside! That means we are hunkered down inside and I have plenty of time to get caught up on things that I have been neglecting.

Back to our big news...Baby Organ is expected to make his or her appearance on or around May 5th (Cinco de Mayo) 2011! Mike and I are so excited! We know we are in for a huge shock, but we have waited a long time for this and the timing seems perfect. We are ready to take on any and all challenges:)

Most people are surprised with how long we waited to break the news to all our family and friends, but the truth is I am glad we waited. I was so sick for the first 12-14 weeks I don't think I would have been able to enjoy and take in everyone's excitement about the upcoming arrival.

Now that the first trimester is over, I am feeling much better and have more energy and I am finally able to enjoy the pregnancy. I actually felt the baby move for the first time this past Friday!

Mike and I excited about what lies ahead and we are incredibly thankful to have been blessed with this precious little gift.

Fun at the River

2010-11-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, Mike, Martini, & I travelled back to Arkansas to spend the weekend with my family. The weekends always go by so quick, but that Saturday we spent the entire day at my brother's house on the river.

We had such a great day! We wished BJ could have been there, but we did get to talk to her using Skype.

Hope you enjoy the pictures from that day!

Titans vs. Steelers

2010-11-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the Titans vs. Steelers game from a few weeks ago. I wasn't able to go, so Easton took my place and got to experience his first ever professional football game.

South Nash Dash 2010

2010-11-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is already November! I definitely have tons of catching up to do in the blogging world. So I will start off with an event from mid September:)

September 18th was the 2nd annual South Nash Dash 5K. I knew I wanted to participate in this 5K since Niki G's Fitness was a sponsor. All my fitness buddies would be out there running and I didn't want to miss it. Last year Mike & I ran this race together, but this year he decided to take on the roll of a cheerleader. Since Mike wasn't running, I knew I wanted a running partner and since this was a dog friendly race I recruited Martini for her first ever 5K.

Here are some of the pictures from the event:

Team Niki G

I know I have been a very bad blogger! So I am hoping to have several new posts within the next week. Be sure to check back!

Monday Night Football!

2010-08-26T00:51:00.000-07:00

This past Monday night was the first Titan's home game of the season. The weather was absolutely perfect! The stands were a little sparse (since it was only a pre-season game), but all the freaks still came out which allowed me to do lots of people watching:) I'm not sure which was more entertaining, the game or the people?

Brentwood Classic 5K

2010-08-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday Mike &; I ran in the Brentwood Classic 5k. This is the first race we have run in a few months. I usually don't like to run races during the summer because of the heat, but since this race helped out a couple good organizations we braved the temperatures and ran anyway. The Brentwood Classic benefited the Baptist Children's Home and Touched by Grace Ministries.

Our next 5k will be the South Nash Dash on September 18th at 8:00am in Lennox Village. We ran this race last year and once again it should be a lot of fun. Not only is it sponsered by Menchies (YUM!), Niki G Fitness is one of the sponsors this year and is in charge of the pre-run warm-up. Another great thing about this 5k is that it is stroller friendly and dog friendly. So who knows maybe Martini will finally get to experience her first race:) If you are interested in running or walking the South Nash Dash you can click here to register.

Vacation- Port St. Lucie, Florida

2010-08-05T09:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since my last post! The Organ household has been a little busy the last several weeks. Between everyday tasks, Red Suit Studio business, & and a new business project of my own (I will unveil in a future post:) I just haven't had the time to blog.

Since I am playing catch up this post will be dedicated to the Organ Family Vacation to Port St. Lucie. This year our trip to Port St. Lucie was a little different. Most of the time when we do a family trip with the Organs at least one of the other Organ boys & their families are around for the week. This year it was just Mom & Dad Organ and Mike & I. While we missed the other families, it was nice getting to spend one-on-one time with the parentals.

Our week in Port St. Lucie primarily consisted of golf, pool & eating. The weather was perfect, we were able to play 4 full rounds of golf and we also made it to the beach one afternoon.

We didn't get very many pictures during this trip, but here are a few of the ones we did take:

This picture was not staged!

The Ryder Cup was on display at the PGA Museum

What a great trip!

Financial Peace University

2010-06-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday Mike & I finished Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. FPU is a 13 week course that covers almost every financial detail one might encounter throughout their life.

Before I get too far in this post I have to say that I am not a Dave Ramsey fan. I have never been a fan of his and after 13 weeks of listening and watching him in a video I am still not a fan. His personality is a little to harsh for me (sorry Dave if you are reading this:)

However, I do believe 100% in what he teaches. Most of his teachings seem so simple, but for some strange reason people don't practice them.

When we first heard our church, Otter Creek, was going to be offering this class I knew I was not going to be taking part in it for a variety of reasons:

#1: I had never heard of FPU so it was of no interest to me. I don't know how I have lived in Nashville for 7.5 years and not heard of FPU, but I had no idea what it was.

#2: Once I found out it was a Dave Ramsey course I definitely knew I wasn't interested!

#3: The class was being offered on Sunday afternoon from 3-5. Sundays are busy enough I didn't need to squeeze one more thing in my day.

#4: I didn't feel like Mike & I needed to take this course. After all Mike is a Financial Advisor, we live on somewhat of a budget, we don't have any consumer debt, and we have some money in our savings. I thought we were doing pretty good.

Boy was I surprised when Mike came home from church one Sunday and said he volunteered to help with FPU and lead a break-out group. I told him "Have fun, I will be thinking about you during my Sunday nap:)"

Mike got home from the first class and said he really thought we would both benefit from the whole class series and he would appreciate it if I would start coming with him. Being the good little wife that I am, I reluctantly agreed to the sacrifice of my Sunday naps for the next 12 weeks.

Now that we have completed the 13 weeks of lessons, I think this is a class that everyone should take. I wish it were mandatory for people in their late teens and early 20's to take this class in hopes not to make mistakes that will hinder them financially for years. One of the great things about the class is no matter your age, how much debt you have, or how much (or little) salary you make this class gives you steps and plans to eventually live debt free.

I wanted to share a few things from FPU:

The Basics: Creating a monthly budget, paying off debt, & saving. I feel like Mike & I had this category under control before the class, but hearing others stories made me realize that these things that I think are routine & simple can seem like mountains for others to overcome.

Kids & Money: This was talked about in lesson #2 entitled "Relating with Money". This lesson really opened my eyes to the fact that children do only what they know. If they see mommy & daddy swiping plastic and buying everything they want when the want it, they are going to do this too. If they aren't taught how to save money, what debt means, how to be financially responsible, there is a good chance they will be lost once they are on their own.

In this lesson Dave gives you tools & ideas on how to introduce your child to money & what to do as they grow older and can handle more responsibility. This chapter made me realize that once Mike & I have children, it is a clean slate. They can be taught properly how to live financially at peace. What an amazing life lesson to be able to teach your children!

Giving: The very last FPU class is entitled "The Great Misunderstanding: Unleash the Power of Generous Giving." The 3 things I got from this lesson are:

#1: We will not have more if we hold on to what we have tightly with a closed fist.

#2: We are just managers of what the Lord has given us. Everything belongs to & comes from Him.

#3: The difference between a tithe & an offering.

What a way to end a class series on finances!

There is soooo much more great information that we learned from Financial Peace University. Of course I can't go through everything on the blog, but I recommend this class to anyone. It is definitely something that will shape us and guide us through the rest of our lives.

Red Suit Studios

2010-06-10T01:06:00.000-07:00

Most of you probably don't know that my Mom is an artist. She is not your typical artist. She focuses more on jolly-old fat men that sneak into houses at night to eat and drink your children's cookies and milk:)

My mother's artistic relationship with Santa began when I was still in grade school. She would meet up with a group of friends for girl's nights and they would spend the evenings painting ceramic Santas. They would learn new techniques & share painting tips. After a few years of painting Mom realized that between taking care of us kids and working her new job at Harding University there just wasn't much time to paint. So she put her hobby to the side to focus on the family.

Fast forward to fall of 2009, one afternoon Mom was cleaning her makeup brushes and it reminded her of her paint brushes. She decided to pull out her supplies and paint a Santa for the fun of it. That was all it took. By the time November rolled around she had painted enough inventory to have a booth at a local holiday craft fair. She was also blessed to be able to sell her Santas in a local Interior Design Shop and a high end decor shop in Little Rock.

Once we saw that people were interested in Mom's Santas, brainstorming sessions started and Red Suit Studios was created. We have spent the last 8 months ironing out the details for the business and we are really excited for the 2010 Holiday Season.

I had to include a few pictures of Red Suit Studios pieces, but I didn't want to reveal everything. You can click here to go to Red Suit Studios blog and see more holiday creations:

This last picture is my sister modeling a hand-made (with no pattern) apron that I made for Red Suit Studios. I made 3 and thought they would be perfect company uniforms for craft fairs:)

Mom- I am incredibly proud of you. You are incredibly talented and I love you!

Funny Out-takes and A Broken Chair- Gulf Shores Part III

2010-06-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

While I was sorting through the vacation pictures looking for ones worthy to put on the blog, I couldn't help but notice all the pictures that were horribly bad. I thought it would be funny to put them into slideshows and share them anyway.

Slideshow #1:

Random Funny Out-takes

Slideshow #2:

The Johnson Family jumping off a wooden beach chair...

Yes, you read that right! My little sis' thought it would be a fun idea:

Slideshow #3:

This is what happens when four grown children decide to jump from a wooden object. Just to let you know, right before these pictures were taken my brother said "We are going to break this!" and if you look closely you can watch it happen:)

I made these 3 pose for this last picture so it didn't look like we were fleeing the scene of a crime after we broke the beach chair.

We Are Family- Gulf Shores Part II

2010-06-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

Every year during our family vacation we take time to do a very unprofessional photo shoot. Here are the ones that are worth posting.

Of course it wouldn't be normal family photo time with out a set of "goofy" pictures:

Fun in the Sun-Gulf Shores Part I

2010-06-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Mike & I drove to Gulf Shores, AL and met up with my family for a relaxing week of vacation. Since oil had been gushing into the gulf for about 2 weeks, we were a little nervous of how we would find the beaches & the ocean, but luckily our vacation wasn't affected by the oil spill at all.

The majority of the week was spent shopping & laying out at the beach. Mom & BJ got to enjoy a little spa time while the boys and I played golf. We also decided as a family to cook the majority of our meals at the condo which afforded us a lot more time to play games and just have quality family time.

It was another great Johnson Family Vacation. I am incredibly blessed to have such a loving & wonderful family!

Is Kyle fishing or swimming?

Shipp's Harbour Grill...yummy!

Fun in the Sun!

Golf Day #1: Gulf Links Course

This course was not pretty & wasn't in great condition, but when you pay $25 per person for 18 holes and that also includes the cart, we weren't complaining.

Golf Day #2: Gulf State Park Golf Course

This course was gorgeous and well maintained.

There was plenty of wildlife at the State Park Golf Course. Below are pictures of the Monkey Squirrels & a huge turtle about to lay eggs. We also saw an alligator, but I couldn't get a good picture of it.

Check back for the next posts: Gulf Shores Part II- We Are Family (Photo Shoot) & Gulf Shores Part III- Funny Out-takes and A Broken Chair:)

A New Beginning

2010-06-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

Over the last several weeks, Casa de Organ has been going through somewhat of a transition. As of 5 weeks ago I am no longer employed at Blue River Canyon Day Spa. I won't go into detail in the post as to why I quit, but if you really want to know give me a call or email me and I will give you all the dirt, it's really an eye opening story:) Ironically, 4 days after I quit, Blue River Canyon filed bankruptcy...can we say Karma! I still have a ton of great friends at BRC and I hope that everything gets ironed out for their sake.

As far as a new job, I don't have one. I am still doing my out-call massage business and we are working on a couple other possible home-based businesses. We are still in a place of transition, but if there is anything I have learned from leaving Blue River Canyon, it is to welcome change and not to resist it.

With all this extra time I have, I am hoping to get caught up on blogging and have several new posts done over the next 2 weeks.

Yesterday was Memorial Day and I couldn't end this post with out thanking all the men & woman who serve(d) our country. Thank you for our freedom!

My Dad, Me & My Papaw who fought in The Pacific during WWII

Wacky Weather

2010-05-05T07:57:00.000-07:00

Most people are aware that over the past weekend horrible weather made its way through several states, Arkansas and Tennessee were just two of the many states that were affected. The devastation these storms left behind is unbelievable: lives lost, people still missing, houses demolished and massive amounts of clean up that will take months to complete.

I needed a break from the heartbreak and thought these two videos might make you smile. I know they did me:) I hope they don't offend anyone.

The first video is CNN coverage of the aftermath of a tornado that hit Scottland, Arkansas:

The second video is of a Nashville weather man describing the direction of the storm. This video is not as much about what he is saying, but more about what you see on the TV:

(Again, I really hope this second video doesn't offend anybody!!!)

Run Forrest, Run

2010-04-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday I ran the Country Music 1/2 Marathon. I have been training for this race with Team Niki G which consists of my boot camp instructor & four fellow boot campers. This was my very first 1/2 marathon. I still can not believe that I was able to run 13.1 miles without stopping, walking, fainting, or dying!

For me, the Marathon weekend really started on Friday night when my Dad & Brother surprised me by showing up in Nashville. Unknown to me, Mike had tried really hard to get family members to come for the weekend to surprise me and show support, but for certain reasons no one was going to be able to make it. I am so thankful my Dad & Brother were able to make the trip!

We all know you can't run a long race without carb loading, so once the guys made it to town we headed to Molinari's Italian Restaurant for dinner. YUMMY!

Saturday morning came early. I was up by 4:00am to prepare for the race and meet the rest of the team. The boys left the house around 6:30am and headed downtown to cheer me on. They picked a place on the course where they could see me twice, once around mile 5 and then a second time when I ran back by around mile 8. After I passed them at mile 8 they got in the car and headed to the finish line and waited for me to make the final turn at mile 13.

The weather was near perfect. It was a little warmer than I would have preferred, but that is where the cups of cold water came in handy. Luckily the storms held off until after all of our group was finished running.

Team Niki G (minus one of our team members) before the race.

MILE 5

MILE 8

MILE 13

Approaching the finish line!

I was VERY pleased with my time. My official chip time was 2 hours 24 minutes, but my actual time was 2 hours 21 minutes. The 3 minute difference is because my running buddy needed to make a pit stop, so I paused my stopwatch and waited for her. I wasn't too off from my goal time of 2 hours 15 minutes.

Post Race Pictures:

Mike had to join in:)

During the race my family saw several people wearing "odd" things while running. There were people wearing tutus, 2 guys running in full business suits, and 2 guys running barefoot...OUCH! The following man wins the award for "The Most Disturbing Outfit". We will just call him "Bunny Boy".

This is what was waiting for me on the kitchen table when I got home from the race. My sweet husband had left me a card and a sticker to put on the back of the 4-Runner to remind me of this accomplishment. Since he didn't know which one I would choose he just bought them all...what a smart man!

Now that the soreness has wore off I am ready to do it again!

Leisure Suits, Afros, & Disco Balls...Oh My!

2010-04-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday night Mike & I were invited to attend a one of a kind 70's disco party. The party was thrown by fitness instructor extraordinaire, Niki G, to celebrate her birthday & the 1 year anniversary of her business, Niki G's Fitness.

Mike & I had a blast shopping in vintage stores to find the perfect look for the party. While we couldn't find disco-era clothes we did score some early 70's attire.

Of course we couldn't dress up without Mike having to act the part:

Party Time!

I had to include this picture! We kept saying this man looked like a combination of Howard Stern & Krusty the Clown!

What a fun night! Thanks Niki G for such a "groovy" party!