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It's finally here! 

Friends, family, customers. We're here for YOU. 
We want to make Christmas shopping as easy as possible and our aim is to creatively write scripture on the walls of as many homes as possible. We genuinely think there is something at Naptime Diaries for everyone on your list and we've gone a step farther to show you exactly what we mean. 

Introducing the 2012 Naptime Diaries Gift Guide. Enjoy! 

You have not because you ask not. So many of my friends come into our home and see our walls filled with scripture and say
"THAT. I WANT THAT."
Now is the time to ask for your own fifteen print bundle. 

Scripture prints are no longer just for the ladies. Get your husband this super masculine and super spurring wooden scripture print (woohoo! new product collaboration with Coconut Robot)
and why not pick up the same lockscreen for him too! 

You gotta big group of women to buy for? Don't run all around town.
15 presents down in one swift kick. Or 10 presents down and 5 extra prints for you.
This bundle makes each print $6.60 and that is a gift price you can't beat. 

Whether it's been the best year of her life or the worst, you love her. She's your girl.
Pick out a scripture that blesses her heart or let her pick her own when she's ready. 

We suggest Ruth 1:16 for the new marriage, Joshua 24 for the new house,
and Numbers 6 for the new baby.
We've got them all covered. 

Our new Coconut Robot + Naptime Diaries wooden print is the PERFECT gift for your parents + in laws.
It's refined and beautiful and timeless and uplifting.
You can never go wrong with a gift card in Secret Santa + your cousins
can't fight over which present is best if they all get the same Naptime Diaries print. Right? 

You can buy a bundle and split it between all these people
or get them each their own gift card to pick!
Either way - you're good to go. 

We love our Ends of the Earth print (+ people in ministry) so much that we're dedicated to ship these babies anywhere. You've got a friend in missions or ministry, we'll make sure this gets to them.
Just buy the gift card or print and we'll ship it wherever it needs to go. 

Again - can you believe the beautiful wooden prints?
For Christmas gifts - Bundles make everything easier.
Don't forget your printable christmas card + advent calendar! 

Some housekeeping:

- Wooden prints and advent calendars are not available for coupon codes

- We will print + ship advent calendars through November 26th 5pm EST. 

- Kacia from coconut robot will take orders for wooden prints (for Christmas orders) through December 15th 5pm EST. 

- If you order a Naptime Diaries Christmas Card, we'll need your picture by 15th EST.

- We will print + ship orders for Christmas through December 18th 5pm EST. 

Ok, business over! 

Hop on over to the shop and start your Christmas shopping. 

We'll start wrapping those orders and sending them out asap. 

Merry Christmas! 

we're making room.

my people + my "baby" for a few more months 

Truth be told, I think it took me till this most recent little vacation we went on to realize that I was rapidly approaching my third trimester. Wait - in my third trimester. I don't advocate living life with such a full plate that you forget you're pregnant for weeks at a time, but should you find yourself in your third trimester with your fourth child and realize you don't have a name, a crib, any pregnancy pictures, and you barely remember your doctors appointments -- I won't judge you. 

That's not to say I don't FEEL pregnant. I sure enough do. My pelvic floor has gone missing.  My nose is swollen like you wouldn't believe. If I make the mistake of taking my shoes off for too long, my feet are usually too swollen to put them back in. Waddling isn't a cute notion - it's just the easiest way to move around. 
My body feels pregnant but my heart and my brain are taking a little bit of time to catch up. 

I'd love to share how we're preparing for this baby and yet - I'm not super sure what to say. We love this sweet boy like you wouldn't believe but the whole experience is so different from the other times we've gone through this. Our first three were so close together and we were so in baby mode. Our hands were so full and we were so overwhelmed. There is nothing in me that can picture what it will be like to bring home a baby to an almost 4 year old, 5 year old, and 6 year old. I have absolutely no idea what it's like to bring a baby into a home that runs a small business. I have absolutely no idea what it's like to be a semi-working-at-home-mama with a newborn. I've never had a maternity leave and I don't know what maternity leave looks like when you're self employed. I've never had a baby while homeschooling. 

the greatest big brother + sister that ever lived

I feel confident saying this - one huge desire of our hearts for our trip to South Carolina was to reset our little entrepreneurial brains and come back more scheduled, with clearer lines dividing our work and our rest -- more present when we need to be present. I see the fruit from that. I still feel slightly overwhelmed at how much is on my plate. I still feel like I have a lot of plates spinning and most of the people in my life see very few of them, leaving me feeling slightly alone in my overwhelmedness. But I feel like those two weeks away helped me to blink real hard and see my family rightly again. When it's their time, it's their time. And that's how I want to prepare for this fourth Connolly. 

It seems like I remember having this semi-arrogant, semi-naive view as a first time parent where I said --  "This baby isn't going to mess with us. It's going to adjust to us and our schedule and our life. We'll really quickly get on a schedule and get back to normal." I said it often and felt it often and I'm not saying that babies should come in and wreck your life and dictate all the things, but I want this baby to have it's season. I want the Lord to write a whole new normal. He is a whole person, a being, one created by God and placed very graciously in our home. I don't have a crib for him or a name just yet, but I promise I'll make room for him in our life. We will make room. We will respect and honor the responsibility of this baby boy and we'll let him mess up our days and nights and our business if need be. Because he won't be messing anything up, after all. 

And that's how we're preparing. 
We're making room for him in our hearts.